It's the Little Things

Earlier this month I started the first ever book group ever! Okay, let's be honest, I've been working here for just over 14 months but I'm so excited that I was able to combine two of my favorite hobbies: reading books and drinking coffee.

What makes this even more fun and interesting is our club is very diverse - race, ethnicity, gender, role, age - and we're reading It's the Little Things: Everyday Interactions that Anger, Annoy, and Divide the Races. Although the book focuses on Black-White relations, we've easily been able to apply what we're reading to other contexts.

Yesterday the chapter was about the little things in the home and the author talked about how Black parents need to speak to their children especially their sons about being Black in the United States. This led into discussion about the Amadou Diallo who was killed in 1999 by four White police officers who fired forty-one shots one of which killed the young man who was reaching for his wallet.

One of the club members, Caroline, shared about a song that Bruce Springsteen wrote about it. She emailed the link and wrote, "I think the chorus is really thought provoking - "you get killed just for living in your American skin" - it makes me think about what American skin really is. It seems that "the Boss" is asserting that many fail to realize that American skin is not white skin, it is a uniquely heterogeneous pigment. We as Americans do not all look alike, yet are persecuted when we are perceived as "other"..."

Sobering...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w6d7Skpxe8

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