My awareness of the impact of race was recently heightened by reading "The Grace of Silence". This is a memoir by Michele Norris, an African American author and National Public Radio journalist. It hits close to home for me, since I grew up about a half of a mile from Michele's home in south Minneapolis.
I've heard more than once from other white folk about how slavery has long been abolished in the United States and that now African Americans have no excuses to be lagging behind in many social indicators. Yet, the legacy of racism still resonates loudly for many people of color in this nation. As a person in the majority status I often take for granted the considerable privilege and acceptance that I receive on a daily basis. Michele's book was a great reminder for me of the vastly different experience one of my neighbors had growing up, simply because of her racial identity.
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