Unity Church-Unitarian
  • Home
  • Newcomers
    • Welcome!
    • Map and Directions
    • Sunday Services
    • Pathway to Membership
    • Unitarian Universalism
    • Visiting with Kids
  • Worship
    • Ministers
    • Monthly Theological Themes
    • Music >
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2019
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2018
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2017
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2016
      • Arthur Foote Music Sunday 2015
      • Music Collection
    • Sermon Archive & Podcasts
    • Sundays >
      • Parish Hall Table Request
      • Welcome Teams
      • Worship Associates
  • Service & Learning
    • Adult Learning and Spiritual Practice >
      • Artist in Residence
      • Chalice Circles
      • Spiritual Direction
      • Thresholds
    • Cairns Arts Journal
    • Children and Youth >
      • Religious Education >
        • Registration
        • Calendar
        • Teacher Resources
        • Nursery Care
        • Spirit Play - Ages 3-6
        • Workshop Rotation: Grades 1-6
        • Grades 6-8
        • Our Whole Lives
        • Grade 9 Coming of Age >
          • Coming of Age Youth Application
          • Coming of Age Mentor Selection Form
        • Summer Sundays in the Garden
      • Family and Story Sundays
      • Celebration of New Lives
      • Chalice Camp
      • Childcare Request Form
      • Children's Musical >
        • Children's Musical Cast Page
      • Christmas Pageant >
        • Pageant Centennial
      • Fellowship Opportunities
      • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Community Outreach Ministry Social Justice >
      • Act for the Earth
      • Affordable Housing
      • Evergreen Projects
      • Generosity Ministry
      • Gun Sense
      • Mano a Mano
      • Obama School
      • Partner Church
      • Racial and Restorative Justice
    • Library and Bookstall
    • Literary Ministry
    • Music Ministry
    • Parish Hall Artists >
      • Art Share
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Affiliated Ministry
    • UU Families
    • Volunteer Corner
    • Wellspring Wednesday
  • Fellowship
    • All Groups
    • Children and Youth
    • LGBTQ+
    • Men
    • Mix with Six
    • Wellspring Wednesday
    • Women
    • Young Adults
  • Governance
    • Board of Trustees >
      • Ministerial Transition
    • Values Mission Ends
    • Unitarian Universalist Association
    • Unity Consulting
  • Stewardship
    • Annual Pledge
    • 2021 Fundraiser
    • Broker Information
    • Make a Gift/Payment
    • Planned Giving • Heritage Society
  • News
    • commUNITY Newsletter >
      • Current Issue
    • Beloved Community News
  • Calendar
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Facilities & Rentals >
      • EPT
    • Map and Directions
    • Membership Directory
    • Staff
    • Unity Church History
    • Unitarian Universalism

Beloved Community Book Review

2/21/2020

0 Comments

 
The Nickel Boys by Colton Whitehead
Doubleday, 2019
By Shelley Butler

 
Before I even ordered a copy of The Nickel Boys, I read its many accolades: longlisted for the National Book Award, Kirkus Award-winner, National Book Critics Circle Book Award finalist, one of the Top Ten Books of the year of Time magazine, New York Times bestseller (of course), and great book reviews. They had me at the National Book Award but this one stood out to me the most: “A necessary read.” — President Barack Obama
 
The “Nickel boys” refers to a group of boys in, and later survivors of, a horrifying fictional reform school in Florida. We meet Elwood in the early 1960s at the home of his grandmother, who is raising him. He is an earnest boy with plans to go to the local black college, and he is discovering hope and power through the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
Through no fault of his own, he is arrested and sentenced to the Nickel Academy, a juvenile reform school for boys as young as five years old, with no fixed term of detention. Boys are supposed to be educated, earn their way up a ladder of good deeds to get out, and turned back into the world as good men. Elwood soon learns that Nickel is as abusive, corrupt, and criminal a place as could possibly exist.
 
The “reform school” is segregated, but Whitehead makes clear that being white doesn’t give you much, if any, advantage at a place like this.
 
The Nickel Boys doesn’t take you into this house of horrors for no reason. Elwood sees and experiences some of the worst of it, but still hangs on to King’s message of maintaining dignity against all odds, and especially his words, “Throw us in jail and we will still love you.” His friend Turner is of an opposite point of view, just trying to stay alive and out of trouble in any way he can. The story revolves around the two points of view and the events that lead them to a startling conclusion. The reader will have to decide for themselves if either of them, or if both of them, is right.
 
And if you think by the end of the book that a place like this could not exist in the United States in our lifetimes, think again. This story was based on the traumatizing, life-altering true experiences at Dozier Academy. That it operated for 111 years and only closed in 2011 is only part of the anguish. The true stories of the “White House Boys,” survivors of the violence, tell of beatings so severe that some boys were beaten to death. The institution didn’t keep records of everyone who died there, some of whom were buried in unmarked graves. A team of forensic anthropologists began an investigation into deaths at the school, and the unmarked graves, and uncovered more and more bodies. The whole truth of the place may never be known.
 
How does this happen? Why were reports of abuse over the past 60 years not taken more seriously, the perpetrators of violence not brought to justice, and the institution closed? I think Whitehead’s point is that it did happen, and present-day America is not without its own versions of Nickel/Dozier boys cruelty.
 
When this title was recommended to the Beloved Community Staff Team, the Library and Bookstall Team, and the Racial and Restorative Justice Team, co-sponsors of the 2020 Unity Church Congregation Read, we all agreed it was a good choice. Books are for sale in the Unity Bookstall and a limited number to check out from the Anderson Library.
 
Please join the book discussions coming up on Sunday, February 23, at 12:30 p.m. and/or Wellspring Wednesday, February 26, at 7:15 p.m. Haven’t read or finished it yet? Come anyway — these are sure to be thought-provoking, maybe even action-provoking discussions.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    ​In 2016, the Beloved Community Staff Team was formed at Unity Church to strengthen and coordinate Unity’s anti-racism and multi-cultural work, and to share the stories of this journey with the wider community. We commit to sharing the struggles, the questions, and the collaborations here at Unity and in the wider world of our faith and city. The current members of the team include Rev. Janne Eller-Isaacs, Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs, Rev. KP Hong, Barbara Hubbard, Drew Danielson, Ahmed Anzaldúa, Laura Park, Karen Hering, Angela Wilcox, Pauline Eichten, and Erika Sanders. 

    Additional Resources

    Unity Justice Database
    As a “next right action,” the Racial and Restorative Justice Team asked the Library and Bookstall Team to team up to search for, vet, and organize resources related to anti-racism, defunding/reforming police, legislation around policing, etc.  The Unity Justice Database is your one-stop location for information about and links to books, articles, news, podcasts, films, events, organizations, and more. If you know of a good resource that is not already in the database, please do request that we add it. 
    Anti-Racism/Racism Resource in Unity's Library Collection
    White Supremacy Teach-in 2017
    Graphic: How to be a racial transformer

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    April 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© Unity Church-Unitarian • 733 Portland Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55104 • 651-228-1456 • unity@unityunitarian.org • A Welcoming Congregation
rainbow banner