“Violence is the only lever big enough to move the world.”–written by the Pulitzer-Prize winning author, Colson Whitehead in his novel <The Nickel Boys> based on true story.
The Nickel Boys and the White House Boys share similar stories—though the former exist in the world of fiction, and the latter in reality.
Can The Nickel Boys help the White House Boys gain justice, or future abuse from happening?
Whitehead said he’s doubtful.
“The kind of abuse that we’re talking about speaks to a great flaw in human character, and that’s not going away,”
Whitehead said. “I think the people who actually are in charge of things aren’t big readers of novels. I don’t think they’ll pick up The Nickel Boys and extract any lessons from history.
“I don’t think that people who need to read a book like this, will read a book like this.”
What Whitehead said is sad but true to my experience. When I worked in a private school, I was a minority there. The school sponsored me to go to the people of color conference. But once I got there, I was surprised. I thought more white teachers may like to learn about how to work with colored students or staff.
On the contrary, I only saw most of the attendees were people of color. I was confused. Isn’t the conference supposed to share with people more about working with people of color? I was wrong. It’s for the people of color to find a place and feel supported in their own group.