Some of My Friends Are Black

3/5

I thought this was really a lively read and as I went through it I thought of a number of conversations I would love to have in my LSEM course.  One of the strengths of this book is how nicely it sets up just how complicated race, and any steps towards equality, truly are.  It addresses economics, schooling, politics, geography . . . all in accessible ways . . . and keeps coming back to the idea that there aren’t easy solutions to these big problems.  That isn’t his main point necessarily, but it is one I kept thinking about.

However, and this isn’t the fault of the book necessarily, I often wished it would talk about just one thing more thoroughly.  I really cannot imagine using this book to focus very tightly on any single thing.  There is a part early on about the confederate flag that could be a whole week of class.  There are sections about Obama that seem topical, but a lot to explore as well.  It moves very quickly through some complex stuff and we often just have to take his word for it, especially when he sets up all of this history.  I felt sometimes it defined racism in really helpful ways and then at other moments it defined racism in ways that would take a long time to unpack in class.  I can imagine large swaths of students being turned away by early mentions of Obama in ways that, again, are no fault of the book.  This is a great book to start some really tough conversations, but about halfway through the book I saw my interest flagging and I can imagine students might as well.  I wish there wasn’t so much to cover with this book.  I can imagine this as a book well utilized in more upper level classes.

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