Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

In America, racism is alive and having a significant impact on the lives of people of color. There is a myth, particularly among white Americans, that racism is over and solved and that minorities no longer experience discrimination to any notable degree. Mira’s friend refers to a theory from Kiese Laymon, which calls these Americans sleepwalkers: “most white people are sleepwalking when it comes to racism in America. The don’t see it so they think it doesn’t exist anymore. Forcing them to see that it is happening here, now, is like waking up a sleepwalker. They get disoriented. Angry at you instead of about the racism itself” (286). To add to this issue, there are others still who refuse to acknowledge the racism that deep down they know exists. Jed’s parents refuse to watch videos of protesters being assaulted and will not talk to Mira about the effects Trump’s election is having on her, Z, and people like them. Mira’s friend also points out that “the people that look like [Z] getting beaten up, the ones cheering it on, the ones sitting by and watching it happen, the ones saying, ‘don’t show me this, I don’t want to see it’—it’s all turning into one big question in his mind.