We both liked this book, we were grateful that the horrors these boys lived through (reform school) was told without too much gory detail. But the awfulness of their experience, of the rampant racism and resulting violence is there.
Elwood, a boy with a bright future.
Boys he meets at Nickel (school) included Mr Harper (one of the staff who was more lenient sometimes) and Turner.
The author uses the metaphor of a marathon. How black bodies are "hobbled and handicapped" before the race begins -- hobbled by racism.
A quote: "The boys had been trained to wait until spoken to before talking to a white man. Learned this is their earliest days, in school, on the streets and roads of their dusty towns. Had it reinforced at Nickel: You are a colored boy in a white man's world."
The author, Colson Whitehead, says he heard about Arthur Dozier School for Boys (Marianna, Fl) thru extensive reporting in 2014. So yes, this horrible history happened. And it wasn't that long ago. There are people today whose brothers or uncles disappeared beyond the gates of that school. Or other schools like it.
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