In browsing other Goodreads reviews for this book, I’m surprised to see this pattern: “I really wanted to like this book, but…”

Some folks wanted it to be more research-y and informative. Others found it boring for what they felt was a dearth of personal interviews and narrative. Colby was criticized for saying only what black people already know and for saying only what white people want to hear. One reviewer took issue with the “dull facts and figures regarding...church-going (Catholic church-going, at that)”.

The nerve of this man, to bore us not only with information about church, but information about CATHOLIC church. What is this, Rome?

Not in the least. This book explores the uniquely American fits and starts that have characterized the process of attempting to integrate black people and white people in neighborhoods, schools, churches, and business (specifically the advertising business). Colby describes the clashing efforts of people whose motives and actions fall all along the spectrum: noble, practical, reluctant, resistant, and (of course) racist. He talks about why government-mandated desegregation could have been the solution that most undermined voluntary integration.

What Colby does so earnestly and to such compelling effect is ignore the minefield of political correctness. It’s true, as another reviewer points out: his cavalier approach to our convoluted language boundaries results in such collegiate-feeling insensitivity as, for example, calling a group of old white men “whiteytown.” But it also allows the author to speak candidly and honestly -- and tres amusingly -- about why integration is so damn difficult. Colby’s self-deprecating (and white-deprecating) humility also moderates the squirm-factor of his unceremonious delivery.

And although the facts of his accounts are depressing because of what they describe about human motives and behavior, Colby communicates his conviction that integration is not a lost cause and his hope that we Americans of both (or all) races will commit to the long-term hard work required to realize Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream. ( )

I found Some of My Best Friends Are Black by accident at our town library. The book flap summary seemed interesting, so I picked it up. It turned out to complement Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow quite well, offering a very personal look at the ongoing effects of racial segregation in our churches, neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.

The two sections I found most interesting were the one about real estate and the one about re-integrating Catholic churches in southern Louisiana. In the real estate section, I was particularly struck by Colby's description of racially restrictive covenants in real estate. Turns out the modern suburb developed largely as a result of one developer's desire to make money off of white people's fears of living near black people. I knew I didn't like suburbs (particularly housing developments with draconian homeowners' associations), but now I have another concrete reason to dislike them. In most locations, these racist covenants are still part of the agreements of the housing developments, even though they're no longer enforceable by law.

In the section about churches, I found the entire history of segregation within both Catholic and Protestant churches very interesting, but I especially appreciated how Colby demonstrated just how difficult it is to get back to more integrated places of worship once these communities have been separated. This is a major issue for many churches in the United States; I know it's a major concern for my denomination wherever we've lived. Colby shows that there is hope, but that integrating our churches requires sacrifice and trust on the part of everyone involved, and of course, trust isn't something that's been in great supply between black and white communities in the United States in the last couple of hundred years.

More than four decades after Jim Crow laws in the South were overturned, the United States is still struggling to become racially integrated. The segregation is no longer mandated by law, but the generations of separation have had ripple effects that have proven very difficult to change. Colby's stories show these difficulties in detail, but he also offers hope that, with a lot of time and effort, we will eventually heal this rift and become a fully integrated culture. ( )

An amazingly readable survey of efforts at achieving racial justice through integration in the US. Both sweeping and precise, gentle and brash. Highly recommended. ( )

I enjoyed reading the historical side of this book, much of which I was never taught in my Catholic school in the Midwest. We were not all-white, but it was 98%. They had a reputation of recruiting for sports. I was lucky in my real life to be unaware of any prejudice, and made good friends with several black people who I worked with in my early 20's. I have continued some of those friendships still today. This book however is so true that neighborhoods, and schools and businesses still struggle with being integrated today. I can count of at least ten places that I would never see a black person at in my surrounding area, that is sad. Great read. ( )