One of my all time favorite books is "Purple Hibiscus" by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I've been using it in my 10th grade English class for six years. Every year I ask the students if I should continue teaching it, and this year, like in previous years, the overwhelming answer is "yes."
As the country implodes following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tyre King, Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald, and the names we do not know because they weren't recorded, I'm spending most of my time listening instead of commenting.
However, a conversation between characters in "Purple Hibiscus" has been echoing in my head since the murder of Mr. Arbery: "Do you try to treat cancer sores or the cancer itself?..You must try to heal the cancer because the sores will keep coming back.”
America's cancer is institutionalized racism. Trump, some police, many Americans are the sores.
The question for all of us (white people) is how do we act as individual cancer cells? Because let's face it. We all do. If you can't see that, then you're not being honest with yourself.
We need a cure, not a treatment. The cure begins with listening right now and really trying to understand the black experience in America and then looking in the mirror and committing to end this cancer, however we can.
