{"id":22301,"date":"2023-06-04T15:03:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-04T22:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3rdactmagazine.com\/?p=22301"},"modified":"2023-09-04T15:19:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T22:19:14","slug":"my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"My View from the Back of the Bus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>By Merritt D. Long\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by Victoria Starr Marshall<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22300\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22300\" style=\"width: 254px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-22300\" src=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"254\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-600x900.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG.jpeg 667w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22300\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Book Cover &#8211; My View From the Back of the Bus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I thought I\u2019d taken an unabashed look at the white privilege I grew up with. I\u2019ve read books, watched movies, spoken with people of color, done a deep dive into my deeply ingrained, culturally absorbed beliefs and biases, and wrote an essay titled, \u201cBlinded by the White\u201d for this magazine. I should have been ready for some of the disturbing revelations of racism and discrimination by Merritt D. Long in his inspiring memoir, <em>My View from the Back of the Bus<\/em>, but I still find it difficult to wrap my head around how this could happen\u2014and still does with disturbing regularity\u2014in America.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Long was born in Bessemer, Alabama, at the height of Jim Crow: \u201cI\u2019m the one you called nigger with relish and glee. I\u2019m the one you forced to use the \u2018Colored\u2019 restroom in the land of the free and the home of the brave,\u201d the prologue begins. The list is long: \u201cI\u2019m the one you and two of your buddies pulled guns on when ten of us were swimming and playing in a lake in the woods that nobody owned \u2026 We had no swimming pool\u2014the city-owned swimming pools were for Whites, and Whites only. I\u2019m the one who was invisible, who didn\u2019t count. You thought I would never amount to anything, I\u2019m Merritt Douglas Long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It wasn\u2019t just institutionalized racism that Long needed to navigate in his young life. His father was prone to unprovoked violent rages and would beat Long for the smallest perceived infraction. Yet, Long does not hold resentment. Behind the beatings was also a man who worked hard to ensure his sons would have a better future and more opportunity than he did, and that\u2019s the father Long loves.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Long moved to Seattle in 1968 after graduating from Morehouse College and started his career in Washington state government. He and his family moved to Olympia in 1973, where he was hired as a community worker for the Washington State Board Against Discrimination (now the Washington State Human Rights Commission). From there his career started to ascend as the executive director of the Commission for Vocational Education, then later, as the director of the Human Rights Commission. In 1997, then-Governor Gary Locke appointed Long as the state lottery director. \u201cWhen I think about the arc of my journey from Bessemer, Alabama, to the Washington State Governor\u2019s Office,\u201d Long writes, \u201cI realize it\u2019s the culmination of my life experiences over some 40 years. It has been an amazing and satisfying journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Long\u2019s story is one of resourcefulness, resilience, and perseverance through the almost insurmountable roadblocks our shameful racist culture put in his path. Many people, if not most, are unable to overcome such adverse circumstances. <em>My View from the Back of the Bus<\/em> is the story of one person who did. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Merritt D. Long\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reviewed by Victoria Starr Marshall I thought I\u2019d taken an unabashed look at the white privilege I grew up with. I\u2019ve read books, watched movies, spoken<span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\" title=\"Read More\">More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-book-review"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.7.1 (Yoast SEO v25.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>My View from the Back of the Bus &#8212; 3rd Act Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s difficult to comprehend how the disturbing revelations of racism and discrimination by Merritt D. Long in his inspiring memoir, could happen\u2014and still does with disturbing regularity\u2014in America.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My View from the Back of the Bus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s difficult to comprehend how the disturbing revelations of racism and discrimination by Merritt D. Long in his inspiring memoir, could happen\u2014and still does with disturbing regularity\u2014in America.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"3rd Act Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-04T22:03:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-04T22:19:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Starr Marshall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@3rdActMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@3rdActMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria Starr Marshall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Victoria Starr Marshall\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048\"},\"headline\":\"My View from the Back of the Bus\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-04T22:03:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-04T22:19:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\"},\"wordCount\":516,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Book Review\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\",\"name\":\"My View from the Back of the Bus &#8212; 3rd Act Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-04T22:03:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-04T22:19:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"It's difficult to comprehend how the disturbing revelations of racism and discrimination by Merritt D. Long in his inspiring memoir, could happen\u2014and still does with disturbing regularity\u2014in America.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My View from the Back of the Bus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/\",\"name\":\"3rd Act Magazine\",\"description\":\"Aging with Confidence\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"3rd Act Magazine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":763,\"caption\":\"3rd Act Magazine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/3rdActMag\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/93455502\/admin\/feed\/posts\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048\",\"name\":\"Victoria Starr Marshall\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My View from the Back of the Bus &#8212; 3rd Act Magazine","description":"It's difficult to comprehend how the disturbing revelations of racism and discrimination by Merritt D. Long in his inspiring memoir, could happen\u2014and still does with disturbing regularity\u2014in America.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My View from the Back of the Bus","og_description":"It's difficult to comprehend how the disturbing revelations of racism and discrimination by Merritt D. Long in his inspiring memoir, could happen\u2014and still does with disturbing regularity\u2014in America.","og_url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/","og_site_name":"3rd Act Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/","article_published_time":"2023-06-04T22:03:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-04T22:19:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Victoria Starr Marshall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@3rdActMag","twitter_site":"@3rdActMag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Victoria Starr Marshall","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/"},"author":{"name":"Victoria Starr Marshall","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048"},"headline":"My View from the Back of the Bus","datePublished":"2023-06-04T22:03:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-04T22:19:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/"},"wordCount":516,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg","articleSection":["Book Review"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/","name":"My View from the Back of the Bus &#8212; 3rd Act Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-06-04T22:03:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-04T22:19:14+00:00","description":"It's difficult to comprehend how the disturbing revelations of racism and discrimination by Merritt D. Long in his inspiring memoir, could happen\u2014and still does with disturbing regularity\u2014in America.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Book-cover-LONG-200x300.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/my-view-from-the-back-of-the-bus\/book-review\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My View from the Back of the Bus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/","name":"3rd Act Magazine","description":"Aging with Confidence","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization","name":"3rd Act Magazine","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":763,"caption":"3rd Act Magazine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/","https:\/\/x.com\/3rdActMag","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/93455502\/admin\/feed\/posts\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048","name":"Victoria Starr Marshall"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23219,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22301\/revisions\/23219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}