Book 7 You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey

 

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories
about Racism
by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar fulfilled the category “Book Found on a Black
Lives Matter Reading List” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. I read the
book before I located a list for it. With its title and subject, I knew it
would be on someone’s list. A quick Google search led me to Subterranean Books
in St. Louis, MO. They had a fantastic list of BLM books, and you can purchase
it right there.

My husband and I recently discovered Amber Ruffin. We
are not TV watchers and get most of our videos from Facebook, Twitter, and
Google. Not to mention shares from friends and families. An old friend from
high school shared a few vids from Ms. Ruffin’s show and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Hubby bought
the audiobook read by both Ms. Ruffin and her sister, Lacey Lamar. Well, I had
to get my own copy to hear these stories. And wow, was I ignorant of the
blatant racism in the US.

I’m
from the East Coast and have liberal values. The Black Lives Matter Movement
has opened my eyes to the reality of living in this country if you are a person
of color. Through conversations with my husband, children, friends, and
coworkers, I’ve learned so much about my own internal bias. I’m working hard to
be a better person. I’m listening, asking questions, reading books, and
watching films to help me better understand the problem and be a part of the
solution.

That being said, wow, did this book open my eyes even
more. Because the authors use humor to tell their stories, it makes it easier
for non-POC to read and understand. I listened to the book. Ms. Ruffin narrated
most of it, but Ms. Lamar checked in a few times. It made the point of the book
more penetrating. Ms. Lamar faces ignorant ideas, conversations, and people
every day.

Every day.

Can you imagine working, living somewhere where most
of the population doesn’t see your value as a human being? I can’t. And I need to get
uncomfortable with the idea that people all around me are struggling with
systematic racism every single day. I need to ensure I’m not a part of it.

The book is very effective in presenting its message. The stories were
entertaining with the undercut of “this really happened and it’s not so funny.”
Any reader will take away much food for thought from this title. It’s a good “gateway”
book if you aren’t ready to read titles such as White Fragility or So
You Want to Talk about Race. (Also excellent books to get your head around
the problems we have in this country.)

I give You’ll Never Believe What
Happened to Lacey
by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar Five Rounds of Applause and 5 Deep Bows for
writing such an amazingly fun book about a tough topic.