Subversive Reading

Hearing about the racially charged violence  in Charolette I was saddened and enraged. And Donald Trump's response got me so angry.
I can not believe that people can act so  racist and hateful.

And seeing peoples responses on Facebook makes me want to put out my stance: Democracy means you have the right to disagree with me on the role government does or doesn't play in our life and that you may disagree with me on economic policies. But you have to be a decent human being to do this. A decent human being doesn't think they are superior based in their ethnicity or the color of their skin. You have the right to religious freedom. No one can dictate to you if god exists, who God is and how to express this in your life. You do not have the right to use your beliefs to make people fearful to express their sexuality and the violence begins by saying that it is a sin to be homosexual or a to be a different ethnicity. This is because belief effects the kind of behaviors that are embodied to other people. You have the right to engage me in a disagreement if you practice being a decent human being.

What does this have to do with reading? Reading books help me to be on the road to being a decent human being. I start pulling books I want to read where race is a central theme. I find The Sellout. I purchase a physical copy of Between the World and Me.

Before I start reading times like these I feel a twinge of envy towards people who hold positions that influence the way people think.  My day job will have times where there is not enough of a break for small talk which means there is not enough space for meaningful conversation. But using my breaks during the day to read a book or practice my writing habit helps me fill this void.

The Sellout is satire and made me think of the challenges of satire as a genre. It reminded me of the essays I read on white privilege in my days as an undergraduate sociology student and it felt like it was the version that was made into a piece of satirical fiction.

I found myself thinking that people who understand that this is what the author was doing would find it brilliant but people who do not share a perspective that is concerned with racial inequality may use it as leverage for their current beliefs.  I think this book is insightful but it is not the best book for someone who may be new to examining their own racism. The book is written by a black man and knowing this helps me read the book as a sarcastic social commentary. But if it were written by a white person it would be bigotry. My dilemmas with the book stem more from wrestling with satire as a genre.

I had a completely different experience with Between the World and Me. This was a short read and the way Coates writes is so eloquent which mades the book feel even shorter. This is a father's letter to his son on encountering the difficulties of what it means to be a black person.

The overarching theme of the book is dwelling in a black body in America. Coates does such an amazing job weaving painful experiences and difficult realities together with poetic language. This book needs to be read not only for illuminating the African American experience but also because the writing is so beautiful.

Reading these books helps me step inside the mind of another person. In light of what is going on in our country it does make me feel politically subversive. However there is nothing subversive about it they are simply illuminating the truth of what it is like to not be a white person in our country. But sometimes telling the truth is a deeply radical act.