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27 WINTER 2020 Bennett I think what you're really getting after are all the moments where you're not sure how to intervene. I had a student once who said that she was going to transfer after two years here. She said she went to visit a certain campus, but it was very dark. And, innocent me, I was thinking about the lighting, and then I mentioned it to somebody. I was like, "Is that code for there were a lot of black people on campus?" There are a million moments where somebody is drawing you into something and you're like, am I complicit? Do I even understand it? It's painful. Gay What do you want readers to take from this book? Williams I was thinking back to where some interviewer asked Morrison, "Why don't you ever write about white people?" And she was like, "Please, no one asks white authors that." The truth she gives us is that we're human. Black people are human in our full complex humanity — she shows us in our relationships, in our choices, and the way we carry trauma. Brown-Glaude And she wasn't afraid to say, "Hey white folk, you all need to work out your racism. That's your luggage to carry, it's not ours." One of the things we hope readers will take away from this book is the power of truth and secrets. That memoirs and book clubs can be healing moments or spaces where we can speak truths and be unapologetic about it. Jackson Read Morrison. One of the early titles of the book was Who's Afraid of Toni Morrison? We got rid of the title because we realized it did actually scare people. But at the time, I was the one who was scared. Here I am with a PhD in English, and still feeling intimidated by the idea of entering this big con- versation about her. I want people to read this book and recognize that Toni Morrison has something for you, too. Gay So where does the book club go from here? Is there another writer you want to tackle? Jackson They want to do James Baldwin. Williams A tempting choice. Bennett Let her speak. Gay I could already see the second book, Finding Baldwin. You guys are absolutely on the right track. Jackson OK. Roxane Gay said, "Do it." Gay Yes, I did. I did indeed. ■ Roxane Gay, a New York Times contributing op-ed writer, is the author of Bad Feminist: Essays, Difficult Women, and Hunger and editor of The Best American Short Stories 2018. Bennett When I was in high school I became friends with this black guy who sat in front of me. At one point, he turned around and said, "Do you have other black friends?" I said no, and he said, "Well, you should think about that." I get emotional just telling the story because I've been meditating on that for the last 50 years about all the ways he was giving me a gift. I live in a racist world, which means as a white person I see things that my co- writers don't, like when another white person will feel, "I can just say this because you're white." There's a lot I'm constantly trying to process in order to be a better human being. Gay The times I always think about are when I was living in rural Indiana. A woman at the dry cleaner was talking about "those people" after this Asian man had just left the establishment. I just thought, "Oh my God, she thinks she can invite me into this racist discourse and I'm going to willingly participate." And the answer was, no, I was not. But what do you do in those moments where people invite you into that racist discourse? LAUREN H. ADAMS { B O O K E X C E R P T } DANGEROUS MUSIC Being immersed in Toni Morrison's world was not unlike attending a crowded party in Brooklyn and discovering — as I did one night — that I was the only white person in attendance. These two experiences — to be the only white person at a party and to read Song of Solomon — I would wish for every white person. I would not expect miracles from the experiences, but that's all I've got to offer the white world. It is with amusement that I refer to "the white world," as if it is something monolithic, recognizable in its dress, and unrelated to me. But it is my world, in part a concept in my mind as well as a very real place with many open doors to the privileges that I (and all white people) have. —Juda Bennett

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