While beginning this book I didn't expect it to cover what it has. I expected to read about race tensions in a city with a high crime rate but instead I'm reading of a churches congregational issues. At first glance I probably wouldn't have noticed anything different at this church but as the authors began to dig at the underline story many things are brought to the front line. Never would I have thought that, even though this was written in the early 2000s, that this much "damage control" needed to be handled, especially in a church.
I say damage control in the sense of there being such great racial tension but integration of the same collection of people. Although they "deal" with each other they still seem to realize there is a divide that holds strong long after church service is over. One of the things that I found very interesting was the story of Ruben Burches family. It showed a totally more relevant story than many that I have heard about race relations and issues, but i appreciated it because many times African Americans dismiss the idea of submitting or "selling out" to other ethnicity's when that may not be the case. We hiss and utter at the idea of other people not liking certain races when we as African Americans also do the same but feel as though we should have more leeway because of our Nations History.
Howard Pugh's anecdote struck me in many ways as I was reading. He and his wife elaborate on their joining of the church, and remark on how proud they are of how far they have come from their past beliefs on race. I was originally upset at how content the Pugh's were at their progress, as I felt they still have a lot of room to change and grow. I realized my own bias towards white people who hold racial prejudices when I was specifically perturbed at Mrs. Pugh's remark about "[Howard] where did you bring me? Are there any white people here?". I was originally taken aback by this comment, but I tried to imagine living in a community and/or family who does not value racial among other types diversity. As we commented in class, I think the people in this church have definitely made immense progress as compared to where they came from, and I hope that the level of understanding between the groups is increasing even today.
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