Essential Racial Justice Read

Recitatif- Toni Morrison

It’s also a damn good short story. There is such nuance and to mince in a bad cliche, it is not all black and white. Twyla and Roberta first meet within the confines of an orphanage for children, St. Bonny’s (named after St. Bonaventure), because each has been taken away from her mother. Roberta’s mother is ill; Twyla’s mother “just likes to dance all night.” We learn immediately that the girls look different from one another: one is black, one is white, although we are not told which is which. Despite their initially hostile feelings, they are drawn together because of their similar circumstances.

And it is not about solving which is which. It is more about letting the story take place, mix in a bit of self reflection and letting the wonder that is Toni Morrison occupy your world for an evening.