A fascinating look at a man in an iconic photograph who shouldn’t have been there. Unfortunately, as far as the author’s father’s career is explored, A fascinating look at a man in an iconic photograph who shouldn’t have been there. Unfortunately, as far as the author’s father’s career is explored, it’s mostly about his time undercover in the Memphis police as opposed to his appearance on the scene of the MLK assassination or time with the CIA. The former appears to be nothing more than a fluke of history, the latter would understandably be full of redactions even if the author could tell the full story. The conversation with her dad and Andrew Young is almost worth the price of admission given the historical weight of it. Not exactly the book I was hoping for but a fascinating story nonetheless. ...more
Part of the reason academics suck is that they turn exciting subjects into…well…works of academia. They write like their audience is a panel of over ePart of the reason academics suck is that they turn exciting subjects into…well…works of academia. They write like their audience is a panel of over educated intellectuals judging their work and not the unwashed masses.
That’s why a book like this is so much fun! The writer loves the subject. It’s an awesome subject! And he has fun with it. I got a comprehensive view of the rise, zenith, fall of 70s blaxploitation films and had a blast while doing it. Please, if you’re gonna write about cool stuff, take a cue from Odie Henderson and act like you enjoy it! ...more
Stretching a four star rating here but I liked the subject and I got what I wanted out of the book, even if the presentation is uneven and clunky. I lStretching a four star rating here but I liked the subject and I got what I wanted out of the book, even if the presentation is uneven and clunky. I learned a lot about the Knicks from that period and NYC hip hop culture that was emerging right next to them. ...more
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is widely celebrated by mainline Protestant (mostly white) Christians because he’s one of the rare public instances in which a whiDietrich Bonhoeffer is widely celebrated by mainline Protestant (mostly white) Christians because he’s one of the rare public instances in which a white Christian has been on the right side of history. In standing up to the Nazis, Bonhoeffer is considered a modern day martyr.
But what’s not as publicly known is that Bonhoeffer found the strength to resist the Nazis during his time in Harlem. Studying at General Theological Seminary, located in nearby Morningside Heights, Bonhoeffer worked in the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church. It was at these places that Bonhoeffer first encountered the power of Black theology, the need of Black churches to liberate the image of Jesus Christ from their racist oppressors and to rebuild the institution into a haven for the marginalized.
Less a history text and more a theological one, Dr. Reggie L. Williams does an excellent job breaking down not just the transformation of Bonhoeffer’s theology (and personhood) but the theological witnessing of the Harlem Renaissance from such luminaries as Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., Langston Hughes, and W.E.B. Du Bois. In fact, I didn’t even know the title of the book came from Du Bois’ personal theology.
And while Williams doesn’t make Bonhoeffer to be the hero of the story, he shows how the man’s theology was gradually transformed from the wounded volkisch Christian nationalism of post-WWI Germany to the defiant resister of a man who came to find that Christ’s presence was with the least of these, especially but not limited to his Jewish siblings.
Yet just as Williams does not venerate Bonhoeffer, he also does not dismiss him. His emphasis on the man’s theological evolution is that Bonhoeffer was open to growth, to empathy, to change, to (as he was a Lutheran) reform. And this is a lesson in the book for white Christians like myself: our theology can always evolve, can adapt, can grow beyond just the nationalist underpinnings and tranquilizing drug of gradualism on which it has historically been fed.
This is a scholarly text but it is also a divine one. Williams’ words meet the feel of the urgent moment both Bonhoeffer and the Black residents of Harlem found themselves in, though their experiences are much different. It’s an urgency that can be felt today.
I think had I read this at a different time in my life, I would have been more moved. Having read Angela Davis’ work on prisons before getting to MariI think had I read this at a different time in my life, I would have been more moved. Having read Angela Davis’ work on prisons before getting to Mariame Kaba…and then having read Kaba’s work before reading this…a lot of it was familiar. There’s still great stuff to chew on. I love how Kaba allows herself to question her thoughts, to be moved by others, to grow. It sets a standard for activism. Her work has greatly influenced me. I was hoping this would be a roadmap to carceral abolition but it’s not and Kaba does a great job of engaging the why. A good primer for those unfamiliar with her work and/or prison abolition. ...more
I can’t remember who tweeted it but someone once wrote a hypothesis that anti-Semitism is on the rise again because so many Holocaust survivors are dyI can’t remember who tweeted it but someone once wrote a hypothesis that anti-Semitism is on the rise again because so many Holocaust survivors are dying. Reading that hit me like a thunderbolt because it made so much sense. Anti-Semitism is an ancient prejudice and it’s certainly not new to the last ten years but I have no doubt that the loss of living witnesses is a part of it.
Mass media wasn’t as widely available during Reconstruction as it is today but it may have changed some more stubborn northern hearts to hear the stories of freed slaves and their families trying to survive terrorism in southern states. The effort to enfranchise Black persons who had just been emancipated was a weak one, an incomplete one, rife with inconsistencies and poor planning. The result was a decline of the quality of life for Black persons that led to Jim Crow and would persist for a hundred years (and still persists today to a different degree).
This is not a narrative history of Reconstruction. Rather, it’s a reading of Reconstruction as told through the testimonies of several emancipated persons who testified against the Klan violence they had experienced for a variety of reasons, all of them traced back to racism. There’s proof that Congress, the Presidents of Reconstruction, and some northerners with literacy and newspaper access knew this…and yet the appetite for corralling southerners post-war was not there. So it left Black persons vulnerable all across the former Confederate states.
And it’s important to continue to read these testimonies. Because the terror of that age paved the road for the racist attitudes and policies of today. People had to consistently fight for their humanity and it was often a losing battle. Those that survived and felt compelled to tell their testimonies* tell us what was happening. The white governance of the States did not listen. And in this age, far removed from that one yet with many of the same bigotries existing, we are regressing and will continue to do so without major reform. We can start by listening to the stories of those who have experienced it.
*This is where I part ways with people in this and other contexts who would talk about how these survivors are “brave.” Every survivor is brave by necessity, whether or not they share their story in a public manner. ...more
I’ll say this much for The Last Honest Man: the writers know why you’re here.
I didn’t pick this one up to learn about the classes Frank Church took inI’ll say this much for The Last Honest Man: the writers know why you’re here.
I didn’t pick this one up to learn about the classes Frank Church took in college or what his favorite restaurant was when he was dating his wife. I picked this up to learn about Frank Church and the Church Committee, the legendary group of Senators and lawyers who took on the FBI and CIA to figure out what was behind the curtain of America becoming a global power.
And it delivers big time because over 60% of the book is dedicated to the coalescing, forming, production, and closing of the committee. Along the way, we get the nuts-and-bolts examination of how Church and his group did their job to bring the FBI, NSA and CIA to…well if not justice necessarily, at least to some measure of accountability.
Church caught the perfect moment of post-Watergate anti-government sentiment. Americans wanted to know who were the faceless Mr. Smiths spying on them and murdering international leaders. Many were scared that this would continue. Church didn’t necessarily stop it; all three agencies are still thriving along with their untold subsidiaries. But he did put measurements in place to ensure that they would be somewhat curbed. We didn’t learn the lessons of the committee post-9/11. But some aspects of it still thrive today. Americans by-and-large hate and fear governmental surveillance, even if they don’t agree on what to do with it.
The book could have gone into a little more depth on the actual testimonies and been better organized in spots. It falls short of the potential for being a truly great narrative history. But it’s still effective in bringing attention to this highly important but sadly marginalized moment in American history. ...more
Good better best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best.
This was a popular sports chant when I was playing little leagueGood better best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best.
This was a popular sports chant when I was playing little league baseball. It’s also a great way to describe S.A. Crosby’s career.
I have yet to read his first book My Darkest Prayer. I should remedy that soon. At any rate, his first big hit was his sophomore effort Blacktop Wasteland, which I thought was a fun, southern take on the first Fast and Furious movie. His second one Razorblade Tears was a knock-me-on-my-keester potboiler about race, sexuality, and fatherhood. It’s still seared in my mind. One of the best things I read in 2022 and I wasn’t sure Crosby would be able to top it.
Well he did. Because wow.
This book is billed as a mystery-suspense one but it’s really a horror novel about the Black experience in the mid-south. I’ve heard the Get Out comparisons but I think those miss the point: this is a book so strongly rooted in its atmosphere of rural Virginia that the setting is almost as great of a character as the MC.
But not to be outdone, the MC is a fascinating character as well. Yeah there’s some familiarity (man-comes-home, tortured soul) but I was really invested in Titus’ life and well-being. And that’s why this book pulses with such energy: Titus keeps digging deeper and deeper into a current crime, revealing past ones, all of it coming to a hilt in a Charlottesville-like confrontation.
It’s a violent book but it’s not a depiction of gratuitous violence against Black people, not the kind of torture porn that often pops up. It takes you through the full experience and it takes you like a rocket through space. I’m still catching my breath. It’s excellent. Probably the best thing I’ve read in 2023....more
Giving this one the first book bump. There’s a lot to like here with setting and intrigue. Plus the notion of a Black LAPD Detective navigating a tricGiving this one the first book bump. There’s a lot to like here with setting and intrigue. Plus the notion of a Black LAPD Detective navigating a tricky murder of a Black LAPD trainee is a demanding setup and I think Aaron Philip Clark does a great job with it. What a relief for a writer to allow their MC to be truly complex. The plotting stalled in spots, characterization wasn’t great, and the love angle and ending respectively left a lot to be desired. But huzzah for a writer who shows great confidence with their first book. ...more
Like many white folk who studied the Civil Rights Movement on a surface level, I always assumed Coretta Scott King fully played the Dutiful Wife. She Like many white folk who studied the Civil Rights Movement on a surface level, I always assumed Coretta Scott King fully played the Dutiful Wife. She tended to the children, kept the house, lifted the spirits of her famous husband, mourned with dignity and carried on his legacy as she got older.
Well, she did do those things. But she did so much more and she deserves to be remembered as more than The Wife.
I’ve always had a curiosity about Coretta Scott King ever since I heard that she was pro-LGBTQIA+ and fought for those with HIV and AIDS. Nowadays, these are celebrated causes but they weren’t in the 1980s. Her work put her at odds with her husband’s former cohorts and I found a real bravery in it, a depth. I remember fondly the era before the 2010s when even then, human sexuality was a taboo and tawdry topic. I assumed it took incredible bravery.
Coretta Scott King was brave but it was more than that. She was called. She felt at an early age that she had a call from God to serve her neighbor. As she recounted her secular and theological educations, I heard a story I’ve heard in so many of my female colleagues: following their calls despite sexism, figuring out what God wants for them in the world. It was quite a thing to learn about Coretta Scott King, the person, especially to see her grow. Even though I knew how the story ended, more or less, I found myself rooting for her the whole time.
Yes, she did do the things I suppose a Civil Rights Activist’s Wife was expected. But she also marched. She also spoke out. She also grew as a person, learned lessons, was challenged.
And she had a life. Something I’ve tried to focus on these last few years of Civil Rights study, without invading the privacy of another, is to learn about their lives beyond their work. What did they do for fun? What were their dreams beyond fighting for their humanity?
When you learn things like how Martin Luther King, Jr. loved to dance, or how Fred Hampton wanted to play center field for the Yankees, or how Coretta Scott King wanted to sing at concerts, it adds another layer. Because you remember that these are people. People like us with real hopes, dreams, and ambitions. People who cannot pursue their goals because of prejudice. Coretta Scott King is certainly proud of her work, and she should be, but no child grows up dreaming of combating such a legacy of evil hurled against them. It makes the story more painful and I think we who don’t have to deal with anti-Blackness need to sit with that more rather than constantly seeking out workshops and anti-racist self-help books.
At any rate, I had to dock this a star because, while it was fascinating to read about her political machinations to get the King Center built and to be involved in politics, I wish the book was longer and covered more ground on her family. Again, if it’s not the story she wanted to tell, that’s fine, but after the chapter on building the King Center (the best chapter in the book for my money), it’s a litany of recounting political fights with some words about her kids tacked on at the end. This was published posthumously so it isn’t her fault, per se, but it kept the book from being great.
But it is a good read and I encourage anyone interested to give it a shot. It’s really important to hear Coretta Scott King’s story and to understand why she did what she did....more
Like a lot of Americans, I learned the broad strokes about the Pacific theater in World War II. The Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor. Attacked us!Like a lot of Americans, I learned the broad strokes about the Pacific theater in World War II. The Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor. Attacked us! Obviously, we couldn’t just stand pat. So we warred with them from island-to-island until we had no choice but to drop the atomic bomb and end the war. They were the aggressor and it was all their fault.
I’m reluctant to call this narrative propaganda. Japan did attack us. But the history of the war in the Pacific is far more complicated. At least, that’s what James D. Bradley posits in this work.
I had briefly listened to Bradley’s Flag of Our Fathers tale on his dad being one of the flag-raisers at Iwo Jima. The book, again what little I heard, did a good job of excavating his experience and how it impacted his family moving forward, especially as his son began to grow fond of Japan.
In this book, he takes a broader look at what led to the war. Using a diplomacy cruise featuring future President Taft, President’s daughter and noted socialite Alice Roosevelt and others, Bradley traces the areas of the cruise with the developing US imperialist expansion policy in the west. He covers each territory traveled to, with a background on what the US did (or did not do) to colonize it and/or influence it for the sake of exploited resources (and in some cases, labor).
Everything comes back to Japan. Bradley’s thesis is that the US (and to a lesser degree, the UK) helped influence the Japanese in a western style (part of what inspired the Meiji restoration) to help it harbor its own imperial ambitions. All this was done at the behest of Teddy Roosevelt, who sought to colonize the islands and draw them for all they’re worth.
This is a readable, fascinating slice of counter-narrative history but I can’t give it more than three stars. The framing device was essentially useless save for commentary on Alice Roosevelt’s dresses or Bill Taft’s laughter. The one critical moment where Taft essentially carries out a covert diplomatic mission to allow Japan to annex Korea at the US’ behest (serving as a buffer for Russian expansion). There’s been a lot of speculation that this actually happened, though there’s no historical confirmation. For the record, I can believe some version of it happened but Bradley isn’t a historian so his use of primary source documentary isn’t clean. Coupled with redundancies and poor editorial choices and this isn’t exactly something worthy of awards.
However, for folks who don’t know the larger narrative of Pacific expansion could do worse than start here. It’s easy to digest and will give the reader a good start to building up knowledge on the subject....more
A good primer on the history and present of race-based voter suppression in the United States. Won’t be much new to those who are familiar with the brA good primer on the history and present of race-based voter suppression in the United States. Won’t be much new to those who are familiar with the broad strokes but still an essential work to understand where we are and the importance of moving forward. ...more
I had been meaning to tackle this legendary W.E.B. DuBois’ tome for years, finally deciding to do it this month.
It wasn’t what I expected, in many wayI had been meaning to tackle this legendary W.E.B. DuBois’ tome for years, finally deciding to do it this month.
It wasn’t what I expected, in many ways.
Those expectations came with my own ignorance in not knowing a lot of DuBois’ work. I’d read little of him before getting to this. I knew that despite his status amongst the Black intellectuals and historians of his time, he was outcast near the end of his life for leaving the NAACP because of his communism.
I figured that would inflect in his work. I didn’t think it would inform it. Because while, yes, this is a well-documented look at the political life of Black people during the period of reconstruction, it is also in many ways an examination of labor in the United States post-Civil War. Specifically: how does a nation respond when a large oligarchical part of it is broken?
The answer, as we know from the last 150+ years, not well.
DuBois’ primary focus here is on labor and how labor impacted politics (and vice versa). This was the first time I’d ever heard to the actions Black people took during the Civil War as a “general strike.” But he doesn’t just cover the labor of free Black folks. DuBois is taken with the white laborer, specifically the poor white southern laborer who existed outside of the planter class (as the majority did) and who, despite having the benefit of skin color in an apartheid society, had a lot in common with the Black laborer: most working for low or non-existent wages and getting shut out of the political process.
Examining this history first by themes and then by states, DuBois paints a picture of a nation that was on a rocky but possibly successful path to rebuilding itself, only to keep shoving progress aside with the north’s fatigue of occupation. He shows how the paths towards democracy, education, and especially labor were improved in this time, with newly minted Black voters exalting their white brethren, only for things to keep getting halted, first by Black Codes, then by the 1876 election, and finally with the entrance of Jim Crow.
While labor is the main theme here, there is no running thread of Reconstruction. Some former Confederate states were less terrible than others, while all of them had problems. Black people had great successes in areas like South Carolina and less so in Louisiana. None of it was sustainable because the post-Lincoln government, in the thrall of greedy northern industrialists and Democratic copperheads, didn’t do enough to help the South get on its feet.
Much of this can be traced to Andrew Johnson. Those four years of post-Civil War presidency were critical and Johnson continually stifled congress while empowering planters at every turn. DuBois goes hard on him but really, everyone is guilty, though he does reserve plenty of love for Charles Sumner.
If I have one issue with the book, it’s that it’s heavily male-focused. While DuBois isn’t a chauvinist, it addresses male labor and male society. Angela Davis’ Women, Race, and Class would be a great follow up read for those who dive into this and want to learn more.
Black Reconstruction isn’t framed as a historical “what if?” though it’s tempting to read it as such. We can’t rewrite history, but we can learn from it. Hopefully, we can take its most important lessons: respect for labor, struggling together, safety for the Black body, and permanent voter enfranchisement....more
A quality, entertaining corporate mystery/thriller from an exciting new voice. Comparisons to The Firm are apt but Morris makes the story her own withA quality, entertaining corporate mystery/thriller from an exciting new voice. Comparisons to The Firm are apt but Morris makes the story her own with a compelling protagonist whose character has real depth. I hope we get more work from her. ...more
This clears the 3-star threshold but just barely. I appreciate what Lethem is trying to do here and I usually enjoy his work. But this was a slog and This clears the 3-star threshold but just barely. I appreciate what Lethem is trying to do here and I usually enjoy his work. But this was a slog and that’s before the even more tedious second half. The characters feel real but it’s overwritten and the ending just crashes and burns. ...more
Several Black friends have remarked to me that when they are in predominantly white spaces, they nodI'm a white dude so take this entire review fwiw.
Several Black friends have remarked to me that when they are in predominantly white spaces, they nod to each other. It's a tacit acknowledgment of solidarity in the midst of difficult circumstances.
This book felt like examining the politics of that nod through the Black female lens. It's a thriller and, I guess to a degree a mystery/horror but it's really the focused kind of social commentary take in fiction that's poignant and needed.
There's kind of two tracks running at the same time: the character Nella and other ancillary characters working in the background. Harris takes her time getting to their convergence and that's maybe my only quibble; the book suffers a little when it's not focused on Nella. But it's overarching points: the minimization of Black women in mostly white spaces, the compromises Black women have to make in order to survive in the work force, the non stop focus on Black women's hair...those come through loud and clear. I was rooting for Nella and also feeling terrible for her.
Some are going to blanche at the ending. I really liked it. I think it emphasized all Zakiya Dalila Harris was trying to say. She wasn't afraid to confront her creation head on and that's all one can ask of a writer, even if they don't like where the book lands.
This is a good work by an exciting new voice. I can't recommend it enough. ...more
Coming to terms with a society that doesn't want you based on your body...and creating your own space instead...has to be a challenging thing. Leah LaComing to terms with a society that doesn't want you based on your body...and creating your own space instead...has to be a challenging thing. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha bares her soul to the world in this collection of poems and one-act plays. Her use of language to lecture gripped me and her exploration of what it means to live in this world, to choose life amidst death, despite being close to death, is hauntingly beautiful. ...more
Some have pegged Karin Brynard as the “South African Stieg Larsson.” For good and not so good reasons, I can see why.
I’m not an expert on South AfricaSome have pegged Karin Brynard as the “South African Stieg Larsson.” For good and not so good reasons, I can see why.
I’m not an expert on South Africa. I know the broad strokes of the fall of apartheid and how it functioned before the rise of President Mandela, but as far as how the country is adapting today, I’m mostly clueless. I have no doubt that a herrenvolk government doesn’t just switch to multicultural democracy overnight, and that South Africans are probably several generations away from putting real distance behind the lingering affects of apartheid.
Karin Brynard makes the point in this story here. Ostensibly a murder mystery set in rural farmlands of South Africa, she uses this to examine the state of racism that prevails in the country, specifically around the white supremacist Great Replacement conspiracy, which was popularized by Hitler among others and which Donald Trump (of course) echoed as President.
But with Trump, he was talking not about the United Staes but about South African farmers, which he claims were being murdered by Black people for the purpose of land grabs. This has been disproven time and time again but it doesn’t stop those who yearn for the apartheid days to bring it up. Baynard brings this to life in mystery/drama form and I learned a lot about it through the characters and the environment.
That’s the good side of her Larsson-esqueness. The bad side is the underdevelopment of marginalized characters at the expense of a White Knight. Albertus Beeslaar is a complex character but he’s also usually depicted as in the right while his Black co-workers and boss are portrayed as bumbling, ineffectual bureaucrats who, despite being the victims of racism in South African, apparently can learn a thing or two from this white cop. And other Black characters are not really drawn out well either. It’s not a good look for a book that purports to address why a country with a strong legacy of anti-Blackness still struggles with it.
But it is good enough for what it’s trying to do and while I wouldn’t run out to get the second book, I wouldn’t say no either....more
It was wild reading this book and following the climate catastrophe unfold in Texas. It’s almost like it was published for this exact moment. While itIt was wild reading this book and following the climate catastrophe unfold in Texas. It’s almost like it was published for this exact moment. While it’s understandable that Texas wouldn’t be accustomed to a snowfall and deep freeze, it’s not understandable, at least in the abstract, that its power grid wouldn’t be able to accommodate.
But I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Conservative Texas politicians immediately went on the offensive. Former Governor and energy secretary Rick Perry said the state would freeze before it accepted government help. Governor Greg Abbott blamed the nonexistent Green New Deal. Senator Ted Cruz said all kinds of dumb stuff before hightailing it to Cancun, only to be shamed into returning home.
It’s all part of the same shell game: the desire of white people to make their circumstances worse rather than have equality for all.
Heather C. McGhee’s timely op-ed in last week’s New York Times immediately put her on my radar. Her argument was simple: by giving into white supremacist policies that disproportionately impact Black people and other ethnic minorities, white people inadvertently hurt themselves financially and socially. She expands on this in her book, a book that I think all white Americans should read.
McGhee begins the book with a condensed version of racial history in America from pre-slavery to Jim Crow, framing the book with the understanding that radicalized policies trace back to slavery and its aftereffects. She then breaks the book down into different sections, covering such topics as voting, labor, finance, housing and others. In each piece, she uses examples that talk about how while these policies primarily hurt the non-white targets they’re designed to hurt, they still impact white people. Her argument throughout is the need for a multiracial coalition that stands against white power brokers who are breaking the world’s climate and tearing America’s social fabric.
What I appreciate most about this book is that I’ve always believed that racism impacted white people but I’ve never been able to articulate it aside from a few abstract examples. McGhee’s book fills-in-the-blanks for me and for any white person who are looking to expand the scope of their knowledge of how racism works.
I would say that while I highly recommend the book, it comes with some caveats: It’s written in a very academic way that reads dryly. There were times when it was tough to track McGhee’s arguments and some of the chapters could have been better developed.
Nevertheless, this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive answer for every facet of systemic racism. It’s meant to be a gateway for understanding the many-tentacled way in which it works. It’s a book for this moment and I can’t recommend it enough....more
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