What the truth sounds like, and is for me as I sit here and write this review is that I don't know how to review books such as this. Part of me wants to offer a review that strictly focuses on the writing. That (cowardly) part wants to remain neutral in all works that are social hot topics such as politics and race. I don't want to take a side. As reviewer, I feel it's a duty of sorts not to take a side. But another part, a bigger part of me knows I can't be honest and not share my opinions on the subject matter. The issues Michael Eric Dyson addresses in What Truth Sounds Like are happening all around whether or not I pick a side or engage in the conversation.
What Truth Sounds Like focuses on an off-the record (so to speak) conversational discussion Robert Kennedy engaged in James Baldwin and other prolific black American figures during the height of the Civil Rights movements. Baldwin, along with Harry Belafonte, Lorraine Hansberry, Lena Horne, Rip Torn, and few others. Kennedy hoped that with the help of those in attendance, they could provide insight on what laws or politics needed to be done in order to reestablish "peace". Kennedy expected that this gathering of black scholars who'd risen from the chains of Jim Crow's oppressive grasp, would understand that change takes time.
What they explained, and still to this day needs to be explained (for some reason), is that there is no more time.
More on that later...
So... let's put on the reviewer hat. Michael Eric Dyson writes What Truth Sounds Like with a pace that is conversational yet with an urgency that is similar to those who protest that Black Lives Matter. Because I'm a huge fan and have seen him on CNN, MSNBC, and other news outlets, it was refreshing to read his words as opposed to hearing his words and thoughts crammed into a segment. In the same way What Truth Sounds Like is conversational in tone, there's also an obvious love-letter in there to Baldwin (especially) and those who have chosen to carry the torch since Dr Martin Luther King Jr's assassination. Muhammad Ali, Lebron James, The Carters, Colin Kaepernick, and the women who have pioneered the "Me-Too" and "Black Lives Matters" campaigns.
I guess this is where I get personal...
It's not fair to make this review about myself, but as I mentioned, history is happening all around me, us, regardless of my level of participation. Dyson suggests that the Kennedy-Baldwin conversation still needs to be had. Based on the amount of young black men being gunned down by those promising to serve and protect, then beating any charges they are faced, is proof the conversation is not over. The fact that our country elected a bigot that doesn't even denounce the KKK is proof there's more to say. In a world where "BBQ Becky" and the Yale student feel that they need police to protect them from blacks who actually have a right to be where they are.
And it infuriates me. All of it. I grew up in an extremely diverse Utopia that didn't prepare me for the anger I feel when these stories come to light. When someone white tries to convince me that they voted for Trump because he's a business man and can ignore his bigotry just screams you're probably racist. And we can have a conversation why. I'll hear your point but you must hear mine as well.
Like Dyson mentions often in this read, there are moral issues as to why these grievances against people of color keep happening. It's sad. It's really sad that there is this mentality that runs rampant in the US of an "us" against "them". I would love to provide quotes from the text but I wouldn't know where to stop. Because I enjoyed reading Dyson's words so much, I was shocked when the references page popped up.
And then... I continued clicking on the many links provided. To state simply I was engaged in this truth would be a gross understatement. The text is so moving I had to read the references and also go to my local used bookstore to grab a few books (mainly Baldwin's and older Dyson works) that I needed to fuel my soul.
Ultimately, there's no doubt the discussion on race needs to be had. It's imperative because black Americans are tired of continuing to be exploited. Imagine building, funding, living in a world that doesn't find you fit or suitable. You're an outsider. That's where we live. Thank you Michael Eric Dyson for writing What Truth Sounds Like. *****
Copy Provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley
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