Recently Read

I've been very driven to learn more about the BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) struggles for equality and better understanding my part in it as a white woman and how I can possibly make a difference in the world around me.  

The past few months I've read the following books to begin my learning:

A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota is a compilation of BIPOC individuals who have spent part or all of their lives in Minnesota (predominately the Twin Cities area).  I was able to get an e-copy of this book via the SELCO Library app, so if you have a SELCO library card, this book is at your fingertips!  Sixteen Minnesota authors share their hearts and stories about being a minority in our state.  The accounts range from first and second generation immigrants, foreign adopted children to white Minnesota families, indigenous people, and migrants from other areas of the United States.  Some accounts also touch on being LGBTQ in Minnesota.  

A few accounts that stood out to me were "People Like Us" by David Lawrence Grant (see also a blog post on this chapter).  His perspective on the media coverage of shooting deaths in Minneapolis/St Paul really struck me.  Another account that left an impact was about a black woman who lived in the south while attending college and faced blatant racism in terms of where she was and was not welcome.  She moved to Minnesota thinking she would have more opportunity has a black woman in her field.  Her accounts of racism in Minnesota, though not as blatant, but just as limiting, harmful, and painful were very hard for me to read.  I also learned from several accounts the unique prejudices faced by bi- or multi-racial people.  Several accounts shared the difficulty in belonging, even within their extended families, because they were not one race.  

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration follows three individuals from their beginnings in the Jim Crow south, their decision to leave, their harrowing migrations, and their years of adjustment to the new world of the north.  The book was published in 2010 after years of research and interviewing hundreds of black migrants.  Isabel truly created a work of art in weaving the personal accounts and US history and culture together into this book.  

This book challenged one of my long-held misunderstanding: Why would a black person stay in the segregated south?  I have wondered this since I was a kid. I never understood why an oppressed black person would stay in the oppression.  I learned quickly in this book that the decision was a huge one, the migration was difficult, dangerous, and isolating, and the "promised land" of the north did not provide the opportunities expected.  

This is a thick book that reads very fast and is so very engaging.  I felt intimately connected to Ida Mae, George, and Robert.  I covers American history from the Civil War to the present from both the high and personal levels.  If you read no other book this year, I recommend this book.  (I have a copy if you're interested in loaning it.)

I am also anxious to read Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, which I have on hold at the library.

Let Justice Roll Down is John Perkins biography written in 1976, only half way through his incredible life.  He turned 90 years old this year.  I first learned of John Perkins in a podcast this summer.  His simple yet profound insights pulled me in immediately.  He has lived remarkable, difficult, impactful, and sorrow-filled life.  

This book addressed by long-held question: Why would a black person stay in the segregated south?  John's life takes this to another level because he left the south and intentionally returned.  John's life answered my question simple and eloquently: He stayed to invoke change.  He stayed at the cost of much pain and hardship and created a life with his family which expanded to include many lives in Mississippi.  

The timing of reading this book after The Warmth of Other Suns was perfect.  It showed me the other side of the coin.  Isabel Wilkerson showed me the sacrifices of migrating and the impact on our world today, and John showed me the sacrifices of staying and the impact on our world today.  

I also own this book if you're interested in loaning it.

The Greatest Generation was my next read.  It is similar to A Good Time for the Truth in that it is a compilation of accounts, only the accounts were written by a biographer: Tom Brokaw. I expected the book to depict a heroic United States and its involvement in WWII.  I was quickly converted to believing Tom Brokaw truly aimed to report the truth of this generation.  The realities of their early lives during the depression years, their experiences during the war (whether in foreign lands or in the US), the urgency to begin life after the war, and the years of impact they made on our world today.  Tom Brokaw also addressed the ugliness throughout: US internment camps for Japanese Americans, segregation and the devaluing of minority groups, and sexual inequality.  

What stood out to me was the experiences of this generation.  Their first 20-30 years of life were full of struggle, loss, and life-altering experiences.  These experiences shaped this generation.  Everyone was impacted by the depression and everyone was impacted by the war.  No one was excluded.  This difficult beginnings lead to a greater appreciation for life after the war.  When education is difficult to come by, you appreciate it more when it's reality.  When providing a home for your family is nearly or actually impossible, you appreciate it more when you can provide it.  It really helped me understand my grandparents in a new light.  It also opened my eyes to how truly privileged I am today.  

Another impactful discovery for me from reading this book was that millions of people experienced life during and after WWII and their personal and political beliefs fell along a large spectrum.  For example, not every soldier in WWII was pro-war going forward, not every scientist or leader involved with the atomic bomb development and bombings of Japan were supporters of the acts and how to handle atomic power after the war, and not every veteran was pro-veteran affairs going forward.  This helped me understand better how individual perspectives can differ even after experiencing similar history.  Tom Brokaw instead showed how these personal beliefs shaped each survivor of the WWII era.  They made unique impacts on our world today through public and not so public lives as politicians, teachers, leaders, farmers, medical providers, and parents/grandparents.  They learned from their past to create what they felt was a better future.  

An excerpt about Mark Hatfield:

Commenting on the Republican newcomers, Hatfield told a reporter, "There are those who think we should be of on mind.  They feel, perhaps, that diversity in the party is a weakness, not a strength.  I'm an Old Guard Republican.  The founders of our party were for small business, education, cutting the military budget.  That was our platform in 1856 and I think it's still a darned good one."  Some of the newer Republican senators, with their strict conservative dogmas, may never understand a man like Mark Hatfield, but then they've never shuttled Marines ashore under heavy fire at Iwo Jima or Okinawa.  They've never looked out on the unworldly landscape of nuclear devastation and shared their lunch with a starving Japanese child.  

All in all, I was very impressed by this book and I came to respect Tom Brokaw and his approach to journalism.

Up next on my reading list is Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Patton.  Both books are about apartheid in South Africa.