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A Chosen Exile

a History of Racial Passing in American Life
Oct 21, 2015
Bliss Broyard's book One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life: A Story of Race and Family Secrets, does an excellent job of exploring why this country ensures racial oppression and why some choose to escape it. When I first her about her father Anatole Broyard's racial passing, I considered it an affront to his racial identity. By the end of the book, I didn't have any harsh feelings about him, my anger was directed at the society that made it necessary for him to have to pass to achieve equality and freedom. Yes, freedom to use all of his talents and creativity without his "one drop" of black blood restricting his opportunities through discrimination and segregation. It's a part of daily life still hidden by extending opportunities to those we feel comfortable with and denying opportunities to those we do not.