Remembering a painful past

It’s very frustrating to read this book. I have personal experience in being rejected by black peers simply because I did well in school and was friends with white people. The neighborhood I live in is predominantly white, but my hometown does have a black section. I still feel disconnected from most black students at the high school. I’m not the biggest fan of hip-hop and the culture behind it. That’s just not me. Also the fact that I talked “white” didn’t help me relate to my black peers. This disconnect caused a great isolation from both the white and black community. I have often been called white and have never had the courage to speak up against it. Reading this book makes me revisit those times in my life and this book has given me the courage to speak up. I recently started discussing the issues of race with some of my white friends and it was refreshing as well as frustrating. One of my best friends, a girl I’ve known since third grade couldn’t seem to understand why I was upset about someone calling me white. She claimed that they were just stereotypes and that they are there for a reason. Of course, stereotypes do have some degree of truth in them, but the fact that people who personally know a black person, such as myself and place me in the white category angers me because they should know that all black people aren’t what the media says we are. Although much anger has come out of reading this book, I will venture to say that it is important and necessary to talk about race and hopefully the anger will subside and courage will push all of us to talk about race with our family and our friends.