Two interesting facts learned from Just I Am; A novel by E. Lynn Harris

    The novel of E. Lynn Harris, Just As I Am, is about Raymond who is a young black lawyer who is struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. Also Nicole who wants to be a singer and actress, goes through a roller coaster of emotions in finding love. Kyle, a friend of both Raymond and Nicole, is the friend who brings them together in a time of crisis to help them face the reality of life. By showing the pains they go through in the novel, Harris shows the audience how precious life and love can be. 
     From reading this novel, two interesting facts that I learned was the epidemic of AIDS during the time that the book took place. I didn't understand why AIDS would be so common in this time period and from the novel I understood that AIDS was occuring in homosexual couples. Homosexuality was a topic that was not to be discussed since it was not seen as the social norm. Also from this novel, I learned that Gay men were the FIRST that were diagnosed with AIDS. Learning about this type of disease helped me gain a better understanding of the time period that E. Lynn Harris was describing. 
    My second thought was the effects coming from colorism.As I researched the definition from Dictionary.com, I learned that "Colorism disadvantages dark-skinned people while privileging those with lighter skin." In this novel, Nicole is not a light skinned African American and that separates her from all the other lighter women that have an advantage over her in auditions. Colorism affected the thoughts of black women between each other since they were separated not physically but mentally. The effects of Colorism were very high and it still effects the women of today. 

-Cassandra Reyes