The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author; Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi, narrator
Writing a book review on this type of novel is full of pitfalls. A really honest review might result in name-calling in today’s angry environment. So, do I couch all my comments in cloaks of disingenuity or do I take my chances writing the unvarnished truth about what I think? Let’s hope the review is accepted as a review and nothing more. Using two narratives, one in the past and one taking us into a time closer to the present, Jeffers has created a unique narrative about racial issues everywhere.
I did like this book. It is beautifully written, for the most part. Introducing sections of the book with the quotes of a famous, very respected, though sometimes disagreed with, black human/civil rights activist, was brilliant. In two narratives, current and past, the history of slavery and black culture plays out against the backdrop of a racist America. It covers the racial history, from many directions. It points out the ineffective ways the blending of multiple cultures has failed. In America, beginning as early as the 1600’s (perhaps paying homage to the Critical Race Theory), fairly or unfairly, I am not that judge, it spans the next several hundred years, giving the reader a bird’s eye view of what it feels like to be trapped in one body or another, as it is subjected to the will of another, both violently and unjustly. The passion and the pain is very palpable throughout. The legacy of slavery’s lasting impact is real. The information and experiences expressed expose the fear and the hopelessness. I recommend the book, but I hope the reader will look further than its message. As a Jew, I could walk around and hate or resent every German or German ally, Every Muslim or Muslim country, or Japanese citizen past and present, but I choose to go forward and not to only look backwards to place blame and perpetuate the fear and the hate. This book, looks backward, and under the guise of taking us forward, sometimes seems to encourages the very racist beliefs we all want to abolish, by pointing finger after finger at negative ideas and imposing constant and continuing guilt. Also, today’s environment is actively erasing our history, not preserving it as the main character intends to do. If you only want to promote one message, you are dangerously close to walking in the shoes of your enemy. The book fails for me because it does not address how to overcome racism, but rather, like the books by Ibraim Kendi, Isabel Wilkerson, Robin DeNapoli, and others, they exacerbate the problem by exaggerating the number of racists that seem to be under every rock and in every cranny of society, without once observing positive improvements in society or offering a real solution to the problem or a way to overcome it. Rather, the universal message seems to be that everyone white is a racist, and always will be, and our history proves it, especially today, as history is being erased in the cause of racial justice. This book seems to encourage its preservation, which is laudable and very much the antithesis of present day tactics. I hope that idea, more than the unforgiveable sins idea, takes hold.
The main character, Ailey insists and exposes, through her intensive research into her own family history, which crossed color lines when family members were used as chattel, the insidious nature of the racism that is everywhere, even today. It is alive in those who are naïve and unaware that they are racist, but who wish to relieve themselves of the ignoble ideas that have been inculcated in them through our system of education. They are all without hope of any possibility of redemption and must be condemned. Thus, the book, exposes racism, but it also runs the risk of instigating reverse racism. It encourages those of a particular race to stay with and find comfort with, only those who are of their race. Are we to segregate again?
The novel also had too much sex for my liking. There was too much emphasis on it to define the main character who chooses to use her body like a mattress and then to treat that body like some offended, innocent victim because of past abuse. Not every female in black society flaunts her sexuality and not every male is sexually active above all else. Not every black female and/or male, has been assaulted. This book is unforgiving of all those they believe are sinners, and it seems that all are sinners. Still, the book is cloaked in powerful, lyrical prose which distracts us from the power struggle between the races that it seems to support.
The author has exposed the underbelly of racism, addiction, grief and loss, pedophilia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, racist policing, infidelity, poverty, even the Trail of Tears, secrets and lies, plus all the other ills of society with clarity, and it is never really overwhelming as all of these issues are addressed. The problem is that the responsibility for all of these ills, seems to always rest upon the shoulders of someone other than the victim’s, and in some cases, that is fair, but not in all. Those who disagree are portrayed as evil racists, who are always ignorant and always act with an intent to wound. The street is one-way. The black professor who encouraged discourse in his class, was in contrast with himself as the professor who gave his one-sided support to Ailey, hoping for her to be the first black historian to receive a doctorate at the University. It may be deserved, but her race seemed to be the most important issue. Her indignation for being looked at as undeserving because of Affirmative Action, seemed disingenuous. While the judgment may be rude and unfair, it is the byproduct of a program that did provide a leg up, for some. Whether or not she needed it or used it was immaterial. The professor, on the other hand, seemed to be seeking her views over all others, as if only hers were legitimate, and, unlike the ignorant, unqualified white students in the class, he believed she was brilliant and more qualified. For me, qualifications and quality of work should be the only criteria when judging scholarship. So, the novel is complicated, it covers a multitude of social ills, without sugar coating their effect. It illustrates their influence on past and future generations. However, today, one only has to watch television for a few moments to see that the black 13% of the population is now dominating the airwaves, and they, as a group, are achieving great success. Is the success due to the qualifications or the skin color? Are we merely exchanging one form of racism and rights issues for another? I hope not.
DuBois’s theory of double consciousness promotes a divide that doesn’t seem to be bridgeable because the black community of current writers seems to encourage power as opposed to justice for all, and also a separation of the races, with safe spaces, insisting that only certain races need safe spaces. Yet rising crime within those races may seem to indicate that the other races may need more safety than originally thought. Are we encouraging blindness to certain sides of the issues in society?
I am an American, and I am a Jew, but it does not cause a conflict within me any longer, although Jews have been oppressed for thousands of years. Isn’t it about time we all became Americans and stopped this identity politics which the book acknowledges and is perhaps unwittingly, promoting? I hope that the “Ailey’s of the world” find some peace and success without feeling all eyes are judging them as inferior. It appears to be more of a false premise today, in the same way it would be false for me to say that every black person is an anti-Semite because of certain members of Congress or prominent spokesmen in the Black world, like Cori Bush, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan and their supporters.
The protagonist, Ailey, wants to preserve history, even as her brothers and sisters today, in the 21st century, are tearing it down, erasing it in books, on college campuses, on historic battlegrounds and in town squares. The contrast with reality and the novel’s premise is stark.
The novel seems to be written more for women, and because it is so long, it will, sadly, discourage many from reading it. Slavery was a blight on our history. The Holocaust was a blight on our history. The lack of civil rights and women’s rights were also blights, etc. Isn’t it time we tried to move forward without these blights affecting our behavior and judgment. Isn’t it time to preserve our history and learn from it so we all became better people.