Some of My Best Friends: Writings on Interracial Friendships

By Emily Bernard

Book Overview

In this unusually honest book of essays and other writings, Emily Bernard examines the complexities of interracial friendships: Latino and white, black and Asian, black and Jewish. In essays from such celebrated writers as Pam Houston, Darryl Pickney, Luis Rodriguez, and Susan Straight, among many others, you'll meet a young Italian American college student who rooms with a sophisticated young black man who can trace his college-educated elders back several generations; a second-generation Korean American from the "hood" who is more comfortable with Latinos and blacks than with Korean kids who grew up in the suburbs; and a Jewish man who reflects on his friendship with a black opera singer. Though culturally and ethnically at odds, perhaps, they call each other friends; working together, playing together, opening their homes and hearts, even when they have every reason not to.

Sometimes controversial, sometimes funny, but always thought-provoking, Some of My Best Friends is a timely work on a subject that has yet to be fully explored.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060082771
• ISBN13: 9780060082772
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

In America, the Racists are Still Winning

This is an eclectic collection of testimonials by those occupying America's most infamous "no mans land," the intersection on the nation's Social grid between the dominant racist culture and those struggling to integrate it -- despite the nation's deep reservoir of racism. In every instance, these are quiet but profoundly heroic tales about those struggling out on the very slippery precipice of our society trying to maintain a modicum of dignity while not genuflecting under the withering pressure to conform to the omnipresent racist norms and standards. Almost all have willingly paid the price in living lives, often of quiet desperation, always of self-imposed denial and always by distorting their own lives to coexist with a racist way of life. More than anything else, this is a mostly upbeat reminder of how deeply embedded the newest form of racism, the seemingly more benign, yet much more (passive) aggressive form, is. Even though this group straddling America's no mans land is slowly increasing, they remain stranded "in" but never completely "of" America. They are often brutally cut off by both sides of the color divide from the normal connections one would find in a more civilized society. Yet, they push on relentlessly, surprisingly making a much larger impact on the racist culture than their numbers would suggest. Thank God for their courage! For the sake of the rest of us they must keep pushing! In a more perfect world, or in an America that took its cherished values and principles seriously, there would be no need for these stories, or a need for telling them. This book proves, with dramatic "lived" evidence that in America, despite exaggerated claims to the contrary: the racists are still winning. Five Stars.

A moving collection on a difficult subject.

Emily Bernard tackles a complex and often uncomfortable subject with grace, humor, and true feeling. Her selection of contributors is intriguing and they approach the subject from all sorts of angles you might not expect. Truly a means to opening a very important dialogue.