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A review by alisse
Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America by Tanner Colby
4.0
The only reason I’m giving this book 4/5 stars is because in the six short years since it was published so much has changed. And so much has not changed.
That being said, this is an excellent book. Looking at four separate areas of segregation in America—schools, neighborhoods, businesses, churches—and using the author’s background, as a white man growing up in the segregationist south, makes these stories eye-opening, critical, and personal. I appreciated Colby’s candor about his whiteness, and the fact that he didn’t pull any punches. This book was clearly very well-researched, and Colby spent time and care collecting these stories.
This was not what I expected this book to be, and I’ve been surprised in the best possible way. We need more books like this—books that look at our history with a discerning eye, show where we are still lacking, but also showing what could be. This isn’t a perfect book; that book doesn’t exist. But I think the writing and style here make the topic of segregation approachable enough that perhaps people (white people) can learn from it. And not just sweep our dark history (and present) under the rug.
That being said, this is an excellent book. Looking at four separate areas of segregation in America—schools, neighborhoods, businesses, churches—and using the author’s background, as a white man growing up in the segregationist south, makes these stories eye-opening, critical, and personal. I appreciated Colby’s candor about his whiteness, and the fact that he didn’t pull any punches. This book was clearly very well-researched, and Colby spent time and care collecting these stories.
This was not what I expected this book to be, and I’ve been surprised in the best possible way. We need more books like this—books that look at our history with a discerning eye, show where we are still lacking, but also showing what could be. This isn’t a perfect book; that book doesn’t exist. But I think the writing and style here make the topic of segregation approachable enough that perhaps people (white people) can learn from it. And not just sweep our dark history (and present) under the rug.