We Can't Breathe

We Can't Breathe

Adult essays
"Then as now, locomotion sometimes can require treading the
slender border between life and death. Lately, headlines remind us of
all the same and different ways a black body can collide with its
inconvenience. Breathing. Walking. Waiting to cross at the light.
Using a golf club as a cane while crossing a Seattle intersection.
Heading home while carrying candy and a can of ice tea..."
In We Can't Breathe Jabari Asim combines poetic language and
inner structure with an essay format to add a fluidness and dynamism
that are so often lacking in short nonfiction pieces. His pieces have
a different coherence. It's more like the rythym running through a
piece of music. Take his piece, The Elements Of Strut, from which I
drew the introductory quote. He starts the essay with a definition of
strut:
"In ideal circumstances, the human body flows in a strut. A
jauntiness, an ease. A response to the rythyms that animate the
earth. To strut is to reflect the graceful rotation of the planet in
one's breath, in one's step, in the pace and melody of one's speech,
in one's swerve and laughter. I strut, therefore, I am."
Can you imagine a better, more mind/body/soul affirming definition?
The essay centers around the myriad ways in which, even under the most
adverse situations, Black bodies have striven to strut while White
oppressors have used a formidable diversity of methods and unfair
advantages to stifle their strut.
"What's going on there, George?
I'm with the Neighborhood Watch, and we've had some burglaries
and vandalisms lately. And this gentleman was walking in the
neighborhood...
Is he white, black, or Hispanic?
Black."
You probably have guessed that the George alluded to here is
George Zimmerman, the packing heat Florida Neighborhood Watch captain
who shot an unarmed teen, Trayvon Martin, who was doing nothing more
suspicious than returning from a trip to the store with Skittles and a
cold drink. Quotes from transcripts of his calls to police prior to
the incident are liberally sprinkled through the piece titled, Killing
Negroes. It shows how police and their minions killing Blacks is
nothing new in our nation's history. Asim goes back to the 1704 slave
patrols, forefathers of both neighborhood watch and modern policing,
and covers the ways in which police and posses have kept Blacks "in
their place" and alpha Whites rich. Zimmerman's quotes serve as a
painful reminder that this violent, abusive repression is still going
on.
We Can't Breathe will stir your soul and psyche so much you may
not even realize you're learning a lot. I recommend this fine book to
all Whites who aspire to become real allies to our Black neighbors and
friends.
On a purrrsonal note, I'm doing a lot of walking. In nearly 3 weeks I
haven't missed a day yet. Today I tried one of the hiking trails and
ended up lost near that new overpriced housing development. (More
mansions for the rich when we desperately need more affordable
housing). I walked 1 1/2 hours. And the weather is getting decidedly
colder.
I'm in the middle of a week long UMaine news literacy challenge. It
includes topics like telling reliable news sources from less reliable
ones and understanding the decisions behind what you are presented
with and how it is presented. I think everyone in America should take
this challenge. (Jules)
I stay in my nice warm home. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Jen and her colleagues who are
providing this most excellent free educational opportunity.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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