The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

Men can have a huge impact on black women. That seems to be an underlying theme of this vast epic of multigenerational black history. The novel goes back and forth in time from the civil war era to the modern day to explore a fairly well-to-do black family. Creeks also come into play as they are treated as a not-quite-white, but not black group. The modern family has Creek, African and white ancestry. There are legitimate marriages, rapes and out-of-wedlock affairs. Sex and pregnancy comes to impact the lives of women in different ways. One woman had her educational prospects cut short by an unplanned child. She made sure this didn't happen to her daughter by having her get an abortion. However, this daughter ended up getting addicted to drugs and really ruining her life. There are also various modern and "slave-era" rapes as well as standard relationships. It is all quite a mess. In general, the women are running things, while the men are fooling around. However, there are some "good" men that are helping things to move forward. There are not many whites in this novel, and those that appear tend to "not understand" the life of the main characters. The book concludes with the main character learning about history and understanding the efforts to protect an old church site from being trampled by tourists.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition

The war on drugs has led to the mass incarceration of poor blacks (especially men). This has happened in spite of drug use being fairly similar across races. The author presents this as a new means of segregation. Rather than being explicit, racism is often hidden in behind other seemingly well-meaning activities. Being tough on drug use sounds good. However, police and prosecutors have discretion, and would often use it to go after poor minorities, rather than well-to-do whites. Tough on crime laws, such as forfeiture and minimum sentences would critically harm those least able to defend themselves. Even a plea bargain could lead to a criminal record which hurts job prospects and possibility of government assistance.

The book paints a very bleak picture. The country has gone through multiple attempts at racial equality. Each one seems to have resulted in different means of underhanded ways to keep races separate. The author ends by saying that we still need to acknowledge race and not try to be colorblind. However, we also need to avoid an us vs. them to have everybody together. Blacks were put down to help the poorest whites. Improved race relations requires everyone to come up together.

The book had some good points, but is very repetitive. Things have changed since it was written. (Though perhaps that is me. I tend to think of a drug addict as a white guy, while author cited that most people pictured them as black.) Defund the police movements have come, but have not really addressed the problem. Ironically, there is great pushback in regulations that would be very colorblind. (For example, red light cameras.) Piecing back together communities that have been ripped apart by past actions is not a simple process. It requires hard work on all sides. Merely throwing money at problems will not provide solutions. We also need to be careful that the next "fix" doesn't result in a worse negative outcome. The end of redlining resulted in restrictive zoning. School integration caused a mass exodus to the suburbs. While forcing racial harmony has not worked, nudging can continue to help.