Black Berry, Sweet Juice

'The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice - but if you 

get too black, it ain't no use'.

Race is a complicated issue in North America and sometimes there's the feeling that 'racism isn't a thing in Canada'. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Many Canadians like to think that things are better here compared to our neighbours to the south, but discrimination (overt and covert) and the complexities of racial identity are just some issues non-white and mixed-race Canadians continue to face.

Black Berry, Sweet Juice was written nineteen years ago by one of my favourite authors, Lawrence Hill and the issues he confronts continue to be relevant. This book is a combination of personal stories from Hill and his family as well as interviews he conducted with various people across Canada who shared their experiences as mixed-race individuals. Hill shares his parents' experiences as Americans in a interracial marriage (Black father, Caucasian mother), their move to Canada and he gives insight about his struggles with his own identity as a biracial child growing up in a Toronto suburb and later as a young adult.

The individual stories from the interviews give this book a personal feel and I appreciated learning more about the issues facing so many Canadians. Black Berry, Sweet Juice is filled with many important issues that would make for a great book club pick, but I'll admit that, at times, it felt repetitive and a bit drawn out.

Sadly, Canada is reluctant to acknowledge that racism was and continues to be an issue for many Canadians. While there is no quick fix, this book is a step in the right direction and continues to be relevant as it shares important messages that give Canadians of all races - but particularly those who identify as Caucasian - much to think about.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Lawrence Hill

Genre: Nonfiction, Canadian

Type and Source: Paperback from public library

Publisher: Harper Perennial

First Published: August 23, 2001

Opening Lines: It is common to the point of being a cliché for 

a black person to want to connect with other black people. 

I learned this in my earliest childhood.

Book Description from GoodReads: Lawrence Hill’s remarkable novel, Any Known Blood, a multi-generational story about a Canadian man of mixed race, was met with critical acclaim and it marked the emergence of a powerful new voice in Canadian writing. Now Hill, himself a child of a black father and white mother, brings us BLACK BERRY, SWEET JUICE: On Being Black and White in Canada, a provocative and unprecedented look at a timely and engrossing topic.

In BLACK BERRY, SWEET JUICE, Hill movingly reveals his struggle to understand his own personal and racial identity. Raised by human rights activist parents in a predominantly white Ontario suburb, he is imbued with lingering memories and offers a unique perspective. In a satirical yet serious tone, Hill describes the ambiguity involved in searching for his identity – an especially complex and difficult journey in a country that prefers to see him as neither black nor white.

Interspersed with slices of his personal experiences, fascinating family history and the experiences of thirty-six other Canadians of mixed race interviewed for this book, BLACK BERRY, SWEET JUICE also examines contemporary racial issues in Canadian society. Hill explores the terms used to describe children of mixed race, the unrelenting hostility towards mix-race couples and the real meaning of the black Canadian experience. It arrives at a critical time when, in the highly publicized and controversial case of Elijah Van de Perre, the son of a white mother and black father in British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada has just granted custody to Elijah’s mother, Kimberly Van de Perre.

A reflective, sensitive and often humourous book, BLACK BERRY, SWEET JUICE is a thought provoking discourse on the current status of race relations in Canada and it’s a fascinating and important read for us all.