Dear Reader,
Racism in the 1930s was rampant throughout the country, but especially in southern states like Georgia. Because my goal as a writer is always to strive to be historically accurate, there are occasions when characters in the book, who are members of the Ku Klux Klan, will use the “N-word.” My intent in using this word is not to shock but to punctuate the fact that racism was brutal and still is brutal nearly eighty-five years later. I have been a target of the hate that word gives, and I want the readers of this book to understand the full weight of a word so powerful that it is now referred to by its first letter. The white people who were actively participating in the racist behavior found in When Stars Rain Down were ordinary, and this word is a necessary reminder of the hate that lived in the hearts and minds of some of the white citizens of Parsons, Georgia, whom everyone in the community knew. Even when “that word” was not being spoken out loud, many of the white characters illustrated the power of the word through their actions. My hope is that a day will come when that word and other derogatory words are no longer part of our lexicon, but the way we ensure that happens is by staring back at our collective history without blinking or flinching.
Sincerely,
Angela Jackson-Brown