Jan Glaz

The White Block Jan Glaz

"The White Block" is a profound interracial story told through the eyes of Jannie, a Caucasian child born at the end of World War II and raised in a low income area on the South Side of Chicago where even the poorest people felt superior to the Black race and feared the rise of the Negro. Jannie insists she was born magically and her belief instills a sense of bravery that enables her to secretly befriend Shanice, a Black child bused to her all White school in the name of integration. When a turncoat elected to preserve White Block neighborhoods sells to a Black family the crisis brings Jannie's bonding with Shanice into the open, an act that tears at the foundation of her family but not her loyalty to Shanice. As Jannie and Shanice journey deeper into adulthood their lives are swept into shocking events that unearth the truths leading to our present day where "Black streets are lined with blood".