Michael Eric Dyson

Dyson addresses Black martyrs Elijah McClain, Emmett Till, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Hadiya Pendleton, Sandra Bland, and Rev. Clementa Pinckney in what is basically a series of essays about white supremacy, police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Among other things, he also touches on the backlash against the Hamilton musical and the 1619 project, the Gayle King interview that brought up sexual assaults after Kobe Bryant's death, cancel culture, and white comfort.

As with show more his Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, the writing style feels odd at times on the page, as if intended for oral presentation, as if this were more a transcription of a speech or sermon. The audiobook version may be a better presentation of the material, and I'll probably try his next book in that format.

Still, even on paper, Dyson's voice is compelling. I don't always agree with everything he says this time around -- such as a rationalization for looting during protests -- but I find his arguments powerful and persuasive, and I know I will dwell on them and use them to question my own positions and belief. And if I find myself in the wrong, I take comfort from his emphasis on fallibility, forgiveness and redemption. show less

This sermon-in-book-form should be mandatory reading for all white people in this country. All people of color know it by heart. Dyson's words are so plaintive and so devastating that I'm going to keep a separate list of quotes to use as fuel for arguments with those "not all white people" people. Yes, all white people. No, not you personally. But you personally can do much better! Especially useful are the reminders of the neverending white gaze that all PoC live under, and how difficult it show more is to learn to live by ignoring it. show less

When I read an incredibly well-written book, I am in awe of the ability to make sharp, creative images with words. Michael Dyson is such an author. I took time to read this fascinating book, not only because I am very interested in the civil rights movement, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s major contribution, but also because it was a joy to read the natural flow of words.

I've read many books which state that the murder of fourteen year old Emmet Till was the spark that lit the match to propel show more black Americans to take a stand. Martin Luther King, Jr, lead the people and the nation for justice, for equity, and for justifiably deserved equal treatment and retribution when a black person is murdered, demanding the same rights as others!

Dyson words and excellent framing of the horror of this murder at the hands of white red necks, was so well written that I went back and read this section again and again. It hit me hard, very hard, thinking of how this innocent, intelligent, confident young boy was savagely beaten to death, leaving him, as Dyson so eloquently said, with two empty eye sockets and a "Munch like scream" on his dead face!

There are so many subjects covered in this book, and it is hard to cover all of them, but a few stand out, mainly that Martin Luther King Jr. knew he would be assignated for the cause. His poetic, last speech the rainy evening in Memphis April 3rd, 1968 confirmed his intuitive feelings that he had gone to the mountaintop, and he knew he may not get there with others, and that "like anybody I would like to live", but he was not afraid and knew that longeeeevity had its place.

Fast on his heels, J. Edgar Hoover was quite slimy. Particularly when trying to paint MLK as a communist, sexual deviate. In fact, Hoover used communistic, big brother is watching means of taping and harassing King. And by the morals and ethics of society at that time in history, J. Edgar did not live up to his own rigid standards.

By the end of his life, King looked back and was depressed and very, very tired. Others were splintering off into anything but non violence. Stokley Carmichael and Malcolm X both grew tired of non violent means that did not bring about a quick result.

Exactly one year prior, King spoke at the historic Riverside Church in NYC. He spoke of the need to stop intervention in Viet Nam. He brazenly challenged the audience to look closely at the connections between poverty and war. Some believe this was the final blaze of glory, but he took a very hard hit for his comments and beliefs. Some in the civil rights movement avidly felt that King was loosing his ability to focus and was branching off in too many areas.

Before his death, he was planning a march on Washington to rally the poor and shine a bright light on the injustice of poverty. Unlike the prior, very successful march on Washington, where he is best known for his "I Have a Dream" speech, the rally for poverty was splintered, unorganized and did not have the backing that the first march did. This march died with him.

If you are at all interested in MLK, and the civil rights movement, I highly recommend this book. show less

Michael Eric Dyson is a professor at Georgetown University, but first and foremost he is a minister and that shines through Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America. He writes in the format and the cadences of a sermon, and with that intensity. He's here to explain to us how life is experienced by black citizens and why that should matter to us. He's angry and determined and also patient and kind, a guide who isn't interested in making people feel guilty, but he does aim for the show more reader to find understanding, repentance and an interest in taking action.

Dyson here explains both history (why and how discrimination didn't stop with the abolition of slavery, or even with the passage of the Civil Rights Act) and our present (topics ranging from police shootings to Colin Kaepernick) with both the compassion of a pastor and the solid grounding of an academic. Tears We Cannot Stop is an important book for anyone with an interest in the welfare of all Americans. show less