Book Reiew "Black Like Me"

I just finished reading "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin. It was recommended to me by my English Lit professor during the fall semester. I wish I had gotten to it sooner!

This book was amazing. It was also very very sad. John Griffin a white reporter who sets out to discover what it would be like to live in the south as a black man. He finds a doctor who gives him medication and cream that allows him to change the color of his skin. Once that happened, he began his journey and immersed himself in the deep South.

This book is a record of his experience. What amazes me the most about his story is the fact that it occurred just 40 years ago. His journey began just before the Civil rights movement began. It is a sad story because while it is obvious that some progress has been made in terms of discrimination, there is so much that is still the same. Perhaps it has not been long enough for things to be different but that sounds like a really lame excuse to me.

It makes me sad because there are still so many negative thoughts and actions that I need to protect my children from. I appreciate this book because it is a reminder of the lessons I still need to teach my children and a reminder of why those lessons need to be taught. My hope is that my children will be the beginning of the generation that will teach society about tolerance, acceptance, and understanding.

I do highly recommend this book. It is a great insight into the history of mistaken ideas about race and the ways in which those ideas have (and continue) to manifest themselves in today's society. In fact I will be giving it to my daughter to read. She is thirteen and while this book does mention a few 'adult' ideas, they are not something that we have not discussed before.