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This is one of the most powerful and enlightening books about race I've ever read. It's also one of the most powerful and enlightening books about music I've ever read. To be able to do those two things at once, and to have one enlighten the other and vice versa, while also inviting the reader in with such a warm voice, like an old friend sharing stories on the porch, without judgement or snobbishness, with an aim at understanding and love is an absolute miracle. That he was able to reach such heights with almost every essay here is astounding.

I think something I've noticed about the way he explains racial misunderstandings is that a lot of times it comes from a lack of context.

It's like a person who has never been hungry looking at someone who is starving and asking "why are you acting this way? Why aren't you using the proper utensils and being proper?" and just not understanding that how they (someone who has been fed) would act is different and not at all relevant to the starving person's predicament.

A lot of this is about survival, and when it's not about survival, it's about joy. About enjoying the moment BECAUSE you never know how long you're gonna get to.

Also: even though some of this music might not be your jam, don't let that deter you. The music writing here served as an eye opening way for me to enter worlds I was not aware of before. Even when I didn't enjoy the same music he's talking about, the essays here made me appreciate where each artist was coming from and how to listen, how differently one can listen (in all senses of that verb: to listen).

Lastly: unlike most books on race, this one actually gives me a strange hopefulness, while still being gut-wrenchingly realistic about the horrible state of the world.