Overview

"""The book is a gripping litany of sermon, scripture, and spirituality. It is strident and unembarrassed by its message, urgent in its delivery, somewhat daunting in the tenets it proposes, and clear in its mission."" -Black Issues Book Review ""...an important book that offers useful insights into the lives and times of black men everywhere..."" -West Africa ""Black Men Speaking...provides in its diverse range of black, male voices an antidote for the silence that hindered them for so long."" -Washington Post Book World ""...important reading for Blacks and whites, men and women, young and old."" -Gazette Newspaper Group ""A must-read book for all"" -The Recorder, Indianapolis, IN Editors Charles Johnson (whose Middle Passage won the National Book Award) and John McCluskey, Jr. have gathered the voices of 11 African-American men in this volume-to tell us how they see themselves and other black males in America today. Contributors include Don Belton, Joseph W. Scott, and Peter J. Harris."

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9780253332592

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Reviews

The book is a gripping litany of sermon, scripture, and spirituality. It is strident and unembarrassed by its message, urgent in its delivery, somewhat daunting in the tenets it proposes, and clear in its mission. - Black Issues Book Review ... an important book that offers useful insights into the lives and times of black men everywhere ... - West Africa Black Men Speaking ... provides in its diverse range of black, male voices an antidote for the silence that hindered them for so long. - Washington Post Book World ... important reading for Blacks and whites, men and women, young and old. - Gazette Newspaper Group A must-read book for all - The Recorder, Indianapolis, IN

"""The book is a gripping litany of sermon, scripture, and spirituality. It is strident and unembarrassed by its message, urgent in its delivery, somewhat daunting in the tenets it proposes, and clear in its mission."" - Black Issues Book Review ""... an important book that offers useful insights into the lives and times of black men everywhere ..."" - West Africa ""Black Men Speaking ... provides in its diverse range of black, male voices an antidote for the silence that hindered them for so long."" - Washington Post Book World ""... important reading for Blacks and whites, men and women, young and old."" - Gazette Newspaper Group ""A must-read book for all"" - The Recorder, Indianapolis, IN"

More American black men are in prison than in college. They are more likely than whites to die violently and young. Is the American black man an endangered species ? National Book Award winner Johnson (Middle Passage, 1990) and fellow novelist McCluskey (Mr. America's Last Season Blues, 1983) spent seven years collecting these original writings. Unfortunately, the perspectives provided here on this important question - with the exception of Yosef Komunyakaa's award-winning poetry and Don Belton's affecting essay, Voodoo for Charles - are mostly tired and trite. The common thread throughout is the bleak reality of the lives of African-American males and their negative portrayal in the media. Often lacking identity and self-respect, many black men are said to perceive themselves as niggers. And those who do make it are accused here of too often being preoccupied with pursuing material success while ignoring social concerns. The writers ponder whether the underlying cause of this crisis is institutional racism, the educational system, economics, the lack of role models, or an insidious combination of all of the above. (Ironically, with few exceptions, African-American females don't emerge any more positively here than their male counterparts. Black mothers are often portrayed as abusive to their sons, dismissive of their needs, and incapable of instilling moral standards.) Gangs became the surrogate family to a generation of young men growing up without fathers and with mothers who are, at most, marginal to their lives. Their music is rap as it reflects the realities of the judicial system, prison, the police, and our failure as Black men to listen and reach out to young men and validate their worth. Despite the urgency of the subject matter, there isn't much here that hasn't been expressed more eloquently elsewhere. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Charles Johnson won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1991 for Middle Passage. He is the author of several novels, including Oxherding Tale and Faith and the Good Thing, a collection of stories, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Being and Race: Black Writing since 1970 (Indiana University Press). John McCluskey, Jr. teaches African American literature and fiction writing at Indiana University-Bloomington. He is the author of two novels, Look What They Done to My Song and Mr. America's Last Season Blues, and is the editor of The City of Refuge: Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher.

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