February - theme: Black History Month
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
I listened to Jo Piazza’s podcast 'under the influence' about Mommy influencers when Ella was a newborn and enjoyed it enough to buy her latest book. It then sat on my shelves for 2 years.
Anyway, now I’ve got round to reading it, this was a fairly decent read. Riley and Jen are best friends since childhood, one black, one white. When Jen’s husband Kevin (a cop) accidentally shoots a black teenager in the line of duty and Riley has to report on it on the local news, it drives a wedge between the two women. An interesting take on how hard it is to talk about race in modern America even between lifelong friends. How different the experiences two women have due to the color of their skin even when they come from the same neighborhood and socio-economic background. Reading this book I felt very privileged that as a white person I don’t honestly think about race very much in my day to day life. Thanks Cristine and Jo for reminding me that the legacy of slavery and the Jim Crow era is not far beneath the surface in America.