Let's talk about race.

Race is often the proverbial elephant in the room among educated Americans.  We have a President who is a man of color, yet we had another unfortunate shooting of a black teenager  in Missouri. It seems we can talk about anything in this country except race.  It took an author from Nigeria - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche to talk about race and how we see ourselves and other.
Adiche who is from Nigeria brings us Americanah, a love story, but a really effective book about race.  Her heroine, an educated, attractive, middle class young woman from Nigeria comes to the Unites States where she discovers that she is black. Told through a series of blog entries, our heroine Ifemelu relates the perceptions of Americans toward blacks, towards immigrants, towards Africans, towards anyone from a Third World Country. Do we see the person or the color? Which African country do you come from? Do you have schools there? How nice that you speak English! Why don't you straighten your hair?
Americanah is never preachy or judgmental.  It is, however, a good beginning for a meaningful dialog about race. And, by the way, it is a love story between two individuals for each other and for their homeland.