I have been reading a remarkable book, a reflection on race issues in America from a personal standpoint. The author, Tim Tyson, is a professor of African-American studies who grew up in the South and witnessed first-hand the tensions, violence and racism of the small towns where he lived. His parents were both white liberals when it came to race relations, his father a Methodist pastor who was both courageous and stubborn in challenging the mores of the sixties and seventies.
One reviewer has suggested that there is a resonance with To Kill a Mockingbird in this telling, and I think this is an apt observation. Although it is a first-person account it often reads like a novel. It is humorous at times, profoundly sad at others, as well as stirring and honest.
It has challenged my own racism, which I would prefer to say doesn't exist. It has provoked me to think about the paternalism and systemic wrongs in this country, where our treatment of Aboriginal peoples continues to indict our statements about equality. I would strongly recommend this book, whose title comes from an African-American spiritual.
Tyson was interviewed on National Public Radio in the US and you might choose to listen.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4162533
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