Lies We Tell Ourselves

i read the first 50 pages a few years ago and the subject was too heavy for me to read at the time but i finally got around to reading it and wooooow.

it's set in america in 1959 and its about the first black students attending an all white school. I'm australian so i didn't learn alot about american history but segregation in america was one of the things we did learn so i'm happy i had some info before starting this book.

I grew up in australia. Back in 1999 it was very white. I didn't know black people existed until 2011. I didn't have internet, The tv shows i watched were australian or british (aka very white) and i never saw a black person. ever. When i found out that people of other colours existed, i was confused because why haven't i ever seen them? A year later i found out that racism existed. i did not learn about any black history until i was 17. thats CRAZY. We were finally taught about the racism in america in 2016. TWENTY SIXTEEN!
My sister was born 2003 and i grew up thinking she was white (we have different dads) and its crazy how my childhood was so white and i didn't see any other colour even though it was right in front of my face. My sister is aborignal australia, shes from the OLDEST culture and civilisation in the world. She experiences racism every single day. From family, friends, school. She got in trouble for reporting the racism she endured at school. SHE got in trouble. Its like what Sarah endured during this book. The white people want POC to stay quiet and out of the way. Its clear to see its still happening today as i have my sister to tell me about the many slurs she gets called everyday.

Phenomenal writing and i can't wait to read more from Robin talley!!