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Tears We Cannot
Stop: A Sermon to White America
by Michael Eric Dyson
c.2017, St. Martin’s Press
$24.99 / $34.99 Canada
228 pages
By Teri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
I know what you’re thinking.
You’ve said that before, to a furrowed brow, a mischievous
smile, a child who’s about to do something sneaky. You can
see it in the eyes, the body language, the tone of voice,
and you know just what they’re thinking. But until you’ve
read Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson,
you might not really have a clue.
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You watch the news, you read the paper, and you know that
things aren’t going well in our country. Much of it, says
Dyson, can be blamed on race, and the fixes he believes are
needed are most eloquently said in a sermon.
Racism, he says is “poison.” For black people, that’s not a
possibility, it’s a fact. It’s seen in courtrooms and
streets, colleges and workplaces, neighborhoods and prisons.
It means that black parents must specifically remind their
children how to act around police officers, an everyday
caution that white people rarely need to worry about, but
“that can mean the difference between life and death for
[African Americans].”
Most white people, he says, are racist, even if they don’t
mean to be. Some of them don’t even know they’re racist; or
they’ll deny it, until they read a book like this one with
truths laid bare. African Americans know that un-overt,
deeply-buried kind of racism and they discuss it with one
another but rarely with whites; most whites don’t know or
don’t think about it because they weren’t taught it.
Instead, it’s a legacy of skin color, passed down for
centuries.
White people have an advantage, says Dyson, by merely being
white. “White privilege” opens doors. It doesn’t worry about
dying in a police encounter. White privilege offers
higher-paying jobs and nicer homes. It enjoys “a way of life
that comes at the direct expense of other folk who are
denied the privileges you take for granted.”
So what can be done?
“Beloved,” says Dyson, the first step is to wake up to the
advantages of being white, realize the wrongness of it, and
admit it. Demand justice for injustices. And be open and
willing to be R.E.S.P.O.N.S.I.V.E.
Got a comfortable chair to relax in? If not, then get one.
Tears We Cannot Stop is going to keep you there.
Yes, there’s controversy in what author Michael Eric Dyson
states, but it will also open a lot of eyes. To get readers
there, Dyson chides as deftly as he uses outrage and sorrow,
but his point never wavers: we will not fix this country
until we get to the root of racism and that must start
with the education of, and mind-set-change within, white
America. He offers ideas here on how that can happen, as
well as musings on cultural assimilation, racial epithets,
and the re-writing of history.
At just 228 pages, this might seem like a small, quick read,
though it’s anything but. Instead, be ready to pause nearly
every other sentence, absorb what is said, and prepare for
action. Tears We Cannot Stop is meant to change your
thinking.
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