In some ways the Jonesport-Beals school system was lacking, but in some many other ways, I received a much better education, and an entire high-school experience, because I went to JBHS.
Diversity was a problem. Or not in a way… it simply wasn’t an issue at all. Every single one of us was white as can be. I think you had to go two towns over to find a person of color or even a Jewish person. … so yes… it was a problem. I grew up sheltered and ignorant. Buy, hey… we all have our problems.
I did have a wonderful teacher, Colleen Haskel, (who I hope reads this). She tried to expose us to the larger world and one way she did that was assigning the book Roots by Alex Haley.
The book .. I could spend days talking about it… It is incredible. So well written and so interesting. It takes you to a completely foreign jungle where people are living their best lives, to the hell that was slavery. It tells you a myriad of stories about one man’s descendants and in doing so, tells a story of America.
Read the book…. I tried watching the mini-serires… I’m sure it’s good, but the book!… read the book.
It’s not a guilt trip for white people, It’s a story about human beings doing human being things. The people in the story, the main characters, are black people. Now it shouldn’t take a book to realize black people are just regular human beings, but I gotta admit, it helped.
The story of black people in America is so very different from my family’s or the family of my friends. This book makes that very clear and I’m thankful that, unlike some of the other books I was assigned in high school, I actually read this one all the way through. It was a very good read, … hard to put down.
White people… do your homework… read Roots!
