Now that I've finished Devil in the Grove, I have a little more to say.
I was talking about the book with a young black man at the gym. He asked if I'd ever witnessed a racist incident. I couldn't really think of any: because they didn't happen or because I don't recognize them, the way men don't see dirty dishes? (For what it's worth, I more than once missed an antisemitic remark until some (non-Jewish) friends bristled.)
At one point, he mentioned being asked for identification whenever he uses his credit card. Oh hmmm, I've never been asked for ID when I use mine.
The book's subtitle "the Dawn of a New America" is justified: That trial and Thurgood Marshall's work were a big part of how people's minds & hearts have changed over the last 60 or so years. Not entirely, not by a long shot, but plenty.
I was talking about the book with a young black man at the gym. He asked if I'd ever witnessed a racist incident. I couldn't really think of any: because they didn't happen or because I don't recognize them, the way men don't see dirty dishes? (For what it's worth, I more than once missed an antisemitic remark until some (non-Jewish) friends bristled.)
At one point, he mentioned being asked for identification whenever he uses his credit card. Oh hmmm, I've never been asked for ID when I use mine.
The book's subtitle "the Dawn of a New America" is justified: That trial and Thurgood Marshall's work were a big part of how people's minds & hearts have changed over the last 60 or so years. Not entirely, not by a long shot, but plenty.