This is another book where I didn't know who the author was but I saw her in an interview and she got my attention. In my mind I knew I would read and review this book and, also in my mind, I had the review written before I got the email from the library telling me the book was available.
After I finished reading the book I felt there was an unintended message in the book that needs to be talked about. Based on what she said in the interview I thought the book would be inspiring and an "every woman" book. What it is is a black woman's book - I would even go so far as to say an angry black woman's book. I wasn't expecting that.
She doesn't hold anything back either. She goes deep and unapologetically lays it all out there. She talks about growing up in a predominantly white community and trying to pretend she was white as well, going so far as to snub other black students who enrolled in her school. Her parents had told her that to be successful she would have to work harder than anyone else and she would have others take credit for her work. It's a message some of us have heard before but she was told this because her skin color would hold her back.
She talked about a guest appearance she made on a sitcom. The director came over to her and told her they'd need her to stand on a mark and went on to explain that this allowed the cameras to keep her in the shot. She took offense to this because she believed he did this because he thought she was stupid because she was black. She then went on to talk about all the things she had accomplished up to that guest appearance and compared it to the "lack luster" accomplishments of the white stars of the show she was appearing on. It was clear that she wasn't over the incident, even though it happened more than fifteen years ago.
Later in the book she talked about having to teach her sons about what they could and couldn't do because of their skin color. She had talked about this in her interview and it broke my heart and was one of the reasons I wanted to read the book. If I had been asked a couple of years ago about racism in this country I would have said it was dying. But because of the events of the last couple of years, I now know that's just wishful thinking.
The conversation, as I've heard it, has always been about the racists though. It's been that racists aren't born, they're taught to be that way. In reading this book though, I feel that there needs to be a conversation on the other side as well. Black babies aren't born believing that their skin color puts them at a disadvantage, that's something that's taught as well. And maybe that is a conversation that's happening but if it's not, it should be. Gabrielle was upfront with what she had been brought up to believe (work twice as hard so someone else can take credit for your accomplishments) and it was stated as if it were fact and not something that was wrong with the system.
Given the climate we currently live in I know that dramatic changes are unlikely in the near future but we've got to stop teaching our kids that skin color matters because it doesn't and shouldn't. I didn't go into reading this book thinking I was reading a black woman's story but that is what I read and while I don't know that I could say this book was for everyone, I did feel that there was a message in it worth sharing that made it my pick for reviewing this month.
For more reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com
