Tears We Cannot Stop

A Sermon to White America

De: Michael Eric Dyson

Narrado por: Michael Eric Dyson

In the wake of yet another set of police killings of Black men, Michael Eric Dyson wrote a tell-it-straight, no-holds-barred piece for the NYT on Sunday, July 7: "Death in Black and White" (it was updated within a day to acknowledge the killing of police officers in Dallas). The response has been overwhelming. Beyoncé and Isabel Wilkerson tweeted it; JJ Abrams, among many other prominent people, wrote him a long fan letter. The NYT closed the comments section after 2,500 responses, and Dyson has been on NPR, BBC, and CNN nonstop since then.

Fifty years ago Malcolm X told a White woman who asked what she could do for the cause, "Nothing." Dyson believes he was wrong. In Tears We Cannot Stop, he responds to that question. If we are to make real racial progress, we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how Black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted. As Dyson writes, "At birth you are given a pair of binoculars that see Black life from a distance, never with the texture of intimacy. Those binoculars are privilege; they are status, regardless of your class. In fact the greatest privilege that exists is for White folk to get stopped by a cop and not end up dead.... The problem is you do not want to know anything different from what you think you know.... You think we have been handed everything because we fought your selfish insistence that the world, all of it - all its resources, all its riches, all its bounty, all its grace - should be yours first and foremost, and if there's anything left, why then we can have some, but only if we ask politely and behave gratefully."

In the tradition of The Fire Next Time (Baldwin), short, emotional, literary, powerful, this is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations need to hear.

©2017 Michael Eric Dyson (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

A call to White Christian America to repentance

After reading James Baldwin’s Notes on a Native Son I decided to look for a modern author’s take and found Michael Eric Dyson’s Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America. I was so impressed that I immediately picked up The Black Presidency (which I think may be even better than this one.)

Dyson rose to prominence as a cultural critic when I was in grad school. He was friends with my Systematic Theology Professor, Dwight Hopkins, so I had a positive impression of him. But in the 20 years of being aware of him, I have not actually read anything that he has written. Part of that was that Dyson became well known for his cultural criticism of hip hop and rap music. Something that I have only recently started to listen to.

Over the past year or so, I have been a regular listener to the podcast, Pass the Mic, from the Reformed African American Network and more recently their second podcast, Truth’s Table, that highlights three African American Women. Those two podcasts, and the private Facebook groups associated with RAAN, has been helpful places to hear perspectives about the world from theologically conservative (more theologically conservative than I am most of the time) African Americans. I already lean socially fairly liberal. However, their voices help me to see how much my theology and politics is informed by the lack of diverse voices in my life. (And my own racist attitudes and sin.)

Dyson structures this Tears We Cannot Stop as an extended sermon. The structure is fine, but probably makes more sense in audiobook form (with Dyson narrating) than in print. Initially, this felt like a Christian version of Ta’Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me. It had a similar critique of White America and had some of Dyson’s personal history as well.

But after the initial sections, Dyson moved away from personal narrative and spent much more time talking about culture and sociological understanding of how race impacts our experience of the world.

I am not going to underplay the fact that I was at times quite uncomfortable while reading Tears We Cannot Stop. There were some things that were uncomfortable because they hit too close to home. But other times when I thought that Dyson was just wrong in his analysis. But I think it is important to remember that the ‘rightness’ of the analysis, while not unimportant, can be a distraction from the honest assessment of an African American Christian that is trying to present his view of how the sins of White Christian America harms not just African Americans but Whites as well.

My initial impression was that Dyson was not as gifted a writer as Coates, who I tied this book to in my mind. But after reading two of Dyson’s books back to back. I have re-assessed his writing. He is not writing the same style of book that Coates wrote. I don’t want to minimize Coates’ analysis, which I think is good. But Dyson’s background is philosophy and theology and I think that he brings a different type of analysis to the task and the quality of his writing is just as good.

A call to action

I struggled through this book. not because it was not interesting. The performance was gripping. As a 30 year old white man this book was challenging on many levels. if I were to call this book thought provoking, it would announce a great failure, for thoughts of change have been all I've ever had, so I will call it a call to action, because that would be it's greatest victory in my heart.

A great read. Michael Eric Dyson does it again.

A great read. Michael Eric Dyson does it again. This a mush have and worrh the listen for white America.

Great listen!

Michael Eric Dyson's bluntness and elegance, as a writer, allows him to weave together a tapestry of literary art!

And the Movement Continues!

A well narrated written truth with so many formillur experiences. Black life here in America is very complicated and this book expresses and that very fact extremely well.

Listen well and again that it's over by your part.

Realizing a current era plagued mystique and intolerable, this provision reflects dire yearn for mankind to listen and abide. Tears We Cannot Stop renders more than a educated professors knack for dispelling knowledge . The soul of Dyson reveals his passion with prevalent instruction dared to be ignored. Everyone intricate in the saving of a nation. Know your part and contribute.

Tears We Cannot Stop is a great book ! 👍👍

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America is a very interesting book! I loved every minute of it! I listened to the Audiobook and followed along with a hard copy of the book. His Sermon is very powerful and I'm glad he shared his perspective. I definitely would listen and read it again! 👍👍

Tearfully understood.

I have read a few books in recent times but none that spoke the truth like this book. I loved it.

Tight But Right

So good this is my FIRST time ever writing a review of any sort. All I can say is it's one of those books that will accurately articulate many of the thoughts many Black people have that pay attention to social issues...I know many will find fault with this work, but I believe he makes it quite difficult to argue against most of what he says by presenting the facts...Whatever the case I hope it's his best selling book yet.

TRUTH

Loved it.....a MUST READ for Whites & Blacks, young and old. Prolific orator. Thanks you.