“Black Like Me”, is the true experience of John Griffin as a white middle-aged man and newspaper columnist, who decides to experience the life of black man by himself, not by another man’s words. Griffin starts writing a diary, where he will write his every-day experiences as a black man.
Griffin leaves his home, wife and children, to travel through the south, where racism against black people is pretty rough. John had a transition from white to black by the use of various treatments, such as UV light exposure and drugs; being black would help Griffin know how black people really live. During his trip, Griffin encounter a lot of different people, both black and white who acted differently than they normally do. One example of this could be the time where he saw a young light-black guy named Christophe, who treats the whites fawningly, but treats darker people than him just as bad as a white person would treat a black person; this shows how racism existed even in the same community/race, all depending on how dark someone’s skin was. Also there was this young guy that gave Griffin a ride, a white Alabaman construction worker who seems not to have a racist thought on him by treating John as an equal; this case made John feel impressed by the capability of kindness that some people possess.
The most common treatment that Griffin received from white people was degrading, whites used to harass and persecute Griffin without a reason, just because of the color of his skin; John met several whites that refer to black people in degrading ways by asking about his “dirty” sex life, abuse of black women on work, and even harassment and persecution without any reason, making him feel angry and ashamed about his own real race. Also, he found a lot of black people who acted in a merciful way towards the other black people.
In the last days, John transitioned several times from black to white and from white to black. After several days as a black man in New Orleans, he lightens his skin and resumes his life as a white man. After the experiment, John had a feeling of sadness and nostalgia, and also feeling the necessity of not leaving the black community, and thinking that returning to being white is just an easy escape from problems. After publishing his book, he started receiving treats of death and being treat with hostility; but people from other countries, send him letters of support and praise.
“Black Like Me” is a journal that was written by John Howard Griffin, where he explains and expose how black people used to live in those days thanks to the whites. This book shows how mankind can hurt itself just because someone is different from the others. These days, you can’t say that racism is gone, but after all, you can say that time has never been as good as now for black people.