This is an optimistic book. And that will stay with me. It is also a realistic book and that will also stay with me. The full title is Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing by Benjamin Todd Jealous.
The title make sense but to explain takes a while. So I’ll just skip that part and hope you are curious enough to get the book.I thank Netgalley for allowing me to read it before publication. The book will be released January 10.
The optimism hits me first.
We are all cousins. We generally don’t treat all of humanity, or even all of our fellow Americans, that way but it is true. Most of us know our first cousins and often second or even third cousins, Maybe some know the 4th, 5th or 6th cousins but usually not. There are various degrees of cousinship. And there are often multiple ways of being related. I have a few who are second cousins and also half third cousins.
One of my hobbies is genealogy so I can get a bit carried away with this stuff. I am also a geneticist, so again this type of thing is an occupational hazard.
The story where he attended a dinner, talked to a someone he had not known, and they figured out that his new friend’s family once owned his family and they were probably fairly close cousins both surprised and pleased me. So now I have a cousin Ben and a cousin Maggie.
But cousin Ben was also realistic about discussing the racial divisions and other problems in the United States. His discussion of racism is especially interesting.
But to get back to the earlier point, it would be better if we remember that we are all cousins. Rather than allow skin color or political views to divide us, let our shared humanity unite us.
Some are better at this than others but I suspect we could all be a bit better. This book is definitely worthwhile and I recommend it highly.