Review: An Eye-Opening Book That Should Be Required Reading
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 3, 2014
There are so many different perspectives on race that it has become impossible to determine if there are right ones and wrong ones. The things we learn in school, our personal experiences in everyday life, the influence of the media, our familial traditions, and dozens of other factors play into whether we see things as black, white, or somewhere in the middle. Johnson makes for a brilliant narrator as we track the development of an ordinary white guy through a rather extraordinary life. Being a part of an integration program is something that most of us can only imagine or vicariously experience through movies, but the powerful way that Johnson depicts the events during his formative years are starkly inartistic. They are the raw words not of a storyteller, but of a confused youth who is finding it hard to survive or understand the world around him. I particularly liked the section of Johnson's story that details some of his wandering, as I have personally experienced the benefit of taking an eye-opening stroll through different parts of the world to better appreciate and understand cultures that others have misjudged.As the author's opinions start to shift, it becomes clear that his revelations are due to all sorts of education: Formal, lifelong, personal, experiential, and transformative education has added up to make him the wise, strong, and outspoken man he is today. We could all learn lessons from this book about tolerance and the flexible nature of education inside and outside the classroom. This book should be required reading. Race relations in many parts of the United States are still a confusing mess, half a century after the Civil Rights Movement. A change in perspective is required in many people, and this is the sort of soul-bearing book that could help with that shift. Very well done, Mr. Johnson.