Slag Like Me
A human newspaper reporter wants to try to appear as a Newcomer to do a series of articles on how they are really thought about and treated. He's a very caustic and opinionated writer, and his series of articles stirs up tremendous controversy. He ends up being murdered, and Sikes goes undercover, undergoing the same type of operation the writer did in order to appear to be a true Newcomer. Sikes soon finds out just how rough of a life some of them live, even to the point of being beaten by other police officers. Things only get worse, and before long the entire series is engaged in a series of riots, burnings and killings. The only way to stop it is to find who killed the reporter, and why. The book has a good story, but that's not where the strength of the book lies. The major part of the book is about its message about racism, and just how horrible and how wide-spread that disease still is in our country. The book doesn't pull any punches, and no one escapes, not even the police, as there is a rough scene where Sikes, in his Newcomer appearance, is severely beaten by a number of police when he had done absolutely nothing to even justify being stopped, much less nearly killed. The book is probably the strongest message about racism that I have read in any book, fact or fiction. It's a message that will upset many people, and cause some people to question their own beliefs. If it can cause at least some people to realize that racism is everywhere, probably even within themselves, then its purpose will have been served. |
