Review: A Fascinating Perspective of Race Relations
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2014
Plenty is said about race relations in America, and while it is certainly not the only country that struggles with its own identity in terms of history and race, it is probably the one that is most in the spotlight. James Francis Johnson represents the everyman, one that would usually be influenced by the perceptions and stereotypes perpetuated by mass media (one way or another). However, his journey is one that relies on history in a healthy, sincere way, by delving into the authors and public figures that impacted race relations in America so greatly. He didn't pull any punches in this book, and told the story from his own, unbiased perspective as he experienced the unfairness, misconceptions, and ultimate truth of what race really means. We see the world through his eyes as he grows both in maturity and knowledge in his various jobs and locations, experiencing what it actually means to be a white kid in America. He identifies with both sides of the coin, learns from the incorrect beliefs on both sides of the political dichotomy of America, and ultimately comes to some valuable realizations about what it means to live in a supposedly equal and unbiased society.As a middle-class white American, I have been fortunate to read many of the same texts as he did, but he revealed new philosophies and angles with which to understand certain ideas, and I appreciated his admittedly ignorant perceptions that often reached some hard and valuable truths. Johnson is a talented and powerfully gifted author that can tell real stories and relate real experiences in interesting and thought-provoking ways. If you want to reacquaint yourself with issues of race that are still ongoing (and some might say intensifying) in America today, then The Education of a White Boy is a book well worth picking up.