We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
Not every story is black and white.
Riley and Jen have been best friends since they were children, and they thought their bond was unbreakable. It never mattered to them that Riley is Black and Jen is white. And then Jen’s husband, a Philadelphia police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager and everything changes in an instant.
This one act could destroy more than just Riley and Jen’s friendship. As their community takes sides, so must Jen and Riley, and for the first time in their lives, the lifelong friends find themselves on opposing sides.
But can anyone win a fight like this?
We Are Not Like Them is about friendship and love. It’s about prejudice and betrayal. It’s about standing up for what you believe in, no matter the cost.
Whheewwww…this was a READ, yall.
This novel was a wrenching dual perspective novel that examines the friendship of two women–one white and one Black–and the barriers they must overcome that come to light after a horrific event.
This book was written by two real life friends, one white woman and one Black woman.
They do a TREMENDOUS job of explaining the layered intricacies and difficulties that are possible and common in a friendship between a white and Black person in America. They directly address the issues, prejudices, stereotypes and misunderstandings that can stand in the way of true connection.
This was a tough listen wracked with discomfort, grief, anger, frustration, and hurts…but man, does this book NEED to be read by all of us.
This story is fiction but the plotline was ALL TOO REAL. The characters and plot may be made up but there are SO MANY real life facts, history and issues.
It tackles the layers of structural racism rampant in our country, the many faces of white privilege and white supremacy, the desperate need for bias training and for complete restructuring of extremely unbalanced and dangerous systems…and the very real “bro code” of police culture.
While I have read a few books before that tackle these subjects, I have never read one that addresses them in this way.
The authors give a unique “both sides” perspective to truly give glimpses into the hearts and minds of the characters and the very different ways they experience and understand race in America and how their friendship is affected over the years.
I admit when reading many of Jen’s (the white woman) thoughts I totally cringed and was yelling in my mind “WTF ARE YOU EVEN SAYING OR DOING? YOU ARE SO WRONG! CAN’T YOU SEE THAT? “
And then I stopped myself and was like…. “Wait. Has there been a time when I may have thought or did or said something similar?”
Guess what the answer was. 🤦♀️
We all need to learn so we can know better.
And when we know better, we MUST do better.
And if we haven’t done better in the past and we were part of the problem, then we must work even harder to do better in our present to be part of the solution for the future.
This is definitely a story that will make you feel the BIG feelings and think the BIG thoughts.
And might even be enough to push you into action to completely change your heart and mind on how you see certain things and people.
I hope it also pushes you into action to help make changes in your community and in our country and with YOUR VOTE.
I think this is a very poignant, powerful and important book to read.
The first and last chapter….they take your breath away. Powerful doesn’t even seem to be an accurate word to describe. They will break your heart and also stir in you conviction to act for CHANGE.