And complaining (as so many are doing now) that people are too sensitive is just another way to admit that one would rather ignore the damage caused by continued racism than confront one's role in continued perpetration of racism. This just proved that trying to understand a community means intentionally looking beyond what you already know or have heard of - this isn't easy. If there's one issue I had, it's that there was some stereotyping of the lone Indian character in the book - bangles, bindi - stuff that's very common in India but not seen commonly in US schools. The people talking about anti-racism are almost always the people least affected by it and often colored people are treated as interchangeable and names mixed up (gosh - the number of times that has happened to me - it's frustrating). There is a constant expectation, even if unstated, to prove one's commitment and capabilities. Much of the race treatment is not overt as they sometimes are not in institutions that are trying to be more race-aware but very implicit and full of false assumptions.īoth books do a great job of showing how many race-related incidents a colored student may run into on a typical day at school. The thread of race and racism runs through both the books - a lot of Jordan's and Drew's experiences are colored by it, whether they are trying to find a book at the library (and are constantly handed out books about survival versus say, magic kingdoms), or they play sports (and are expected to be very talented), or they talk about their neighborhoods (and are assumed to be poor). Class Act focuses more on Drew and his struggles at the school - how he is intentionally set apart by some of the teachers and his race-related experiences treated as imaginary.
His friend, Drew Ellis, who is also black, struggles more than Jordan does, if it is even fair to compare experiences in racism and micro-aggressions. As the school year progresses, he learns how to deal with micro-aggressions and also respond when he is expected to teach the black perspective and experience to his white teachers or students. He isn't sure if he will ever fit in even after he meets the handful of black or brown students enrolled at the school. In New Kid, Jordan Banks would like to go to an art school, but his parents have a different idea - they enroll him at a prestigious private school that had mostly white students and a social makeup that didn't match his current lifestyle or neighborhood.
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