“And in "Elbow Room" the cast sings the glories of westward expansion in the United States, which involved the murder of native peoples and the violent conquest of half of Mexico. Among the lines in the song is one that intones, "There were plenty of fights / To win land right / But the West was meant to be / It was our Manifest Destiny?" Let it suffice to say that happily belting out a tune in which one merrily praises genocide is always easier for those whose ancestors weren't on the receiving end of the deal.”
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
“So, in "Melting Pot" the children (about a third of whom were kids of color) sang the line, "America was the new world and Europe was the old," in one stroke eradicating the narratives of indigenous persons for whom America was hardly new, and any nonwhite kids whose old worlds had been in Africa or Asia, not Europe.”
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
“The power of resistance is to set an example: not necessarily to change the person with whom you disagree, but to empower the one who is watching and whose growth is not yet completed, whose path is not at all clear, whose direction is still very much up in the proverbial air.”
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
“What whites have rarely had to think about—because being the dominant group, we are so used to having our will done, with a little effort at least—is that maybe the point is not victory, however much we all wish to see justice attained and injustice routed. Maybe our redemption comes from the struggle itself. Maybe it is in the effort, the striving for equality and freedom that we become human.”
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
― White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son
Camilla’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Camilla’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Polls voted on by Camilla
Lists liked by Camilla





















