What Truth Sounds Like

Posted on 11 May 2017 by Michael Eric Dyson

A stunning follow up to New York Times bestseller Tears We Cannot Stop, a timely exploration of America s tortured racial politics In 2015 BLM activist Julius Jones confronted Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with an urgent query What in your heart has changed that s going to change the direction of this country I don t believe you just change hearts, she protested I believe you change laws The fraught conflict between conscience and politics between morality and power in addressing race hardly began with Clinton An electrifying and traumatic encounter in the sixties crystallized these furious disputes.In 1963 Attorney General Robert Kennedy sought out James Baldwin to explain the rage that threatened to engulf black America Baldwin brought along some friends, including playwright Lorraine Hansberry, psychologist Kenneth Clark, and a valiant activist, Jerome Smith It was Smith s relentless, unfiltered fury that set Kennedy on his heels, reducing him to sullen silence.Kennedy walked away from the nearly three hour meeting angry that the black folk assembled didn t understand politics, and that they weren t as easy to talk to as Martin Luther King But especially that they were interested in witness than policy But Kennedy s anger quickly gave way to empathy, especially for Smith I guess if I were in his shoes I might feel differently about this country Kennedy set about changing policy the meeting having transformed his thinking in fundamental ways.There was every big argument about race that persists to this day got a hearing in that room Smith declaring that he d never fight for his country given its racist tendencies, and Kennedy being appalled at such lack of patriotism, tracks the disdain for black dissent in our own time His belief that black folk were ungrateful for the Kennedys efforts to make things better shows up in our day as the charge that black folk wallow in the politics of ingratitude and victimhood The contributions of black queer folk to racial progress still cause a stir BLM has been accused of harboring a covert queer agenda The immigrant experience, like that of Kennedy versus the racial experience of Baldwin is a cudgel to excoriate black folk for lacking hustle and ingenuity The questioning of whether folk who are interracially partnered can authentically communicate black interests persists And we grapple still with the responsibility of black intellectuals and artists to bring about social change.This book exists at the tense intersection of the conflict between politics and prophecy of whether we embrace political resolution or moral redemption to fix our fractured racial landscape The future of race and democracy hang in the balance. Best Read What Truth Sounds Like [ author ] Michael Eric Dyson [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Click the link for my review.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 t 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, L...There was a meeting in 1963 between Robert F Kennedy and James Baldwin and a few of Baldwin s friends When you think of an example of speaking truth to power, that meeting as described by Dyson here, will indeed standout as definitive Dyson writes I heard over the years how explosive it was, how it brought together other folk I had admired, including Harry Belafonte The gathering pitted an earnest if defensive white liberal against a raging phalanx of thinkers, activists, and entertainers w There was a meeting in 1963 between Robert F Kennedy and James Baldwin and a few of Baldwin s friends When you think of an example of speaking truth to power, that meeting as described by Dyson here, will indeed standout as definitive Dyson writes I heard over the years how explosive it was, how it brought together other folk I had admire...I m not sure how I feel about this book It s nominal premise is based on a little known meeting in late May 1963 between then Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Black intellectuals, activists and entertainers ranging from James Baldwin to Lena Horne to Lorraine Hansberry It was a stunning collection of prominent Black cultural figures and Kennedy was meeting was to collect suggestions as to the best course the government should take in pursuit of Civil Rights It did not go well As Dyson wr I m not sure how I feel about this book It s nominal premise is based on a little known meeting in late May 1963 between then Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Black intellectuals, activists and entertainers ranging from James Baldwin to Lena Horne to Lorraine Hansberry It was a stunning collection of prominent Black cultural figures and Kennedy was meeting was to collect suggestions as to the best course the government should take in pursuit of Civil Rights It did not go well As Dyson writes, for a fardetailed and franklycoherent breakdown of what happened on that day I would recommend Taylor Branch s ...There was a meeting in 1963 between Robert F Kennedy and James Baldwin and a few of Baldwin s friends When you think of an example of speaking truth to power, that meeting as described by Dyson here, will indeed standout as definitive Dyson writes I heard over the years how explosive it was, how it brought together other folk I had admired, including Harry Belafonte The gathering pitted an earnest if defensive white liberal against a raging phalanx of thinkers, activists, and entertainers w There was a meeting in 1963 between Robert F Kennedy and James Baldwin and a few of Baldwin s friends When you think of an example of speaking truth to power, that meeting as described by Dyson here, will indeed standout as definitive Dyson writes I heard over the years how explosive it was, how it brought together other folk I had admired, including Harry Belafonte The gathering pitted an earnest if defensive white liberal against a raging phalanx of thinkers, activists, and entertainers who were out for blood I ve always wanted to read a book about that historic moment, andimportant, about its meaning for us today as we struggle with many of the same issues America confronted 50 years ago Dyson has not written that book, but this one has enough details about that meeting to give a clear picture about what took place He manages to put the reader in that room while brilliantly filling out the book with loo...An excellent follow up to Tears We Cannot Stop Just as timely, too I appreciated Dyson s discussion of Bobby Kennedy s meeting with James Baldwin and other African American artists and intellectuals, and showed it as his turning point in advocating for great social justice He compares it nicely to Hillary Clinton s progression with race matters From super predators to sympathizing with BLM, he says Hillary seems to hear the activists even if they did not hear her He shows that everyone An excellent follow up to Tears We Cannot Stop Just as timely, too I appreciated Dyson s discussion of Bobby Kennedy s meeting ...An exploration of the black experience of America in terms of a meeting between RFK and many notable members of the black community in 1963.The author begins by describing the meeting between RFK, James Baldwin, and many other prominent black artists and intellectuals in 1963 RFK was looking for validation but heard the deep pain and anguish regarding the condition of black people in America At the time RFK did not truly hear it as time went on it seemed he internalized some of what he learne An exploration of the black experience of America in terms of a meeting between RFK and many notable members of the black community in 1963.The author begins b...Dyson elaborates on this book in numerous YouTube videos all highly engaging as he s a compelling speaker Striking is how many parallels there are between the 60s and today and how little empathy we ve practiced as a nation in hearing pain Today s art is denial although that s becoming less of an option with Trump Also striking is how a meeting like this could never even come about in the current administration can you imagine Trump sitting down with a bunch of BLM or other African Americ Dy...When I began Michael Eric Dyson s What Truth Sounds Like, I found myself wondering if this book was going to be for me I was previously unfamiliar with Dyson s work and the first passage of the book seemingly speaks of heroes and patriotic martyrs I worried I was walking into another neoliberal revisionist telling of important histories of racial struggle and justice in the United States You know, the kind where we hear things like Rosa Parks was just a tired woman on the bus and not a radi When I began Michael Eric Dyson s What Truth Sounds Like, I found myself wondering if this book was going to be for me I was previously unfamiliar with Dyson s work and t...This book begins with a description of the 1963 meeting in the NYC apartment of Joseph and Rose Kennedy The meeting was attended by Robert Kennedy, James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, and many other notable people, without organization affiliation There was also a young black civil rights worker there named Jerome Smith who, unlike the others, had been beaten and jailed in Mississippi.Dyson does an extr...

11 May 2017

Michael Eric Dyson