After Tupac and D Foster

Title: After Tupac and D Foster
Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Summary: The story of Neeka, an 11 year-old African American girl whose life is permanantly altered by a friend, D Foster, who enters her life and leaves shortly after. The two who have had very different childhoods, Neeka is from a strong community in Queens while D has been bouncing from foster homes her whole life, end up finding commonality in many things, including their love for rapper Tupac Shakur.

Opinion: “Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.”     “For every dark night, there's a brighter day", Tupac, was and still is considered to be one of the greatest urban lyricist of recent generations. However, like many great artists, his life was tragically ended short. Being a large fan of Hip-Hop, I could not help but absolutly love this story. It not only went through the struggles, trials, and tribulations of adolescents, but also the struggle trials and tribulations of Black progress in the 90's. Woodson does a masterful job in relating the fictional tale with actual events happening in the United States, making the story relatable to anyone growing up in the mid-90's (Me :-) ). 
Tupac Shakur was one of those figures who divided America into two mutually uncomprehending groups -- those who loved him and found personal meaning in his work, and those who dismissed him as just another posing thug who reaped what he sowed. This division is the premise of Woodson's work. It is clear that back then and still today, there is a division in the perspective of black culture. While people within the culture state the difficulty of social movement due to oppressive forces found throughout society, the other feels that Black culture is complacent due to their own culture, a culture that lowly prioritizes education and hard work. 
I loved this book and made me open my eyes about black culture. After reading, I could not help but feel mixed emotions wondering if more can be done to promote this groups growth.