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Event
Berkeley Arts & Letters presents: Michael Eric Dyson / Tears We Cannot Stop
Michael Eric Dyson presents Tears We Cannot Stop
in-conversation with Frances Dinkelspiel
As the country endures its greatest racial crisis since the 60s, and grapples with Donald J. Trumps shocking election as president, one of Americas leading black voices speaks out honestly and provocatively to white America.
Elegantly written, Tears We Cannot Stop is powerful in several areas: moving personal recollections; profound cultural analysis; and guidance for moral redemption. A work to relish. -- Toni Morrison
In the wake of the police killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling last summer, renowned public intellectual and social critic Michael Eric Dyson wrote an impassioned op-ed for the New York Times, Death in Black and White, (July 2016) that set the nation on fire. Eschewing his scholarly voice, Dyson instead spoke directly from his heart about the grief and rage that engulfed black America. He also spoke bluntly to white America, asking his fellow white citizens to take off their blinders and see the true state of race in the nation. Dysons essay garnered so many responses that the comment section had to be shut down at 2500, but not before Beyoncé shared the op-ed on social media and Isabel Wilkerson praised it as an unfiltered Marlboro of black pain that was crushingly powerful.
In Tears We Cannot Stop (St. Martins Press; January 17, 2017), Dyson amplifies the themes he first voiced in that influential op-ed that, addressing a nation teetering on the edge of the political abyss and enflamed with raw racial tension. Dyson pulls no punches in telling the truth about the chaos that looms if we dont address the underlying forces that threaten our nations moral and political health.
What makes Tears We Cannot Stop so compelling is that Dyson digs deep into our racial past while also offering the most up to date investigation of the crises we confront, as well as the opportunities we have to make things better. Dyson offers a unique and empowering blend of historical perspective and contemporary analysis as he probes whiteness in America: how it was invented, how it grieves its slow but certain erosion, how it takes refuge in notions of innocence and how it has reasserted itself with ominous ferocity as Donald J. Trump takes up residence in the Oval Office.
With the pen of a poet, the heart of a preacher, and the mind of a scholar, Professor Dyson leaves the classroom to tell tales out of school exposing the heart of blackness and its myriad struggles and obstacles while also probing the national psyche to deliver a riveting, eloquent and hard-hitting sermon on the nations malaise, and our undeniable chances for recovery. Tears We Cannot Stop is Michael Eric Dyson at his finest: he pokes, prods and challenges us, making us uncomfortable before offering profound and inspiring words to uplift us. In the tradition of James Baldwins The Fire Next Time, short, emotional, literary, powerful, Tears We Cannot Stop is the book that ALL Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read.
Heres a sermon thats as fierce as it is lucid. It shook me up, but in a good way. This is how it works if youre black in America, this is what happens, and this is how it feels. If youre black, youll feel a spark of recognition in every paragraph. If youre white, Dyson tells you what you need to know -- what this white man needed to know, at least. This is a major achievement. I read it and said amen. Stephen King
Michael Eric Dyson is one of Americas premier public intellectuals. He occupies the distinguished position of University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, has been an ordained minister for 35 years, is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and is a contributing editor for The New Republic and ESPNs The Undefeated. Ebony magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans and one of the 150 most powerful blacks in the nation.
Frances Dinkelspiel is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of the news site Berkeleyside. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Daily Beast, People magazine and elsewhere. Her first book, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and chosen as a best book of the Year by the Chronicle and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. Her second book, Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California, was a New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and was named a best wine book of the year by the Wall Street Journal and Food and Wine magazine.
Praise for Michael Eric Dyson
Everybody who speaks after Michael Eric Dyson pales in comparison. -- President Barack Obama
A world-class scholar, and the most brilliant interpreter of hip hop culture we have. -- Jay Z
One of our most important black intellectuals limns the lives of black Americans with subtle, lucid rigor. As both an academic and Baptist minster, Dyson winningly combines the roles of prophet and teacher for which Cornel West has gotten such acclaim but to even better effect. -- Kirkus Reviews
In [;Dysons]; prose one hears the fervor of a Sunday sermon; in his ideas one sees the analytic scrupulousness of a man who knows a thing or two about tenure committees. -- Time magazine
One of the most graceful and lucid intellectuals writing on race and politics today. -- Vanity Fair
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LocationShattuck Hotel Crystal Ballroom (View)
2086 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
United States
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| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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