ArianaK

Dear Mr. Aronson,

I recently read your book with my class. I thought that it stated some very key points about race in general.

For example, many times throughout your writing I found you stating things such as “Racial prejudice is born into the family circle, it is nurtured in the surrounding society.” (10) In relation to this statement, you have, throughout your book mentioned many ways that people acquire prejudices, but if everyone was of African descent only about 100,000 years ago, how could everyone have changed so much? I know that your forte is not in science, but it baffles me how quickly positions of superiority can change.

One of the things I enjoyed most about your book was how you used the first and second person. When you used the first person to address the reader (our class), I felt as if you were giving a speech, rather then simply writing an average nonfiction book. It made it feel as if you were actually in one of our classes, rather than just your words.

Then, when you use the second person, it’s no longer as if you are addressing the class, but each person individually. It personally made me more interested and have a better connection with Race.

One thing that I thought you could have added to your book was more on women’s rights. I know that sex and race are different, but many people who fought either for or against racial rights and privileges also did the same for women’s rights and privileges. I think that if you added that facet of historic people’s lives, the book would have had even more depth.

Before I end my letter, I have one more question in relation to a passage on pages 208-209: Why Germans? I am Jewish as well, and I share your contempt for Nazis, but not all Germans were Nazis. In fact, some of the most anti-Nazi people that I have met have been “Aryan” Germans.

But, I also think that that passage adds a reality to the book that was not there before. The rest of your book was stating facts about racism/prejudice and proving them with either science or history. But you proved that anyone and everyone can and will have prejudices such as the ones in your book, at some point in their life. But overall, I am truly sorry that you could feel such hatred toward one race.

Finally, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you Marc Aronson for writing this book. Thank you for clarifying race. Thank you for including both the historical and scientific ways that race has been defined. This really helped me to form my own opinions. And overall, thank you for coming to our class. I’m sure that everyone appreciates you spending your time with us.

Sincerely, Ariana Kamberelis