I stood frozen in disbelief looking at my once tidy cell. The contents of my locker were tossed and trampled across the six-foot by nine-foot space. I found a picture of my daughter under the toilet. The only explanation; the C.O. shook it down. But why?  They don’t need a ‘why’ it’s more a ‘why not?’

 

Next came a polite knock at my door. It was Scott, a white inmate whom I’ve never spoken to the whole time I’ve been on this unit. I looked up with a scowl that would make Medusa blush. Scott ventured, “Brad, you ok?” I grunted back an unconvincing ‘yeah, I’m ok.” Scott continued, "I just came by to let you know that I got a book in the mail, J.C. said you like to read, so, here you go.”

 

Scott found a spot in my cell to place the book then left. After I finished cleaning up, I flopped down on my back, folded my arms underneath my head and turned on the radio. The Impeachment Inquiry. I clicked the radio off. The sun was low and muscled its way into my cell. I looked straight into it, searching for an answer to my melancholy within its brightness.

 

The book! After a frantic search, I found the book underneath a quilt folded at the foot of my bed. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. I opened it to page one and by the time I came up for air, I was on page 147.

 

What really drew me in was how the book undertakes the issues of the identity struggles of People of Color with hateful white supremacy and the biases and prejudice that inform a rigged justice system, through a gripping narrative.

 

Out of all the characters in the story, Ava, the mother of the public defender, Kennedy, stood out to me the most. Kennedy is defending Ruth, a black nurse, who has been charged with the murder of an infant child of a white-supremacists couple.

 

Ava grew up in the South in the state of North Carolina. She was 9 years old in 1954 when our Nation desegregated schools. Ava parents were affluent whites who had black nannies and black servants. Ava remembers how, as a child, she once stole a sip of water from the colored only fountain thinking that sparkles and rainbows would trickle from the faucet. What she discovered was that the water from the colored fountain tasted exactly the same as the water from the white fountain.  This was the beginning of her awakening.

 

Later in the book, as a grown woman, Ava and her daughter, Kennedy, share a day at the park with Kennedy's young daughter Violet. In this passage, Ava and Kennedy talk about race and struggles for equality. Ava makes the observation to Kennedy that in Kennedy’s lifetime she will see how much more work has to be done. As for Ava, she recognises how much has been done and how far we’ve come. She then points to her white granddaughter playing with a black girl. 

 

In Small Great Things, we see what we as a people have accomplished within the short span of time of the founding of America. Our country is young compared to much older nations such as China, Russia, France and England. And we have faced and met several profound challenges such as slavery, civil rights, voting rights for blacks and women.

 

We are facing new challenges today like LGBTQ rights, prison reform, and immigration just to name a few and it is our hope that our Nation’s leaders will continue to fight to assure that not only Americans but all of the earth's inhabitants have a chance within their lifetime to prosper, be free and live and love however they choose.

 

To me, this book is about compassion, communication, understanding, forgiveness and love. Small Great Things reminded me how far kindness, sincerity and love will take me. I smiled as the chills from Jodi Picoult’s words warmed my heart. Small Great Things is recommended reading by me. It is MY2Centz approved. Please enjoy!