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A review by bookishrealm
Conversations in Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership by Ed Gordon
5.0
What a powerful book ! I don't think I truly knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to pick up this book. At first it was just cover appeal especially when I saw all the names that I recognized. However, from the moment that I opened this book my read became so much more. A lot of the topics discussed in this book are things that I often discuss with my friends and family. In fact, I'm not sure there are many black people who haven't discussed the issues brought forth in this book. Gordon does a spectacular job of addressing some of the most important topics as they relate to the black community.
Readers will find that this book isn't one sided. Everyone doesn't agree. In fact, you'll find times during the narrative that designated speakers will actively engage in conversations where they have different opinions and insight. It was such a beautiful thing to watch because I think that sometimes we get lost in this narrative that black people must agree on all topics that relate to the black community and that's just not true. One thing that everyone did seem to agree on was the fact that the black community needs to actively engage in coming up with new strategies to address the educational, political, and economic disparities that black people face day after day and year after year. While we can acknowledge the methods and strategies that have gotten us to this point, it's time for new ideas that can help in this day and age.
Some of my favorite discussion from the book included: Obama, Trump, Black Girl Magic, Mo Money Mo Problems, The Madea Dilemma, and Am I Black Enough For YA. For some reasons these specific topics resonated with questions and ideas that I've had about myself and the black community for some time. There were a great number of perspectives that I agree with and others that I didn't agree with. However, they all gave me better ideas of how I could be better supporting my community.
Whether you're black or not this is an important book to read and one that really asks some difficult questions of the black community. I didn't have my own copy of this book so I plan on purchasing it and re-reading it and annotating it. This is one of the important non-fiction books that I have read this year.
Readers will find that this book isn't one sided. Everyone doesn't agree. In fact, you'll find times during the narrative that designated speakers will actively engage in conversations where they have different opinions and insight. It was such a beautiful thing to watch because I think that sometimes we get lost in this narrative that black people must agree on all topics that relate to the black community and that's just not true. One thing that everyone did seem to agree on was the fact that the black community needs to actively engage in coming up with new strategies to address the educational, political, and economic disparities that black people face day after day and year after year. While we can acknowledge the methods and strategies that have gotten us to this point, it's time for new ideas that can help in this day and age.
Some of my favorite discussion from the book included: Obama, Trump, Black Girl Magic, Mo Money Mo Problems, The Madea Dilemma, and Am I Black Enough For YA. For some reasons these specific topics resonated with questions and ideas that I've had about myself and the black community for some time. There were a great number of perspectives that I agree with and others that I didn't agree with. However, they all gave me better ideas of how I could be better supporting my community.
Whether you're black or not this is an important book to read and one that really asks some difficult questions of the black community. I didn't have my own copy of this book so I plan on purchasing it and re-reading it and annotating it. This is one of the important non-fiction books that I have read this year.