"Black Like Me"~~~TarHeelGirl

A while back I read a book called "Black Like Me" about a white man who had his skin temporarly darkened and then traveled the south. The book is basically his experiences/encounters with both black and white people in several southern cities. The book even discusses what happened to the man after his experiment such as being threatened by white people of his town. (Parts of his book were published in newpapers before the publication of the book itself.) This all took place in the 1950s.

Ever since I read that book, I have wondered what would happen if someone did the same thing now...50 years later. I wonder just how much would have changed. Of course, the person who trys it won't have to sit on the back of the bus or be mindful of what water fountain he drinks from..but it would be interesting to see how others interact with that person and have them compare that to how others interact with him as a white person.

If someone did ever try this experiment again, I would hope that they wouldn't resrict themselves to the south. In recent years, more and more hate groups have popped up in the north and north west parts of the country. From my own research, I noticed a trend for hate groups to be based in Northern states rather than southern states contrary to popular belief.

I also know that here in the south, there are still many with misinformed ideas about minorities...I know that quite often, I hear people making racist comments to me because they believe that because I was white, I would think like them...of course they soon found that this was not the case.

Do you think that it would be a good experiment to try now? And what do you think would be found? Do you think that we would find that things have changed a lot or that the hate has only been hidden from public view?

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