Race and Reckoning

Adult nonfiction 

"It's a monumental challenge few Americans saw coming.  This undeclared war on our democracy, on the very idea of an egalitarian multicultural society, would have been unfathomable a few years back.  But that was before a conquered president refused to concede defeat and instead used angry propaganda, preposterous lawsuits, and the full weight of the presidency to stay in power.  That was before a mob of hooligans who brought death and destruction to the US capital was praised by the leaders of the defeated president's party."

     I'm pretty sure you know what Ellis Cose is alluding to in his introduction to his Race and Reckoning: From Founding Fathers to Today's Disruptors.  I think we all watched on our screens in horror as an armed mob surged through the nation's capital.  Many of us saw it as a sudden abomination.  Cose, however, contends that it was the result of a whole lot of history beginning with the birth of a nation.  In a time when book banning has become a modern day plague and teachers can be fired for presenting any material that might cause privileged kids discomfort we have to come to grips with the sins of the past to understand their tragic impact on the present and maybe even the future.

     In Race and Reckoning Cose gives readers a grand tour.  We start out in the colonies where the decisions to embrace slavery and steal Indigenous Peoples' lands made the United States a white nation.  We see how quickly the promise of reconstruction was crushed, leading to creation of the oppressive Black codes.  We drop in on the brutal attacks on Black communities by heavily armed, remorseless bands of whites right after World War I, the New Deal almost entirely passing people of color by, the World War II imprisonment of the Japanese, the viciousness of Jim Crow...all the way up to the present.  

     Race and Reckoning is a really good read for anyone who realizes that we need to understand the history of the decisions and actions of our forefathers in order to grasp the present and move on to a more just and equitable future. Cose shows guarded optimism.

     "I do not pretend to have the answers; but I do see evidence of an emerging conciousness, of a growing array of people, perhaps a critical mass, collectively asking what it will take to make us one nation.  I find that both exciting and encouraging and take it as evidence that we increasingly may be ready to accept the proposition that progress does not mean denying or whitewashing our history but accepting and understanding it as we contemplate how to move forward."

On a purrrsonal note, I hit a tipping point in my internship.  It's much more unstructured than our usual internships.  The first five weeks I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants.  Then during the 6th week when I was meeting with my supervisor, going over a list of events and assessments I'm working on.  He was being quite impressed.  Suddenly I realized I have this.  I know what I'm doing.  It was quite a heady moment.  (Jules)

Never any doubt in my mind.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to all the people who have helped me figure it all out.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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