We speak for ourselves :

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Title :

We speak for ourselves : a word from forgotten black America / D. Watkins.

Title:

We speak for ourselves :

Author:

Watkins, D. (Dwight)

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

188 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First Atria Books hardcover edition.

ISBN:

9781501187827

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2019.

Summary:

The critically lauded author of The Beast Side and The Cook Up returns with an existential look at life in low-income black communities, while also offering a new framework for how to improve the conversations occuring about them.

Language:

English

Subject Term:

Poor African Americans -- Social conditions.

African Americans -- Social conditions.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	305.896/WATK	31480011246441	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	305.896 WAT	31330008797239	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	305.896/WATK 2019	33934004333473	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	973.0496073/WAT	31482002867763	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	305.896 WAT	31481005380469	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

From the row houses of Baltimore to the stoops of Brooklyn, the New York Times bestselling author of The Cook Up lays bare the voices of the most vulnerable and allows their stories to uncover the systematic injustice threaded within our society. Honest and eye-opening, the pages of We Speak for Ourselves "are abundant with wisdom and wit; integrity and love, not to mention enough laughs for a stand-up comedy routine" (Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival Math ).

Watkins introduces you to Down Bottom, the storied community of East Baltimore that holds a mirror to America's poor black neighborhoods--"hoods" that could just as easily be in Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, or Atlanta. As Watkins sees it, the perspective of people who live in economically disadvantaged black communities is largely absent from the commentary of many top intellectuals who speak and write about race.

Unapologetic and sharp-witted, D. Watkins is here to tell the truth as he has seen it. We Speak for Ourselves offers an in-depth analysis of inner-city hurdles and honors the stories therein. We sit in underfunded schools, walk the blocks burdened with police corruption, stand within an audience of Make America Great Again hats, journey from trap house to university lecture, and rally in neglected streets. And we listen.

"Watkins has come to remind us, everyone deserves the opportunity to speak for themselves" (Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author) and serves hope to fellow Americans who are too often ignored and calling on others to examine what it means to be a model activist in today's world. We Speak for Ourselves is a must-read for all who are committed to social change.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this thoughtful and humorous take on race in America, Watkins (The Beast Side), an essayist and professor, argues that experts who have "strangely no connection to the black people they claim they are fighting for" often overshadow those of "people from the street." The book includes Watkins's recollections of growing up in eastern Baltimore (playing basketball with friends, nightly gunfire, murdered peers, selling drugs, and hustling for money) and of his professional rise, kick-started by a 2014 essay in Salon about class-based limitations on access to information. Speaking more systemically, Watkins outlines the hurdles facing black Americans-underfunded schools, racist police, corrupt housing practices, high interest rates from banks-with facts, figures where relevant, and examples from news stories. He decries performatively "woke" activists who may participate in a protest or show up for a photo, but don't do what would really help: staying in a community, getting to know its residents, and contributing by, for example, teaching marketable skills or serving as role models. Watkins's appealingly conversational prose and insight about current events keep the pages turning. This excellent exploration will appeal to anyone interested in race in America. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

Watkins (The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir, 2016, etc.) anchors his new collection of essays in the voices, language, everyday realities, and dreams of black citizens of his home East Baltimore neighborhood."In the midst of all the black narratives stacked on bookshelves, we have a problema major problem," writes the author. "People from the street are absent from them." As an emergent writer with a background in the streets, he found himself a piece of "celebrity" after landing a viral essay with Salon. The author continues to offer deep critiques of the elitism and respectability that directly and indirectly censor voices of the multitudes of black experience, and he explores what it means to be accountable to his people in his writings. While these communities are overtly susceptible to the imposed hurdles of systemic racism, their experiences and worldviews don't easily conform to the #StayWoke packaging of mainstream black-led protest movements. As such, Watkins stresses the importance of letting more people speak for themselves and combining voice with action on a wide variety of institutional and structural forces that impede black progress. He touches on topics such as education, policing, food deserts, poor housing, drug markets, structural poverty, and more. "The days of one black savior are over," he writes. "Most of the people who identify as black leaders in the mainstream are too famous to directly interact with the people who need them the most. I learned to rethink what a leader is, what a mentor is, and how to be a valuable ally." Ultimately, being driven by "a whole lot of love" has allowed him to realize that the greatest rewards lie within the work. As he writes, he is "blessed in being able to try" as he continues to bring East Baltimore to the world.A strong offering that brings nuance and multiplicity to readers attempting to decipher the black male urban experience while uplifting the stories, visions, and love that incubated a rising star. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Introduction	p. 1
Part 1 Down Bottom
Chapter 1 Where I Come From	p. 11
Chapter 2 Just Pass the Mic	p. 21
Chapter 3 The Hurdles	p. 25
Chapter 4 The Tradition of Failure	p. 33
Chapter 5 Too Poor for Pop Culture	p. 39
Chapter 6 No Retirement for the Hustlers	p. 57
Part 2 The Biggest Gang in America
Chapter 7 An American Tradition	p. 65
Chapter 8 How Our Trust Is Undone	p. 79
Chapter 9 The Baltimore Uprising	p. 85
Part 3 Never Patriots
Chapter 10 I'm Sick of Woke	p. 99
Chapter 11 Are You a Real One?	p. 107
Chapter 12 Intellectually Curious or Racist?	p. 129
Part 4 Proximity
Chapter 13 Be the Person You Needed Growing Up	p. 149
Chapter 14 There Are No Shortcuts to Change	p. 167
Chapter 15 Don't Make It Out, Make It Better	p. 175
Afterword	p. 179
Acknowledgments	p. 185
We Speak for Ourselves Playlist	p. 187

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Table of Contents