When we learned about the Civil Rights movement in grade school, we watched videos of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches and some of the protests. I remember being horrified at the racist, white people screaming with all the righteous indignation their stupidity could muster. I figured they must be so ashamed of themselves now–having been caught on the wrong side of history with their violent ignorance. As much as those videos affected me, I still did not understand the reality of living in the South […]
The devil is bathed in blue light, rides a white horse, and is voted into office.
As the sun descended in the west, a restless crowd gathered before a cedar tree. There was a chill in the December air, and it was thick with the tangy smell of sweat, fear and anticipation for what was about to happen. Boxed in by cars, a young 20 year old man named Cordie Cheek stood before a ladder with a rope around his neck. A teeming mass of men, women, and children threw epithets at him, and shared a palpable sense that justice was […]
“I would not have you descend into your own dream. I would have you be a conscious citizen of this terrible and beautiful world.”
Let me cut to the chase-this book is a must read. Usually when you hear about a book hyped as much as Ta-Nehishi Coates’ Between the World and Me, you’re going to be disappointed. This is the rare exception. Before I even finished the 152 page book, I knew it was the type of work that will outlive all of us, a permanent fixture on bookstore shelves and college syllabi. This book-written in the aftermath of the Ferguson protests and published ahead of schedule after […]
More than any other I’ve reviewed, I recommend this.
I can’t imagine that I’ll read a more important book this year. The heightened tensions throughout the country following the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland and so many others (just so many) has made race perhaps the defining issue of our times. But it’s impossible to say this is surprising or new for anyone who’s been paying attention. What is going on now has been a continual flashpoint in our nation’s history; at times it’s been relegated to […]
Maya Angelou memoir on political awakening
This is the fourth of seven memoirs written by Maya Angelou, and it covers the period from 1957 and 1962, shortly before her departure from California with her young son Guy in tow. Maya ends up in New York City, where she enters the society of black musicians, actors, artists, writers, political activists, and discovers new depths within herself as she joins the Harlem Writers Guild along such luminaries as James Baldwin, writes for and performs on stage, becomes northern coordinator for Martin Luther King’s […]
Don’t let my obsession with equality turn you off of a really sweet book.
All of my posts are missing most of what I wrote, and I can’t remember what I said at the time. Here’s the link to my review.
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