In Liberty, Calif., even the air smells different. It’s crisp and fresh and … rarified.  

Liberty is a planned community of “Black splendor," a wealthy, gated utopia where everyone — homeowners, teachers, cops and even the Santas — are Black.

And yet when Jasmyn Williams and her family move in, she struggles to fit.

In fact, at one point she confides to a new acquaintance: “To be honest with you, I’ve been trying to find community, but so far I’m coming up short.”

Part of the problem, she discovers, is that even though her proximity to the problems of the Black working class has widened, her activism and commitment have only sharpened.

And yet she encounters a strange kind of arms-length apathy among her new neighbors.

In our interview, author Nicola Yoon and I talked about her book “One of our Kind” and the moral dilemma of social justice advocacy when the well-being of your family is at stake.

— Kerri Miller