Given the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, it’s worth revisiting King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, with its synthesis of civil rights and religious vision.
Tag Archives: Black Lives Matter
Time to Revisit “I Have a Dream”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1963 March on Washington, I Have a Dream speech, Martin Luther King Comments closed
Brecht Explains Castile Shooting
To understand why cops continue to shoot innocent people of color and why juries acquit them, Brecht has the definitive explanation in his play “The Exception and the Rule.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bertolt Brecht, cop killings, Exception and the Rule, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice Comments closed
Toni Morrison’s Caution about Black Anger
The killer of the Dallas policemen is not unlike Guitar in Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon.” Through Guitar, Morrison shows how black anger is corrupted by violence. She also shows, through the novel’s protagonist (Milkman), how black resolve is stronger than anger and can soar above the earth.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged black anger, Dallas shooting, police killings, Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Homer’s Warning about Revenge Killings
What will it take to bring peace between police and black communities? Homer has a vision of such a truce at the end of “The Odyssey” but it may not be realistic.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "the meeting after the savior gone 4/4/68", Alton Sterling, Beowulf, Ceremony, Dallas police killings, Grendel's mother, Homer, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lucille Clifton, Odyssey, Philando Castille, race war Comments closed
When the Police Target Black Women
If 2014 saw police victimization of black men, 2015 revealed some police victimization of black women. Alice Walker’s “Color Purple” warned us about this decades ago.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alice Walker, Color Purple, Daniel Holtzclaw, police brutality, Sandra Bland Comments closed
Ellison’s Elegy for Innocent Police Victims
The Invisible Man’s eloquent funeral elegy for his friend Tod Clifton, shot by a policeman, could be delivered over any of the unarmed black men who have been shot by police and vigilantes in recent years. It is relevant again as the city of Cleveland seeks to blame 12-year-old Tamir Rice for his death.
Bernie, Black Lives Matter, & Invisible Man
Bernie Sanders’s early missteps with Black Lives Matter, which bewildered him and his followers, is explained in Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged angry middle, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Invisible Man, Race, race issues, Ralph Ellison Comments closed
