From a column mentioning author James McBride:
Speaking about the Black and Jewish characters in “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store,” McBride said, “There are places where we have common ground, and this common ground is wide. It’s a big world. And as a writer, if you don’t take advantage of that, then you’re missing the stuff that people get out of bed for.”
His goal, he said, is “to continually evolve and look toward the goodness of people because when the good comes out — it takes a while — it just bursts and shines with the most beautiful light. . . . All of us were young at one time; we were all young once and pretty and beautiful and handsome. And you know what? We still are. We just have to relearn to see that in ourselves. So, my goal as a writer is to just find that in another way and say it in another way.”
