Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

Timely, provocative, brilliant, painful, and, ultimately, a very necessary step toward authentic national healing and transformation. As a white, long-time fellow traveler, I am so grateful that Dr. Dyson has answered his calling to lead us toward redemptive justice with truth, decency and love--albeit, at times, necessary tough love. I am in my third read already and learning more and more each time. Dyson's sermon serves as an exceptional read for believer and non-believer alike as it offers a framework and lexicon for us to engage with one another as we work our way through ongoing racially turbulent and polarized times. I am not a critic by trade so I will leave the professional analysis to the experts. I am a K-12 educator and seeker of social justice. I found this work both accessible and challenging in the best of ways. In my daily work, the evidence of the invention of whiteness, white innocence and white fragility and their pernicious impacts are ubiquitously abundant such that Dyson’s claims simply cannot be denied. Dyson’s sermon is not always a comfortable read. That’s the point. It is a workout for the soul and psyche that results in the growing pains necessary for personal and collective liberation. Thank you, Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, for opening your head and heart so broadly and deeply there is room enough for all of us in this racial healing process. The writing of this book is the ultimate act of truth and forgiveness. You have entrusted us with your most profound insights, personal experiences, and extend a vulnerability that humbles and arrests me. As you shared in a recent interview, "your trust in us grows out of forgiveness and the demand for truth for which is stands on, and the love it seeks to extend". Amen! I am in!

This is a book that I challenge all my white friends to read, no matter where you stand on the spectrum of confronting white privilege and systemic racism. Michael Eric Dyson delivers a powerful, engaging, personal, informational, inspiring sermon that’s essential at this moment in time when racial division is especially high. I urge you to read with an open heart and mind, to set aside your discomfort and listen to Dyson’s plea for white Americans to reckon with the harsh truths of racism. Dyson is an ordained minister, so what better way to present this than as a sermon. He divides it into multiple sections: in “Hymns of Praise,” he cleverly shares hymns in the form of rap lyrics; in “Scripture Reading,” he quotes Martin Luther King Jr.; in the main sermon, he addresses whiteness specifically (including white innocence, white fragility, and white privilege) and then segues into a section about what it’s like to be black in America. Following that is “Benediction,” one of my favorite parts: in it he offers practical suggestions for what white people can do to make things better. The whole thing is incredibly current and topical, with commentary on Black Lives Matter, the recent election and Donald Trump’s rise to power. For white people who seek to understand more about racism and white privilege in America (and really, that should be all of us), this is the book to read. It was literally written for us.

Hearing this powerful book read by Dr Tyson made it doubly understandable and enlightening. I needed to hear the experience, hurt and anger expressed so incredibly honestly and with the power of his emotion. I saw the CDs here at a reasonable price and I am so much more aware hearing rather than reading this book. Dr Tyson teaches powerful historic and current systemic racial experience such as every white person will do well to encounter. If you want to learn more than you already know, listen to these CDs on Black experience from Dr Tyson. Could be disturbing to anyone who does not want to learn the truth he teaches. It’s so packed with truth I will listen to it more than once more. Thank you, Dr Tyson.

A MUST READING FOR ALL OF WHITE AMERICA! A HELPFUL BRIDGE TO UNDERSTANDING THE CHASM IN RACE RELATIONS BETWEEN BLACKS AND WHITES. WRITTEN IN A MANNER AND FORMAT MOST PEOPLE CAN ACCEPT AND UNDERSTAND. I'M NOT ONE WHO LIKES TO BE "PREACHED TO" BUT THIS BOOK IS DEFINITELY AN EXCEPTION. I AM A PERSON OF COLOR AND I WILL DEFINITELY SHARE THIS WITH MY WHITE FRIENDS WHO SOMETIMES UNFAIRLY GET A BAD RAP FOR BEING WHITE.

One hundred and fifty-two years ago, slavery ended in the United States. And yet the tentacles of that time touch lives every day, all these years later. What can be done to make things better? Michael Eric Dyson, a sociology professor at Georgetown University, and an ordained Baptist minister, suggests that white people who care about the lives of black people should make individual reparations. In his book, Tears We Cannot Stop …A Sermon to White America, Dyson says, “{Black people} built a legacy of excellence and struggle and pride amidst one of the most vicious assaults on humanity in recorded history. That assault may have started with slavery, but it didn’t end there. The legacy of that assault, its lingering and lethal effect, continues to this day. It flares in broken homes and blighted communities, in low wages and social chaos, in self-destruction and self-hate too. But so much of what ails us—black people. That is—is tied up with what ails you—white folk, that is. We are tied together in what Martin Luther King Jr. called a single garment of destiny. Yet sewed into that garment are pockets of misery and suffering that seem to be filled with a disproportionate number of black people.” The book, unlike Dyson’s other scholarly works, takes the form of a worship service, and uses the concept of an extended sermon, or jeremiad, to lead the reader through confession, repentence, and redemption “through the long night of despair to the bright day of hope.” In Dysons’s view, “whiteness is a problem to be struggled with,” and his book is of inestimable value in grappling with the struggle. The book speaks at length of police brutality against black people, and fervently tries to create empathy in white readers. It includes an extraordinary bibliography of books which give insight and voice to black history, oppression, pain, achievement, and lives. And it speaks of reparations, and our responsibility as white beneficiaries of an unequal system, to take concrete actions to right the wrong, the change our country and the lives of our black sisters and brothers and their children. Dyson is imaginative, and has many suggestions for how an individual or group “I.R.A.”—an Individual Reparations Account. We could buy books for black college students, overpay our black accountant or hairdresser, pay the black person who cuts our grass double the amount on the bill, give to the United Negro College Fund, and more. He suggests that faith groups consider giving 10% of their revenues to a church I.R.A. In an interview in the New York Times Magazine, Dyson says, “If the sermon ain’t making you a little bit uncomfortable, it ain’t effective. Look, if it doesn’t cost you anything, you’re not really engaging in change: you’re engaging in convenience. I’m asking you to do stuff you wouldn’t ordinarily do. I’m asking you to think more seriously and strategically about why you possess and what you possess…..you ain’t got to ask the government, you don’t have to ask your local politician—this is what you, an individual, conscientious, ‘woke’ citizen can do. I have read many—though surely not all—of the books Dyson recommends. I have grappled with white privilege as a mother of black children, a fighter against apartheid, a civil rights activist, a human being. I have never read anything which more cogently offers “woke whites” a path to being a part of the change. I urge you to read Tears We Cannot Stop …A Sermon to White America, and to take your place in the pantheon of people who help this country grow beyond its racist past.

What does it mean to be black in America? Dyson answers this question in dramatic fashion. Using the clever setup of a sermon, complete with all the parts of a good Baptist message, he relentlessly lays out the harsh reality of being black in this country. This is a hard book to read, at least if you are white. It made me realize how little I know of the black experience, even though I thought I had a fair amount of knowledge. It made me want to argue with the author on several points, only to find as I read more, I was wrong. I felt, at first, Dyson was too angry in his writing, only to come to realize justifiably so. At times the message seems repetitious, but then maybe it needs to be for the reader to fully grasp the severity of it. There is a quote from Stephen King on the cover that says, "If you're white, Dyson tells you what you need to know - what this white man needed to know at least." I would add my name to that list. As I read, I kept asking myself, "Okay, if this is the problem, what am I supposed to do about it?" Dyson answers that question in the section labeled Benediction. Giving the reader concrete steps any of us can follow, which takes this from being just a rant on white privilege to a call to erase the divide between black and white. What does it mean to be black in America? The question alone makes this a must read. This one gets five stars.

It was a gift they liked it

I had to read this book in grad school and it changed my life. I have recommended it countless times and given it as gifts to many family members. Dr. Dyson explains racial concepts in easy to hear language and specifically targets white folks. As a white person, I have learned so much from Dr. Dyson through this book. I believe every white person should read this book. I also had the privilege to hear Dr. Dyson speak at my university, and his spoken words and written words carry the same passion and energy. Truly this book is one of a kind. This book really is a sermon to white america, I doubt most people of color would gain as much from his words. Dr. Dyson uses mostly black and white language, and addresses issues about whiteness and how it permeates our society and upholds racism. Anyone could read and enjoy this book, but white folks (especially the white people who don’t think they’re racist) need to read it.

This is a book to challenge you. It went from 1 star in the beginning to earning 5 stars at the end based on the amount of thinking, analyzing and introspection he forces one to consider while reading this sermon. I picked up this book as I have a lot of respect for Dr. Dyson after seeing some of his interviews and his debate with Jordan Peterson. He is most definitely a very intelligent, well read and quick-witted individual. I wanted to read something to give me an intelligent outlook on White America from a Black American perspective and this book did not disappoint. While reading this I took notes, writing at times lengthy analysis on where I felt he is either right or wrong regarding a specific subject and my own personal opinion of his reasoning and/or viewpoint mixed with facts to back up my conclusions. I will not write about that in this review because this is not the place for that. To summarize, he provides a sermon to White America about what it has done to Black America and what White America can do to heal the damage done. Along the way you may not agree with a lot of what he says. You may also be surprised at some insights he provides that you may not have considered, and you will also agree with a number of points he makes. Personally, I found him bias in much of his analysis, but you'll find out why that is. Challenge yourself along the way over everything he says, and you will come away the better. At the end he provides a great reading list and list of individuals to follow on social media for further understanding. Very highly recommended! Five plus stars.

Dyson è un autore che sa perfettamente usare la maestria per comunicare concetti chiave, spesso delicati, dal punto di vista "nero" verso un pubblico "bianco". Una delle voci più autorevoli per conoscere il punto di vista "dall'altra parte" dell'America e smontare le costruzioni posticce che ce ne danno una prospettiva falsata o nel migliore dei casi distorta.

I really enjoyed this book. It was telling some hard truths, but in a compassionate manner. It impacted me more I think because I read it in the last couple of months where issues of social justice have been more prominent internationally. So much learning here for those who want to take a participatory approach in investing themselves in issues of social justice.

A seminal book full of insights, observations and emotional experiences. Rarely does a book move me so much that I find I have to slowly read and absorb each phrase, each paragraph. A compelling read.

Excellent reading by an excellent writer