A passionate, inspiring collection that will especially speak to Black readers around the world.
A Nigerian poet reacts to the racism and despair he sees in today’s world.
“Black Voices,” “Black Excellence,” and, of course, “Black Lives Matter” are the titles of some of Akinyemi’s first poems in his collection. Born in Nigeria and currently residing in Britain, the author lays out his raw emotions in responding to the stories of oppression and injustice that have recently gripped the global media. His verses are often addressed to other Black people, celebrating their tenacity in calling out racism and reminding them to not discount themselves. At the same time, he does not understate the powerful, systemic forces they face. Akinyemi also confronts White readers, demanding that they reexamine their own actions: “Don’t counter this with All lives matter!” he says to those against the Black Lives Matter movement. “Black Lives Matter isn’t a mantra for your lying lips.” And for those looking to gloss over the issue, he writes: “Don’t adorn me with the shenanigans of diversity…don’t turn my volume down–– / this black boy won’t be your poster boy.” The author’s most stirring poems come out of his perspective as a Nigerian, amplifying the global scale of the racism he sees. “They said African Time is killing Africa,” he writes of the stereotype that Africans are lazy. “But Africans have endured more killings than time can count.” The shorter second half of the collection widens the scope of its subject matter but remains both topical and tinged with anguish. Akinyemi writes of the need for better understandings of sexual consent and “a novel virus,” which has “swallowed all in sight.” Despite his fiery anger against injustice, discrimination, and other problems many face, the author’s poems also deftly deliver moments of hope through his faith in God and, most importantly, by returning to the theme that his Black readers must remember their own beauty and strength: “I wish you can see the uniqueness of your black skin, / its glory shining like a dark armour.”
A passionate, inspiring collection that will especially speak to Black readers around the world.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-913636-06-7
Page Count: 67
Publisher: The Roaring Lion Newcastle
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This moving, potent testament might have been titled “Black Lives Matter.” Or: “An American Tragedy.”
The powerful story of a father’s past and a son’s future.
Atlantic senior writer Coates (The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood, 2008) offers this eloquent memoir as a letter to his teenage son, bearing witness to his own experiences and conveying passionate hopes for his son’s life. “I am wounded,” he writes. “I am marked by old codes, which shielded me in one world and then chained me in the next.” Coates grew up in the tough neighborhood of West Baltimore, beaten into obedience by his father. “I was a capable boy, intelligent and well-liked,” he remembers, “but powerfully afraid.” His life changed dramatically at Howard University, where his father taught and from which several siblings graduated. Howard, he writes, “had always been one of the most critical gathering posts for black people.” He calls it The Mecca, and its faculty and his fellow students expanded his horizons, helping him to understand “that the black world was its own thing, more than a photo-negative of the people who believe they are white.” Coates refers repeatedly to whites’ insistence on their exclusive racial identity; he realizes now “that nothing so essentialist as race” divides people, but rather “the actual injury done by people intent on naming us, intent on believing that what they have named matters more than anything we could ever actually do.” After he married, the author’s world widened again in New York, and later in Paris, where he finally felt extricated from white America’s exploitative, consumerist dreams. He came to understand that “race” does not fully explain “the breach between the world and me,” yet race exerts a crucial force, and young blacks like his son are vulnerable and endangered by “majoritarian bandits.” Coates desperately wants his son to be able to live “apart from fear—even apart from me.”
This moving, potent testament might have been titled “Black Lives Matter.” Or: “An American Tragedy.”Pub Date: July 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8129-9354-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.
One of the best pitchers of his generation—and often the only Black man on his team—shares an extraordinary life in baseball.
A high school star in several sports, Sabathia was being furiously recruited by both colleges and professional teams when the death of his grandmother, whose Social Security checks supported the family, meant that he couldn't go to college even with a full scholarship. He recounts how he learned he had been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the first round over the PA system at his high school. In 2001, after three seasons in the minor leagues, Sabathia became the youngest player in MLB (age 20). His career took off from there, and in 2008, he signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million, at the time the largest contract ever for a pitcher. With the help of Vanity Fair contributor Smith, Sabathia tells the entertaining story of his 19 seasons on and off the field. The first 14 ran in tandem with a poorly hidden alcohol problem and a propensity for destructive bar brawls. His high school sweetheart, Amber, who became his wife and the mother of his children, did her best to help him manage his repressed fury and grief about the deaths of two beloved cousins and his father, but Sabathia pursued drinking with the same "till the end" mentality as everything else. Finally, a series of disasters led to a month of rehab in 2015. Leading a sober life was necessary, but it did not tame Sabathia's trademark feistiness. He continued to fiercely rile his opponents and foment the fighting spirit in his teammates until debilitating injuries to his knees and pitching arm led to his retirement in 2019. This book represents an excellent launching point for Jay-Z’s new imprint, Roc Lit 101.
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13375-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roc Lit 101
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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