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Some of My Best Friends are Black
January 25th, 2016
Selection Requirement Checklist
- Readability for 17 to 18 year old student (easy-intermediate-difficult)
- Tanner Colby uses wit (in some cases sarcasm) to underscore his point, which may connect with new, younger students. Or in some situations they may be bothered by the humor.
- Less than 300 pages
- 294 pages
- Speaker Price
- Tanner Colby’s fee is $7500 plus travel from New York (side note: the idea was tossed out in the last meeting to add “star power” to the guest speaker list; what if we invited Colby to interview actor, or notable personality who probably experienced the living situations noted in the first section of the book, Letters from a Birmingham Suburb. An actor such as Aziz Ansari – Ansari’s parents are from India and he grew up in South Carolina.)
- Easily adaptable across LSEM, disciplines, majors, etc.
- One of Colby’s major points seemed to be that it will take more than policy for people of different backgrounds to work for the advancement of any race or class that has been minimized or systematically devalued. I believe understanding this concept drive the University’s mission of developing citizen leaders, which makes it adaptable for any section of LSEM.
- Current theme, current event
- Issues of diversity and resistance to inclusion have been (and will be) an ongoing issue. Colby’s “case studies” may open some eyes and generate necessary discussion.
- Price less than $15
- Paperback, $15.25 (Amazon.com)
- Promotes critical and/or creative thinking
- Not particularly. However, Colby does raise interesting points with regard the unintentional consequences of mandates integration practices.
- How to incorporate into LSEM class
- In section III of the book, Why Do Black People Drink Hawaiian Punch?, Colby explores the power of social networks by highlighting the correlation between a professionally successful black person and the number of diversity connections they have on LinkedIn and/or Facebook. On a macro level I believe this is a powerful lesson for college students to understand.