said i have become a horizontal list. and that speaks to the invisible church quality to this cast of characters. i also want to say my colleagues who is a coeditor, has a fabulous book that she submitted this week called on the faith of freddie rogers, i hope you will read and enjoy when she presented next year perhaps at the virginia festival of books. thanks to all of you. >> please fill out your evaluations. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> from virginia discussion on race and crime in america. melanie had her. >> good afternoon everyone. thank you all for coming. my name is jane and i like to welcome everybody on behalf of the festival of the books. as you are always told please silence your cell phones and double check to be sure the session is sponsored by the african-american offers booklet. i am a member of and we bring to the festival every year. there are several members of our group here so please everybody please stand. [applause] thank you.

we stacked the place. all right. supporting the festival is extreme concern or interest the festival seems to be free of charge but it's not. you can go online to contribute to the festival or you can pick up a giving envelope from the information desk and it's important if you so desire to buy books from the lovely authors.com. at the end of the session please fill out the program evaluation and that can be done online or with the yellow sheet of paper you are given. i will introduce melanie hatter who you know is the author we feature today. here is about melanie that i got from her website.

she was born and raised in scotland. she is from a biracial family. her father is from richmond and her mother is a redhead from the south. she received her bachelor's degree in journalism from hampton university she graduated with a masters in writing from john hopkins university. she started her career as a journalist. but realized after a while that was not her dream. her dream was to become a writer so that is what she is now. also, i found this interesting, she is a licensed massage therapist. there will be massages along the edge. [laughter] and also, on the side, the

participating author with the writers in school program in washington, d.c. where she lives this means she shares her book with high school students which she loves doing. melanie has written short stories which you can read about on her website. her debuting awful true novel which is not she is talking about today is the color of my soul, it won the 2011 washington writers publish house fiction price. the book she will talk about today is "malawi's sisters". it is a brand-new book came out about two weeks ago. i would love to tell you about "malawi's sisters" and even about her or just her sisters and i could tell you that it's a very interesting book and i could tell you that the title

has a meaning which you don't find out until the end. so then you know the title is bigger than the book. this book was selected this year to win and that one. the inaugural national fiction price. [applause] [laughter] and this is melanie hatter. the. >> thank you. thank you. thank you so much to the book club for bringing me it's an absolute honor. it's an honor to be reading the african-american heritage. a lot of history here. i'm glad to be a part of that

now. this book "malawi's sisters", has nothing to do with her in africa but it was inspired in 2013 for brittany mcbride the 19-year-old her car broke down and this is the michigan and she stopped it was late at night, could not get cell phone service she went to a nearby house to get help, and the guy shot her through the door. he was white and she was black this was not too long about a year after trayvon martin had been shot. i was still thinking about trayvon martin, my son is about the same age and it hit me pretty hard. then when the news broke of her shooting it was just one of

those stories that would not let me go. in this book came out of that. donya and kenya are the two sisters and they had been characters that i've been mulling around with for a number of years and i couldn't figure out what their story was it was a month after her death i started hearing them. and i started talking to me and telling me their story and so i sat down and started working on "malawi's sisters" and i want to read a little bit from the book if you'll indulge me. and i'm going to read a couple of sections. it's only section we hear her

voice. malawi felt good about connie a white woman from alabama with a southern accent that made her laugh. she drink she did and no one would ever guess she was high school massacre. she taught in the school system for almost as long as malawi had been a lie. when she heard a woman give a belly laugh she adored her. connie had felt the same way about malawi inviting her to dinner ensuring dirt of her colleagues. malawi only had a handful of white prints. most of them liberal hipsters around her own age. she was well into her 50s and voted for mccain in 2008 mitt romney 2012. malawi forgive her for that. they gathered at connie's house

and sometimes they played scrabble or watched a movie but mostly they drink gin. malawi added coke she likes being different. their coworkers malawi can ask connie with anything related to teaching. she made her decision to move to west palm beach worth it. as for the moment decision she worried was the wrong move but so far her new life was working out and she can imagine settling down make it home for herself. maybe even having a family with the right guy. malawi had driven to connie's house in greenacres calling her sister on the way there. they talked at least three times a week texted almost every day. malawi shared everything with donna even the real reason she reported. she did not reveal his name. that was a secret she took to the grave. donna had not talked to them in months. malawi understood why yes

feeling like one of the tiny chocolate exit easter shifted gears stomach. recognition that the crack between the mall should not be left to grow. she needed to get away from the family but the distance while it was giving her clarity have become greater. they should be better to one another. she would make an effort when she went back for a visit. malawi made a promise to bring everyone together. for now, she met a new guy and wanted to get to know him better and wanted to enjoy being in a relationship she did not have to hide from everyone. he was a physical therapist. tall brown skin and monotone. she did take for older men but he was not that much older. at least not compared some of the others. he was smart, ambitious and treat she found sexy in a man and he carried little baggage.

no other wives, girlfriends, kids in strings should detected in months they updated. she could see this as a long-term thing. he was disappointed that she was not spending the evening with him and asked her to come over later the matter how late it was. when malawi left connie's after midnight she called to tell him she was on her way. i have some people. he said he would not say what it was. just don't take all night. the gps on her phone kept cutting out and she suspected she made a wrong turn somewhere but with each turn she got her way deeper into a neighborhood she did not know. the signal was weak and when she tried calling her man the call dropped before she could say hello. one hand on the studio and the other moving the phone around trying to get a signal in which she looked back at the road ahead something ran out in front

of her. it look like a bobcat. just the other day she wrote about a siding in an area instinctively she swerved and the next thing the airbag exploded in her face. stunned she sat for several moments at the air like deflated shaking and thinking maybe she should not have had the last gin and coke. she'd been jerking water throughout the night and did not consider herself drunk but could not remember how many drinks she had had. malawi ran her pulse across her face and she opened the car door and grimaced at the site of the buckled brought in the camry lodged against a light pole. her immediate thought was to call her father but instead she dialed her guys number and no service. frustrated, she stood looking up and down the street with no traffic, no lights in any windows it was after 1:00 a.m. she started walking hoping to get a signal on her phone or find someone still awake with that their use theirs. holding the cell phone out in front of her she wondered a few

minutes down the street until she saw lights in the front window of a small bungalow. malawi gave a sigh of relief and walked up the pack. chapter one. the trolling of the phone stirred back. it was the starting of her heart that opened her eyes and inexplicable dread in her chest before she looked at the clock at the time, three in the morning. she glimpsed her push the covers to the bottom of the bed as he often did in his sleep. especially in the summer. he lay on his side, the face turned away from her, store tracking in the air. she offered a silent prayer that the call would be nothing bad. leaning on her right elbow she reached with her left the phone on the bedside table.

another pair for a wrong number. the she could snuggle into her husband back and savor the memories of last night's kisses. she grabbed the phone just before ring a third time. her heartbeat in her chest. hello, mrs. walker, yes, this is sheriff wheeler of the sheriff's office, the voice was low and deep. she reached over and turned on the lamp the light pinching her eyes, what did you say, do you have a daughter named malawi walker is your right, mrs. walker there has been an incident in your daughter has been shot. what? she sat on the edge of the masters pressing the photo to her ear. what? she cannot breathe in a scream burst from her throat. his arm automatically reaching out to her. it's malawi she yelled she has been shot. malcolm took the phone from her hand hello, this is judge

walker, malawi's father. thank you sheriff. we will get on the first light we can. he touched her arm in the pressure of his answers reassuring. she's at the palm beach hospital. the sheriff said it's a shoulder injury. you pack the back or call the hospital. maybe they can give us an update. i will find a flight. malcolm rushed downstairs to his office while she remained seated on the bed struggling to remain focused about what he said. she had to pack they were going to florida, they were going to see malawi. pushing herself to move she pushed back the doors for necessities. she is merely that the sudden disturbance of the house. in a moment he advanced back in the stairs shouting an early fight would be leaving nashville in a few hours. i'm on hold for the hospital and

he gestured for her to step into the adjoining bathroom in the door behind her. she tried to picture her daughter being shot in the shoulder and over dramatized clouded her mind. she took a deep breath. she padded downstairs and put on coffee. he followed in spring from the chair and the cost who attended and dumped the cat back on the floor with unnecessary force she switch the phone from her right to her left and that just to the pepper shakers aligning them to sell. her fingers were shaking a voice came on the line and throughout her daughter's name stumbling through an explanation that her daughter had been admitted a few hours ago, a gunshot wood. the voice cannot find malawi and

suggested to call again in an hour. she huffed and glared at the phone as a voice could see her irritation. the line was dead. she dialed kenya's number and her oldest answered muffled and sleepy. she tried to explain to her words got tangled as if fighting against her mouth. mama, calm down what happened. her head felt as if it was in the dryer and she is about to vomit. we don't know yet. i will call you when we know. i just wanted to let you know we're going down there. do you need me to it do anything? tears blurred her vision before hanging up she repeated her promise to call we got to florida. stop and see kitty will you please the worm and turned room was thick with shadow. when the coffee was done she poured a large mug sat at the breakfast table trying to say call.

[applause] >> i will ask a question that accounting the book club members in the audience to ask melanie questions about her book and herself. one of the questions i have is about the judge. the father, it is definitely significant that malawi is a judge. can you just comment on that a bit because he can even any other profession. >> the walker family is well-to-do and they come from a history of well-known d.c. folks who have been in politics and courts, in-service and i

purposely wanted to one have a family that was well-to-do feeling like they are above the disarray of the world. so i wanted them to experience what so many families are going through and there's a lot of shootings that are happening in a lot of black neighborhoods especially low income neighborhoods. but i wanted it specifically to be a family that was more well-to-do. i wanted to take a look at someone who is normally in control, he's a judge and he makes all the decisions, he is in command of the courtroom and in many ways of families. and i wanted to have this character lose that control over the loss of his baby daughter.

>> thank you. let's have about ten hands go up, who has a question for melanie about the book or about herself as a writer? all right. certain the back. >> thank you. i noticed in your book you talk about black men and women being killed by authorities. and also by vigilantes. incense is killing at home how would you classify the shooter? >> the shooting takes place in the state of florida which is been standard ground law. the shooter took the stance and

he was protecting his property and he felt like someone was breaking in and therefore had the right to shoot and shoot to kill polly enter. he did. that was a position that he took and i specifically said the shooting in florida and it's about a d.c. family malawi moved to florida and i did that one because i wanted it to be in the standard ground state but it was also of trayvon martin who was killed in florida. >> all insert one. the man, the killer does not into the book very much. so somehow you decided to focus elsewhere. >> i wanted this to be a story about the family, there somebody

shootings that happened in the headlines we see we always hear about the shooter, especially if they're still alive. we get everything about the shooter and i didn't want to give the shooter that kind of attention because the story for me is about malawi of course but about what happens after the shooting like this. specifically what happens to a family who has their own issues and they have issues with one another and they are not a happy perfect their family, well-to-do, privileged but they have their issues. and the sisters have issues with one of those, so i wanted to explore when this happened and we see the headlines we hear about the victim in the little bit of a rundown of the victim, often times not always good, we

get there wonderful, but then especially when it is the shooting of an authority the police shooting, we hear about all the negative things about the victim, while they were this, they were that, we are supposed to assume that they deserved it in some way. which is not the case. i wanted to move a little beyond that to explore a family regular family and how they are affected by the headlines the start coming out and about the insinuation that there's something wrong with the person who is been killed. >> you had your hand up?

>> wait for the microphone. >> i am hoping you have a long list of future books in your pocket. one thing that i'm hoping someone would write about is we have the park would shooting and board at but mostly white and it creates a national outcry. and yet in your home city of washington, d.c. we had shootings on a regular basis that turn up as footnotes in the washington post. i'm suggesting a future topic for you. [laughter] >> there are enormous number of stories that can come out and it's interesting world that were in right now. where black bodies are being

struck down on such a regular basis that is terrifying and i think when trayvon martin was killed he was about the same age as my son and it hit home in a way that it hadn't hit me before. yes i heard about the history of violence against black communities, but this spoke to me. and then again, with venetia, just because of the color of her skin. these are two incidents that it was not about police. it was just quote unquote regular folks who felt like they had the right to pull their gun on someone because the color of

their skin, because of racial bias, because of whatever it was that they felt justified. i feel like we have to make some change in people's thinking and how we view one another and we need to be having conversations and i'm hoping that with malawi it creates conversation around black bodies and how they are perceived, how black communities are treated in the depth of racial injustice is deep. there is a lot that we need to do as a society to really change it. in my humble. >> i don't know if you know this, but your story hits his community hard today because the

schools are close, they were closed yesterday, and the federal authorities in town trying to sort out what is going on but somebody, the hotels much either but that's fine, somebody sent a message online somehow saying that they intend to come to the high school and kill all the blacks in brown's and cleanse the place so it's all white. so, it's disturbing. it's hard to even mention it. >> this is terrorism. and it has certainly been there for years and years and years in a variety of different ways. but there is a huge resurgence in there so many people who feel

justified in being able to express their hatred. as a society something needs to be done. i don't unfortunately have the answer, i wish i did. but something needs to be done. it is terrifying for so many people right now and i don't think, if you're not in a minority community that is terrorized it is really hard to explain or really make people understand how horrifying this is because it goes to the bone. this should not be america. several questions, you should get the microphone to someone

please. >> hi melanie, i was wondering in your research for the book did you have a chance to speak to any victim's family? >> i did not. i'm a former journalist and when i started research i dig deep and i did not want to turn into a particular family story so a lot of my research was looking at the new stories and there was a lot of research that i certainly do because there is somebody shootings are happening but looking at the news reports of the families and that was the impetus to create something new.

>> others? >> hi melanie, i would like to know how you approach this with students in the public school as a retired teacher. i am curious what your session is like with them talking with them? >> as a retired high school teacher. >> this book is literally out the door. march 15 was the publication date. i've not been in the classroom for this particular book and am absolutely thrilled that the foundation and schools program, my first novel the color of my soul is fairly popular in every year end in the classroom it takes place. what i found intriguing is when i wrote the book i did not think

about the audience being teens in any way. but they definitely have connected with the story of identity in that particular book is about a woman who discovers she's biracial and told a story about her father and finds out the story she's been told is not true is not a black well-to-do person in fact a flight tracker. so she is in a state of what does that mean, i grew up thinking i was a black woman and not what so it's her explanation through that. i bring in an element of the native american community and what it means to be one thing

versus another. what is it mean to be native american in the u.s., what is it mean to be black, white or biracial in the u.s. so i exit war that the young people it connects with them. i will be interested to see if the school select this and you never know if any of the classrooms select this book for the students to read, it's intense and pretty heavy. i feel like a lot of young people are going through so much more than what we even know. there are a shooting on a regular basis. there was a high school student that was recently shot and killed in the community with children around. the trauma for those kids that witness that is enormous and we will probably last a lifetime.

there is a lot of young people who are dealing with shootings and deaths in grappling to understand what it means with racism in trying to figure out their place in the world so i hope that they're able to read this and get something from it. >> other questions? this about murders in inner-city, there's a book out the excuse me and talks about a woman out of l.a. and other black or under policed in the blacks don't matter as much in the another article about freddie gray and people under police are not releasing much at all. as an individual artist, with your diverse backer, do people

try to pigeonhole you before meeting you been an afro writer or biracial writer,. >> i have not experienced that. certainly not to my face. i don't know what people are saying but i have not gotten that. i think i came to the u.s. college age and so i've been here longer in the u.s. that i have been in britain which we simple very old. i feel like people view me as a black american writer. i have experienced any direct pigeonholing but we will see where this book being out who knows people might come in a

category. >> thank you melanie. i didn't realize -- >> we can't hear you. >> how was this book in the story travel to a place that i consider to be a peaceful -- i've only been there once, how will it travel there and be dealt with? >> how was scotland received the book? >> that's an interesting question. although i imagine i would hope they would receive it well, i think there is a perception and not that it's not accurate all the scotland is a quiet peaceful ideally wonderful, and visit but

they have their issues too. there is a growing minority group in scotland in the cities for sure have issues of racism and in britain it's a little different. i think in the u.s. there is such history here that there is a little bit of a difference between u.s. racism first anyone else's racism. i know that sounds absurd but i think it's in the perception of people of color. but it is there. i would hope that they would read this and realize the tragedy that happened are far-reaching into so many different communities in the

every community i think needs to do what it can to not allow this sort of thing to continue to happen whether it's creating laws or whatever it is. i think they will be re- accepted. i have a number of family members in scotland and it may just be because their family members are reading the book and buying it. [laughter] >> other questions ? >> melanie thank you so much for this book. i think it is very thoughtful and thought-provoking. would you speak a little bit about the relationship between the white policeman who is the voice of ghana. >> brian is ghana's boyfriend, anyone who hasn't read the book,

ghana is one of the sisters and she is dating a white police officer. in this shooting creates tension between the two of them. what was it that you are asking? i specifically was looking at the shooting. but you cannot look at that and not understand that we are in the environment where police are killing a lot of black men, women and children. i wanted to bring the element in and have a voice for the police. i have my ex-husband was a police officer in a number of relationships with police officers so i have some perspective of policing and

obviously not everyone is bad. there is definitely some sort of issue in min my opinion with training that is happening with this sort of hand-me-down view of particular communities. that has to change so bringing ryan then, i was just curious about how this kind of shooting would affect that relationship and be able to bring that voice into the story. >> yes? >> i am curious about your choices names for the characters. and what that significance was for you.

sometimes there is a lot of thought and study that goes into naming particular characters. kenya and ghana as i mentioned before these were two characters that came to be many, many years ago. they came to be named in for any writers in the room hopefully you can appreciate it, but sometimes it just comes to you. these two sisters came in as i started writing the story i learned through them that malcolm named them in this section in the book that talks about the navy of all three of them. and where that came from. i will give it all away. [laughter] >> malcolm being there dad to judge? >> yes he is the judge of the

father. >> wealth is a thought or question? >> the microphone is on its way. >> hi melanie, i have a question as an author, do you have a particular audience in mind when you write? for this book, did you have a particular audience in mind when he wrote it? >> i don't really. i feel like a right for people like me, women of color, of any color. but i don't think very heavily on that and there are some theories as writers that we need to be thinking about our audience and who were ready for, and so on but in all honesty, i do not have a firm picture of an audience when i start writing, for me it's the characters, they come to be and they start

figuring out what the story is. and not to organize. it is very random and i don't write literally, i can go back and forth and around and around and one day i might be an early chapter and the next day i might be thinking about a later chapter and then i figure out where the office get together. it is not quite the organize. once the book is done in marketing start coming in, then you start thinking about audience and then it's like who would read this. and i always think everybody. [laughter] >> another?

>> the color of myself, i really enjoyed the book a lot. it was really interesting that it was in virginia. and i was curious about the research or your thought about bringing in the native american aspect to the life. >> i was a news reporter for a few years and it seems like a lifetime ago. when i was working at the newspaper i did a story on a local native american community and that was so intriguing i grew up and when i came to the u.s. it was quite a culture shock. i didn't really have much learning or understanding about the native american communities and i didn't have much understanding about the black

community either. so living in roanoke and learning about the native american culture was fascinating to me. this was before the internet, i'm not old. so i spent a lot of time in the library and looking at old photographs and studying about the movements of the native american communities specifically the cherokees, so i made up for anyone who has read the book i made up the native american clan, the cherokees of virginia's and i connected it to the history of the cherokee people. and it's a fascinating history and i was able to bring some of that in. and i was so intrigued i had tons and tons about the history that ultimately got cut out of the book. it was just by indulging in the

history but is absolutely fascinating. >> just to be sure that you understand the question was about the color of my soul which is melanie's first novel . . .

>> i'm trying to see is there anything other than the fact that one has to deal with the white race and the other has to do with the black race, so to speak, that black people if i want to put it that way can learn from the white people to get some kind of attention and investment that would be equal to what is being given to -- [inaudible] -- today. >> i don't think i'm the right person for that question. i mean, there's -- that's a profound question. there's so many, you know, disadvantages and inequality across the country in so many communities, and it does go -- it speaks to the community's reaction to, you know, drug addiction, to mental illness to poverty to -- i mean, it's --

it's widespread. so, yeah, i think that's a question maybe for someone with more knowledge and depth of these kinds of structural issues in the country. >> is your son going to be a writer? >> no. [laughter] >> but readers. my mother was a profound reader, and my son loves to read. but not a writer, sadly. but it's okay. he's more artistic. he sort of draws and does graphic design, so he's creative, but just in a slightly different way.

>> i have two questions. you have no accent coming from scotland. do you hide is it? and two are there other characters that are running around in your head that you can tell us a little bit about that you haven't written about yet? >> i feel very schizophrenic some days, but i have a book i'm working on now, and i have another book that the characters sort of keep nudging me, and i'm like yeah yeah yeah, i'm going to get to you. i'm going to get to you. in terms of the accent, i did have a little bit of one when i first came to the u.s., but i'm more of an introvert, and so when i was going to school and interacting with other people, i just became very self-conscious, and unconsciously, you know, i lost the accent, but my mother used to say you sound so american, and, you know, it's

like sorry. [laughter] >> it wasn't on purpose. [laughter] >> do we have others? >> hi. you know, i'm not really a writer, but i write songs. i'm a songwriter sometimes. you know, when i write a song, i write what's personal to me, about my experience with it and i put it out there in the world, and people often completely reinterpret what it is, have no idea where i was coming from when i wrote it. you know, they listen based on their point of view, and sometimes i'm very surprised, you know, how it gets interpreted, but basically you put a song out there in the world, and it's got its own

life, you know. i was just wondering if you welcome reinterpretation or you try to focus so it can't be, you know, or is it an anything goes sort of situation, and it's surprising sometimes what people come up with? >> it can be very surprising, but that's sort of what i love about putting the work out into the world is everybody comes from a completely different background, and their own ideas and notions come into play when they're reading a book, and, you know, you have your own ideas of what the characters look like and how they sound and so on so forth, and that's to me as an avid reader, starting as a child, that was the joy of having the story, but also kind of tapping into my own imagination to help, you know, create the story. and i hope that that's what i'm able to do for, you know,

readers. i don't know if anyone's familiar with "black beauty", the novel? that book i read as a child, and that was the book -- i read tons and tons, especially animal stories. i just loved -- especially horses. >> i had that book for years. >> i still have it. i still have the book that i read as a child. and the fact that it's written from the perspective of the horse was just so fascinating to me, but when i read that book, i said i want to do that. i want to make people feel, to make them respond and make them react because i had all the feels reading that book, and it really just was amazing that someone wrote words that moved me in such a variety of ways, and i just am always hoping that my work can do the same for

others. >> you had a scottish education as a child. were you encouraged to write? >> that's an interesting question. i don't remember being encouraged to write. but english was my favorite, you know, was my favorite class and the reading and we're given however long everyone has to sit quietly and read, i was totally the one who was engrossed in that, but i don't remember the writing aspect of it. and certainly, you know, my family were not writers, so they weren't sort of encouraging, but it really i think came out of the reading part of it.

>> that's such a common answer, when somebody asks a writer, oh, yes, it's because i'm a reader, uh-huh. >> how did you happen to choose hampton university? >> oh, hampton, yes, you know, i -- it's sort of interesting because i didn't -- because i didn't grow up here, i didn't know about really about hbcu's, but i was living in -- i was actually in north carolina for a little while and then in virginia, and i went through a book, and i saw hampton, and it was in virginia, and it was near the water, which i loved, and i thought oh, cool, and yeah, and then of course, you know, i realized the history and the depth and was just absolutely proud to get in so, yeah, it was

a bit random. [laughter] >> it's interesting that you were talking about a book that you had read as a child. i have a biracial child, and when she was in medical school, she read a book i had given her when she graduated from high school, and it was dr. seuss's "oh the places you'll go". and she was reading this to medical students and graduates, and it was the book that gave them the opportunity to think about the places they could go. she also was as you were a person who didn't grow up with the racism of america, because i took her out. i thought that was an answer. maybe yes, maybe no, i don't

know, but she -- when she came back to go to school, i said to her, do not go to the police if you get into trouble, and for her, growing up in a different country, that was a wild statement, but i knew that as a biracial person that she may not get a cop who is going to help. so i think growing up here is a very different experience and very different way of looking at the society than coming into it being brought up someplace else. >> yeah, i would absolutely agree. i think that there's just such an ingrained depth around race in this country. when i was growing up, i was

literally the only girl of color in my entire school. there was one -- when i got to secondary school, which is high school, there was one other boy who was indian, really good looking. so it's a very very different environment, and i didn't have really the understanding of race, not to say that i didn't experience name calling because i was different, and so there were certainly, you know, usually the boys, you know, would tease, but it was nasty teasing, right? it was about my race, so it is very different, but it doesn't mean that there's nothing, that it's all wonderful and good. there is definitely something about human beings regardless of

where they live. they are sort of clannish; right? in scotland we have our clans -- what's interesting when i started looking at the native americans, there's that sort of similar clan environment, but there's this sort of clan thinking of everybody who is just like me is good, and if you're different in some way, then you're not good. and i suppose historically there's some sort of protections around, you know, why that is, but we've gotten to a point where it's completely out of control because we are now hating people for the most ridiculous of reasons, and we should be educated enough now to know that human beings are human beings. it doesn't really matter, certainly not about your skin color or any -- we're all

humans, and yet we maintain that sense of but you're not like me. you're different, and that makes you either an enemy or something that i need to fear so that's worldwide. and i think that it's -- worldwide we're moving in a very bad direction in terms of that, because we're seeing a lot more of these kind of hateful actions around the world, and something is going to have to break, i think, before we start coming back again. and every shooting, it's sort of like well this is it, now the pendulum is going to swing, and it doesn't, and i don't know how far -- as humanity, i don't know how far we can go. >> it's almost 1:00.

this will be the last question. >> -- hearing about conflicts between blacks and whites. have you ever thought about writing a book where one person helps another person to become a better person? like for instance, jesus christ set an example for all of us how we should act towards one another, what we should do. i was just reading a book about holy moments and how each one of us can create holy moments by being good to one another, instead of constantly emphasizing the shootings and all that kind of stuff, let's build our society on the good things we have, not on the negative. >> i do believe that jesus christ was a man of color, and i

also believe that white people don't necessarily have to come and tell black people how to be. we're good. we're beautiful. we're amazing. [applause] >> the issue is that others don't see it that way. so that's my personal view. >> i think we have to stop. we were kind of supposed to stop at 1:00; all right? sorry. so i'll just -- what's that? one more, okay. one last question. >> thank you very much. we have just enjoyed your book so much in our book club, but i want to tell you how much i appreciate your -- the writing

about the effect on the family, that the death had on the family, and it wasn't too far into the book that i was just drawn to malcolm and how -- but how, you know, drugs and alcohol had such a tremendous effect on their lives, and i just appreciate how you brought that in, and i don't want to talk about it too much because a lot of people are going to read this book, but just the effect on the family, and i just appreciate that. i liked the book very much. thank you. >> thank you. thank you all. [applause] >> thank you, and i want to remind you that if you're interested, are so inclined, her books are for sale here. thank you very much for coming.