Books create an opportunity to learn from each other.

On my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages, I posted a photo of the Cover2Cover Book Club at the Smyrna Public Library. I wanted to remember that evening because it was so profound.

For the past few years, our book club has been predominantly white and female, but last year, more people of color and men have joined. It's been fascinating to see the conversations grow and change. We're all better because of the diversity in our group.

Thursday's book discussion was about Maya Angelou's book Why the Caged Bird Sings. I confess I did not read the entire book - I am presently about halfway through it - but I wouldn't have missed the discussion for anything.

At some point, the discussion leader asked if everyone in the room knew there was a Black American National Anthem. She said anytime the song is played in a public setting, African Americans will stand. Many people in the group were totally stunned. I myself had heard this was the case but couldn't remember the title or the refrain.

The song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," was written by a poet named James Weldon Johnson in 1900 and was set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson. Our librarian, Nadine, looked up the song on YouTube and played it for us. Here's a link.

As it played, I realized I knew the song but never knew the lyrics. As a child I had heard it played numerous times at Galilee Baptist Church in Philadelphia during services and at Vacation Bible School. I knew that it was a song that we all stood for, but never knew why. The song is proud and regal, especially when played on a pipe organ.

While the song was playing on Nadine's phone, one of our book club members stood out of respect, and the rest of us followed suit. Something clicked for me, and I got a little teared up. We're all in this together, and here and now, we know it, I thought.

Many of the books we've chosen to read and discuss in the past year have focused on racial and gender equality and other socioeconomic issues. Our club has honest discussions that are refreshing for the soul because people let down their guard and speak honestly and respectfully to one another. If only the wider world could operate with such grace.

I learn from my fellow book club members every time I have the opportunity to be in the same room with them. On April 5, we'll be discussing my own recommendation: Carol Anderson's book White Rage, a book that is sure to provoke deep discussion. If you're in the area, please join us at 6:30pm.

Book 142: White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Carol Anderson's White Rage absolutely wrecked me. I will never forget this book and the horrors within it. And yet there are important lessons, that we as Americans (yes, all Americans) need to acknowledge and own as part of our history.

In White Rage, Anderson documents the African American experience from slavery to present day. She effortlessly ties together aspects of governance and legislation and shows how African Americans were screwed from the beginning, and essentially have been screwed every day since. She describes American presidents who publicly promised equality, then made moves to reduce African American voters' rights, labor laws, and more. This book literally rewrites history, and has sixty pages of references backing up every single statement.

As a peachy-tan American, I will never fully understand the experiences of my fellow citizens with darker skin. I was raised in an integrated Philadelphia neighborhood and never really understood why racism still existed. White Rage gave me a glimpse into the fear and discrimination that no other book before or since has instilled. It made me deeply consider what my life would be had I been born a different color. It gave me a new appreciation for the courage of those who fought for equal rights and continue the fight in 2017, an unimaginable 152 years after the Civil War was ended. It also made me more aware of our country's history of white supremacy, and made me fear extremism even more than I already did.

Carol Anderson is a hell of an author, and this book brings to light many aspects of American history that some would rather not be told. This book made me a more cognizant person, and I would encourage everyone, from every walk of life, to pick this up and devour it like I did.