Title: You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism
Author: Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar
Genre: Memoir, Humor
Meet Lacey, Amber Ruffin’s sister. She is, “Polite, beautiful, tiny, and Black”. Because of this people say the most ridiculous things to her. From being told it must be nice to have her picture on her checks (it was Harriet Tubman) to having someone put their hand into her hair, Lacy experiences racism in ways that are, frankly, unbelievable to a white reader.
Told by both Amber and Lacey, Lacey’s stories give readers a lot to think about. Some readers will nod their heads knowing this is all too real an experience, and others will have their eyes opened. Keep in mind, all of these stories happen from about 1980-today, so it isn’t just the past we are hearing about, it’s the now.
Raised by strong parents and growing up with other siblings, it is never left unsaid that a book about another family member would be much darker. Lacey is lucky in the sense that this is all that happened to her, however, as a white reader the fact that these things have happened to her at all is equal parts horrifying and eye-opening.
You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism is a book of stories told with humor about things that are still happening to Black people today. Highly recommended for light reading on a heavy subject.
- Katie
Check out You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar @ the library!
