Tag: racism

Colleen Van Niekerk’s — A conspiracy of mothers *****

Yolanda is haunted by the violent past she left behind in apartheid South Africa, but when she hears her mother calling her back, she knows she must return to Cape Town and face the daughter she abandoned twenty years ago. At her mother’s house, she learns of her mother’s disappearance and soon finds out that her daughter, Ingrid has discovered the secrets her family kept hidden from her since birth. Ingrid is furious and leaves Cape Town to meet a father, Stefan, she was told was dead. But she’s unaware of the violence stirred up by the coming elections, and the white hatred against the black majority who will take over the government. When Yolanda uncovers the danger Ingrid faces, she knows she must save her daughter before she reaches Stefan’s house. Will she arrive there in time?

Asha Lemmie’s — Fifty words for rain

A few years after the end of WW11, Noriko stands at the entrance to her grandmother’s mansion in Kyoto. Her mother has driven away, and she has no choice but to enter the property with her few belongings. Her grandmother hides her in the attic where she is ordered to stay and not venture into any other part of the house. No one should see her because she is an illegitimate child to an American father ruining the family’s prestigious name. When she is ten, her half-brother, Akiri arrives after his father’s death and her lonely life begins to improve, but will their stern grandmother allow Noriko to escape her seclusion?

Rebecca Carrol’s — Surviving the white gaze *****

Carroll’s well written memoir begins when she is a child given up for adoption by her white mother to a white family in New Hampshire where she is the only black child. Her childhood is carefree until she not only grows aware of the underlining prejudice of both teenage boys and their parents but reconnects with her controlling birth mother. Carroll’s journey is one of discovering her identity through perseverance and overcoming racist obstacles in her path.

Tanya Talaga’s — Seven fallen feathers *****

Canadian Journalist, Tanya Talaga chronicles the lives and deaths of seven First Nation teens in Thunder Bay who lost their lives after moving from remote Ontario communities to attend secondary school in the city.

In this non-fiction account, we learn about life in Thunder Bay for First Nation teens, about the Aboriginal parents and their communities who come together to search for the children when they first disappear, and their contact with police and how the Thunder Bay police handle each case.

This is a well written, must read for all Canadians so we grasp the systemic racist culture within the police force as well as the government and communities at large.