Amber Ruffin

Years ago I tried to tell my book club of a couple of articles I'd read that documented poor pregnancy outcomes in Black women compared to White women regardless of education or financial status. They thought I was nuts or at least exaggerating. Amber Ruffin and Lacey explain the phenomenon perfectly even though there's nothing about pregnancy in the book. There's this middle-class family of well-educated nerds, they love art and literature and math. They love sitting at the front of the show more class so the teacher can see what smarties they are. Yet throughout their lives, wherever they go (J. C. Pennys is prominent) they're assumed to be poor, ignorant, thieving prostitutes. As Amber says, "What?" If one of the things that happened to them happened to me I would be in a complete tizzy, yet they have to endure mean racist comments, off-hand racist comments, or "well meaning" racist comments continually. Amazingly, they have kept their sense of humor, but such attacks have to keep a body continually stressed, continually ready for fight or flight. Human bodies are not supposed to function under such assault. And Amber laughs through the whole book, and little Lacey is a bodybuilder. The combination of the horrid subject matter with Amber's comedic presentation is magical. show less

This follow-up to You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism overflows with more crappy white people dropping microaggressions and blatant racism by the ton.

It's simultaneously funny and horrifying, especially since I moved last year to Omaha, the city where most of the stories occur, and I've lived in Iowa and Wisconsin where some of the other stories are set. And, yeah, I can find all the stories all too easy to believe based on my time in all those areas.

My show more only reservation about the book is that, like the first, it is a really random string of anecdotes. The sisters make fine hosts, escorting the reader through the stories, but the scattershot nature affected my focus at times.

The baby step takeaway: OMG, fellow white folks, stop touching Black people's hair already! I grew up in the Midwest, and I know "keep your hands to yourself" was covered in kindergarten and revisited all the way through high school. show less

You WILL believe these stories, but you'll wish for a world where you couldn't. My jaw literally dropped a number of times, especially at the HR lady stories. About as fun as listening to racist stories can possibly be (which is to say, the presentation is funny, but the content is distressingly depressing)...but it sure doesn't make me want to move to Omaha.

God damn this is a tough listen, and it makes me horrified to know that white people are this racist. Amber Ruffin is a comedian, so she keeps up this very upbeat voice acting while telling these stories about her sister Lacey (& some of hers too); it made me keep uttering these laughing yelps of horror throughout. I want every white person to read/listen to this and hopefully come to some sort of reckoning with themselves. It’s helping me in calling out other white people and paying show more attention in my life too. show less