February 4, 2012I can see the point about it being not a good idea, and I’m not sure I disagree about it.One thing that bugs me, thuogh, is that 2 of my friends on facebook announced they would honor Black History Month by reading a book authored by an African-American. I could perhaps understand them trying to read about a particular person or event they thuoght was important, but simply to pick a book based on the skin color of the author struck me as being just wrong, almost counter to the spirit of Black History Month. Patronizing was one word that came to mind. Then again, is using skin color to pick the author any different than deciding to read a biography because the subject was African-American? If I, or anyone else, decided to read a certain book because the subject was an African-American, is that less patronizing than deciding based on the author’s skin color?
February 4, 2012I can see the point about it being not a good idea, and I’m not sure I disagree about it.One thing that bugs me, thuogh, is that 2 of my friends on facebook announced they would honor Black History Month by reading a book authored by an African-American. I could perhaps understand them trying to read about a particular person or event they thuoght was important, but simply to pick a book based on the skin color of the author struck me as being just wrong, almost counter to the spirit of Black History Month. Patronizing was one word that came to mind. Then again, is using skin color to pick the author any different than deciding to read a biography because the subject was African-American? If I, or anyone else, decided to read a certain book because the subject was an African-American, is that less patronizing than deciding based on the author’s skin color?