Vision Quest 2018


Vision Quest (2018)



Rereading

Romero, Patricia W., ed. In Black America: 1968: The Year of Awakening.  Washington, DC: United Publishing , 1969.



Jones, LeRoi and Larry Neal, eds. Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing.  New York: William Marrow, 1968.



reminds me that nostalgia may be ineluctable, but that it leads to nowhere.  The better choice is reconsidering what has been lost and gained since April 4, 1968.





Two outstanding  books



Yancy, George, ed. On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis.  New York: Oxford UP, 2017.



Johnson, Gaye Theresa and Alex Lubin, eds. Futures of Black Radicalism.  London: Verso, 2017.



provide relief from obsessive attention to



Coates, Ta-Nehisi. We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy.  New York: One World, 2017.



Yancy, Johnson, and Lubin remind me that exploring options is prudent.





These noteworthy books lead to a pragmatic vision quest.  On Race is bracing.  The 34 conversations are full of civility,  integrity, gravity, and clarity.  They invite us to recalibrate our terms of engagement with the diseased American body politic.  It is commendable that Yancy provides discussion questions that nudge us to critique each conversation with our own independent questions and to give necessary attention to our nation's drift or progression from optimistic democracy into pessimistic fascism. Futures of Black Radicalism is instructive, especially in reminding us that radicalism is not monolithic.  Black radicalism, like radicalism of other colors,  wears many faces.  It is not immune to contradictions.  Indeed, grappling with the contradictions is unavoidable as we stand at the crossroad where paths diverge into rainbow woods.



Yes, 2018 can be something other than endless talk about crisis.  The only crisis is the crisis of self-condemnation, the failure to think against the motions of the mob, to reject wretchedness, and  to arm ourselves with choices that enable us to act rather than imitate the invisible women and men who fret in the darkness of neo-Platonic caves.





Jerry W. Ward, Jr.                            January 3, 2018




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