Black Like Me

I made an amazing discovery today. I discovered the public library. I went to the public library for the first time in almost nine years. I was amazed to see that they still had me in their system and did not have to re-apply to get a new library card. I went to the library to do some research for my Human behavior paper, which I am happy to say is about 95% complete.
I should be working on my stats paper but decided to make an entry instead.

While at the library I wandered through my favorite sections at the book store and found some really good books on religion and cultural issues. I decided to get two books, 1. The Hispanic Condition by Ilan Stavans and 2. Black Like me by John Howard Griffin. I imediately started to read Black Like Me and put my research aside.

For those who have not read Black Like Me here is a synopsis. The author, John Howard, changes the pigment of his skin to try to get a feeling of how it truly felt to be black. Keep in mind that this book was written back in 1959 and the racial conditions of the time were a lot different. Every time I saw the words Negro and nigger I was surprised and I had to remember what I was reading. Back to my summary, at first I was concerned that the author was going to be biased and that simply changing his skin color was going to give him a an accurate view of what was going on in the south but I believe that as time passed and he lived the life of a black man he got to experience the same things blacks did back then. Another thing that concerned me was that there are certain cultural norms and standards that are ingrained in all of us and not having grown up black he would have missed some of those things. But so far I think he is doing a great job. I am only on page 89 and I still have a ways to go before I finish but it looks like a great book.

Pick it up and let me know what you think.