Loving Across the Color Line: A White Adoptive Mother Learns about Race

With her background as a civil rights lawyer and a professor of law at the University of Florida, Rush believed she had seen the ugliness of racism and understood the depth of the issue. However, it wasn't until she adopted an African-American girl that she fully recognized the pervasiveness of discrimination and racial injustice in America. Combining academic theory with poignant personal examples, Rush contends that, as far as we've journeyed toward understanding race relations, we have much further to go. She writes, ""In my opinion, race relations in America are at an impasse because White society denies racism is a continuing problem, which causes Black society to question America's commitment to equality."" Backing up her statement with specific examples, Rush describes how her daughter had to fight to get into gifted classes although her I.Q. should have secured her placement. In one particularly heart-wrenching story, her daughter is exiled to the back of the classroom during a special ""Dinosaur Day"" presentation, although there is room available in the front next to her white classmates. Although the incident seems minor at first, the author uses it to show the unrelentingly poor treatment of her daughter, and her own struggles to overcome disbelief and frustration over myriad occurrences of a similar nature. Eschewing bitterness and condemnation, Rush instead ends the book with a lengthy and articulate prescription for improving race relations, including the creation of safe places for children to talk about race and the encouragement of dialogue between whites and African-Americans. This multilayered memoir, written with honesty and passion, is a much-needed and powerful addition to the literature on race. (May)