Read For Free Youll Never Believe What Happened To Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism Engineered By Amber Ruffin Made Available In Paper Copy

are everyday stories of racism that happen to Black people with the consistency of breathing, and according to author Amber Ruffin, they fit into three categories: "okay to talk about at work," "okay to talk about with your white friend," and "okay to talk about at home.
"

Since I want to hear all the stories, this was the perfect book for me.
If I were Black, I'd probably have laughed a lot more than I did in recognition.
But I'm white, so although there were an alarming amount of outrages that I did relate to as an "ethnic" show biz's diagnosis of my "type" when I was an actor traveling Europe and the Midwest in thes and 's, mostly I just gasped and incorporated this into my education.
Even if you've had people change seats to avoid your ethnic self, even if you've shared a bunkhouse with a bunch of college girls who loved to talk about "the dirty Jews" and then when you revealed that this was your family, even if the mother of one of these dirtyJewhating girls visited to examine you for horns, you

will not come close to the everyday experiences of Lacey and Amber.
Even if you've heard racist things incomprehensibly come out of white mouths of people who worked in spiritual places where diversity is the norm, you will be shocked by the sheer magnitude of these stories.
This is not to say this book is depressing, Not at all. And I did laughsometimes hard, But I was humbled by most of the stories in this book and that's why I read it.


Amber Ruffin is a comedy writer and improviser, and her sister Lacey Lamar is an apparent magnet for outrageous behavior by white people.
The experiences are mostly Lacey's, but Amber has a comedian's timing and they are perfectly paced with plain funny stuff and photosone of a palatecleansing duckling to give the reader a rest with a cute pause.
Relief.

This is a valuable addition to book lists for white readers who want to do catchup truthlearning after a whiteschool education and growing up in a mostly segregated community.



Until, we are invited to contribute public comments to proposed legislative revisions of our education system.
Learning about this evoked this blog: sitelink"Why I Support Changes in American History Education".
I've added the Ruffin/Lamar book to the blog's footnote list of helpful books that I've read in the past few years.
The link to post comments about the proposed revisions to the American education system is at the end of the blog body text.

Writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin writes with her sister Lacey Lamar with humor and heart to share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism.


Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal.
" But Amber's sister Lacey She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey.


From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet alltooreal anecdotes.
She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think "I can say whatever I want to this woman.
" And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laughoutloud sisterly banter, Painfully relatable or shockingly eyeopening depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores, this book tackles modernday racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.
Ask any Black woman how many microaggressions she deals with daily and shell likely laugh at you and tell you theres no way she could keep count because they happen so often.
Is it tiring, yes. Does it make you want to pluck your eyelashes out one by one at times, yes.
But occasionally you stop and think about the ridiculousness of it all and you have no other choice than to laugh.


Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar have written a book that perfectly encapsulates the world that so many of us live in.
However, Lacey seems to have a microaggression magnet on her forehead, You know how some people attract crazy Lacey attracts polite, and sometimes not so polite, racists.
Living in Omaha or anywhere in the U, S. cant help, but I promise the stories she tells are relatable whether youre in the midwest or the midatlantic region.
Whether its a cashier asking if the Harriet Tubman image on your checks is actually you, being the only Black person at work, being told youre safe as a Black woman because no one kidnaps Black women or the assumption that youre from a single parent household even though you grew up with both parents in the house being Black in perceived white spaces can be a lot.
And yet, Lacey seems to find the humor in it all,

The stories are told with enough lightheartedness that I found myself cackling, and I can appreciate this somewhat strategic move to put white readers at ease as they slowly, but surely, start to think about which of the cringeworthy and downright offensive acts theyve committed themselves.
But this book isnt meant just for white readers who are looking to learn how to be and do better, its also an affirmation for Black women whove questioned their sanity after a day in the life where their humanity is questioned simply for existing in a world that dares them to be in its space.

This book made me deeply ashamed and angry and just generally gobsmacked and I spent a great deal of time while reading it doing the same thing over and over.
I'd read a passage, do a kind of gaspy, horrified laugh thing, put the book down on my lap and breathe out "oh my gooooooddddddd.
"

Authors Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar assure readers from the beginning that these stories of the various racist encounters they've had in their lifetimes are supposed to be hilarious.
They've been laughing about them for years, Lacey's magnetic ability to attract the creme de la creme of racist morons is the stuff of Ruffin family legend.
They have to laugh because so many of these stories are just so absurd they're hilarious.


The biggest issue white readers of this book the at least moderately aware of the world we live in ones are going to have is the sheer unbelievability of half the shit Lacey deals with on a daily basis.
The dimwitted racist douchebags that populate her world and the staggering volume of racist bullshit they throw at her on a daily basis is so insane it just defies any kind of reason.
It seriously takes a minute to get your head around the fact that these are true stories, they are that horrifyingly absurd.
You, a reasonable white person who knows that racism is a thing will definitely think at least once while reading this any or all of the following

"this can't be real.
"

"no one is this stupid, "

"no one would ever actually say that!"

"she put her hand IN her hair Like her whole hand Into a total stranger's head of hair!"

"I have no idea at all how to even begin to fix this.
"

And you will laugh, I defy you not to laugh, Amber, a brilliant comedian and writer and as of this very minute new NBC late night host! and Lacey are crazy funny ladies.
But it'll be that weird laughter I mentioned before, The breathy, awkward, I almost want to throw this book across the room so I can distance myself from the people doing the thing that's making me laugh, kind of laughter.


The harder part comes when you realize that its not just that these stories are true its that Lacey is just one woman.


If Lacey has to spend her days trying to decide if its worth her job to report the head of food service at the senior living facility she works in for calling all the black employees "hood rats" to their faces or dealing with coworkers who weren't sure if they should have salad at a potluck for her birthday because "we didn't know if you people ate salad" can you imagine what every single other Black person in this country puts up with

Why have I never spent any time thinking about that before

I mean my god.


We just get to see the big stuff, We get to get angry about George Floyd and Brianna Taylor and don't get me wrong we should get really angry about them but sweet jesus we've got to start getting angry and vocal about this shit too.


If we have any hope of correcting the horror that is systemic racism in this country we have to start holding ourselves and the people around us accountable for this kind of bullshit.
We can't keep acting like its a Black person's job to educate us about why something is racist or just generally inappropriate and we can't stand there silently when we see or hear people doing or saying stupid, racist shit.
We know, we always know when its happening, We like to pretend that its not our problem to fix or that we're doing what we can but we can always be doing more.


We have to get comfortable with the idea of shutting this shit down or at the very least pointing it out when its happening.
You're not doing something wrong when you point out that someone's language or comment or costume is racist or ignorant.
Even if they act all upset or confused or start whining that you don't get the joke or you're the one who's racist.


The worst, absolute worst thing we can do is stay quiet, That's WHY its still happening, Because we, the one's who are supposed to know better, can't manage to open our mouths and say something.


We have to take responsibility for all of it, All the "well grandpa's from another time" or "well its middle America what do you expect!" kind of nonsense that we let slide.
I had to stop myself from doing that while I was reading this! Most of the action here is in North Dakota and I amguilty of lulling myself into a nice little blissful "no one acts like that where I live" fantasy that I had to shake myself out of.


This book is hilarious and eye opening and disturbing on a very deep level.
It should be disturbing to any white reader, I imagine, and the Ruffin sisters point it out, that it will be very, very familiar to every Black reader.


I know it doesn't mean anything, like at all, to these two women who are beautiful and funny and smart but I'm very fucking sorry.
I will be better. I will not try to be better, I will be better. .