In his farewell speech, Obama quoted Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In light of the white backlash against having had a black president, however, the Atticus Finch of “Go Set a Watchman comes to mind, making Obama’s allusion seem a bit weak.
Tag Archives: racism
Morrison: Where America Went Wrong
Toni Morrison’s 2008 novel “A Mercy” seems to start with a promising vision of America before everything goes wrong. It’s as though she starts with the optimism of the Obama years and then predicts the Trump backlash.
All Must Love the Human Form
In “The Divine Image,” Blake gives us a poem for our time, a call to pray for mercy, pity, peace, and love and to recognize the human form in diversity. In “The Human Abstract” he adds that prayer is not enough. It must be accompanied by human justice.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Divine Image", "Human Abstract", Abortion, analysis, Christian Right, classism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, politics, Steve Bannon, William Blake Comments closed
How Trump’s White Appeal Degrades
In his novel “Snow,” Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk captures what it is like for Turks to see themselves through the eyes of Germans. In Trump’s election, my students of color saw themselves through the eyes of white America and didn’t like what they saw.
Toni Morrison: White Panic Led to Trump
As Toni Morrison sees it, William Faulkner’s observations about white panic go a long way toward explaining Trump’s victory.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Absolom Absolom, Donald Trump, Go Tell a Watchman, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Toni Morrison, white privilege, William Faulkner Comments closed
Lit Opens Minds to Suffering of the Other
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum argues that literature is essential for creating good citizens in a diverse society, turning to Sophocles’s “Philoctetes” and Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” to make her point.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Invisible Man, Marcus Aurelius, Martha Nussbaum, Philoctetes, racial justice, Ralph Ellison, Sophocles Comments closed
We Must Revisit Slavery To Find Healing
After attending some remarkable reconciliation events dealing with America’s history of slavery, I now have a better understanding of Octavia Butler’s time travel novel about slavery–and about why the protagonist doesn’t escape back to the present unharmed.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Kindred, Octavia Butler, racial reconciliation, slavery Comments closed
Poetry Turns Prisoner’s Life Around
Reginald Dwayne Betts’s life was turned around when he encounter an anthology of African American poetry in prison. Today he is a graduate of Yale Law School and an accomplished poet in his own right. I share a poem written about Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old shot by Cleveland police.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged police shootings, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Tamir Rice Comments closed
