The Help: Better Late Than Never

I finished reading "the help" several weeks ago, but I've been kind of busy and without the internet. Camille mentioned something about me living in Jackson, and honestly, I don't remember much since I was only 3-6 years old. However, this book did make me realize that when people talk about how there is still a lot of racism in the south, that they are right. In the past, whenever I have heard people talk about racism in the U.S. I always think they are exaggerating. In my head I'm thinking "come on people! That was a long time ago! Most people think differently now!" But as I read this book I thought about those young housewives in the 1960's who had black women working in their homes and who were themselves probably raised by their black maids. I thought about the fact that if those women were in their 20's during the 1960's that means they are in their 60's now! That is like my mom's age and that isn't very old. It made me realize that the people who grew up in the south during times of segregation are still pretty young. I'm sure they have tried their best to overcome their feelings of superiority to black people, but you can't just magically undo 20 plus years of life experience. So of course racism is still a huge issue in the south.
On to my next thought, which I hope nobody finds offensive. As I was reading I kept wondering what I would have done if I were one of those girls who was raised in the south during that time. Would I feel that black people were inferior? Would I have a maid? Would I treat them badly? I want so badly to believe that I would not, but it started me thinking about how we adopt the culture and mindsets we are raised in. And all of us are living a good example of that as members of the church. Now, I realize that this is different because we have all gained for ourselves personal testimonies of the gospel and we aren't just blindly following. But at the same time, my guess is that not many of us SERIOUSLY doubted the truths we were taught growing up; we are pretty willing to believe what our parents have taught us all of our lives. I feel like for me especially, I was (and still am) never the type of person to question what I'd been taught from my parents. For that reason, I doubt that I would be the Skeeter type, even though I want so badly to be compared to the 'good' person in the book. I don't want to be one of those crazy stupid girls, but you never know. And recent events have people outside of the church comparing us to racists. As members of the church and many other good, moral people campaigned for proposition 8 in California, we were compared to people like the women in "The Help". I however, strongly disagree with the comparison, but we can't be blind to the fact that other people think there is not a difference. Some people believe that we are discriminating and hateful. So those are just a couple of thoughts I had while reading the book. Overall I LOVED it. If you will notice, my book choices have followed a theme: the South. I didn't even mean for that to happen, but I guess I am a southerner now. Camille, I'm also wondering why the part with the naked man was included; it just kind of popped out of nowhere. Love you all!