It’s nearly 4pm on an incredibly mild Sunday afternoon, and I’m really, really not in the mood to write a post, as it’s been a super-busy weekend. But with a steaming cup of chai and a delicious Date Bar to entice me, I’ve decided to write a super-quick post that is “better than nothing”... I hope you will agree.
My book club met yesterday morning to discuss Desmond Cole’s book, The Skin We’re In: a Year of Black Resistance and Power. As you know, I’m generally not a non-fiction reader, but because he is Canadian and February is Black History Month, and also because I usually try to include one NF book each year, I chose this one for our list. It is, as the title suggests, a look at racism in Canada over the course of a year, 2017, and focuses on the consequences of systemic racism in our country, specifically in our federal and provincial governments, in our school systems and in our police forces (he even includes a section, or “month”, for the Toronto Pride Parade event). It was certainly an eye-opener for all of us, not to the fact that racism still exists, but rather to its extent and widespread prevalence. While we found it to be a bit heavy-handed, it made us aware of our white privilege, that we should be grateful for being born with the right skin colour. We know that we need to be more informed if we are to do anything, but we were left wondering what we as individuals can do, and we came away from the discussion somewhat more despondent than we were when we arrived. I hope the book for our April meeting is a bit more uplifting, but since I know nothing about it, I have absolutely no idea. *sigh*
That’s all for today. Enjoy the sunshine and the mild weather while it lasts.
Bye for now... Julie
Our book group read one by Trevor Noah, written with humor, about him growing up half black in Africa. He is here in USA now and has a late-night talk show of current affairs. Our eyes were opened to the problems there and here.We enjoyed the book, but felt our white privilege.
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