The Reverend Joseph Lowery got in a kerfuflle when he spoke to a Forsyth (Monroe County) Georiga group last week and found himself feeding the conservative media its daily dose of outrage.  It’s not that big a deal, except that this is a political season, and Reverend Lowery is rather prominent, being a legendeary civil rights figure and having spoken at President Obama’s inauguration. I can tell you as a professional smartass that you know you’re in trouble when you have to explain a joke–especially when you have to call a press conference to do so.  Here’s the story, as told by Jim Galloway of the The Atlanta Journal-Constituion.  

Wow. This review—broken down with separate sections for plot, dialogue, characterization, etc.—is by far the longest, most comprehensive critique of Brambleman that I’ve seen. I appreciate the time and effort Melinda Le Baron spent on it. She writes: Brambleman is a book with a lot of imagination, a lot of history and a lot of thought put into it. The author has previously written factual historic texts regarding racism in the South. This is his version of prose—a poor, beleaguered white newspaper editor and writer who marries into the absolute wrong family, and the events that transpire because of it. They live in the Atlanta, Georgia of today, but to God, time doesn’t matter at all.  Read more and find out what I mean.…

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Another Halloween, another blackface controversy. This time, it’s at the University of Florida, where members of a fraternity dressed up as rappers for a “Rock Stars and Rappers”-themed party.  Those involved have since apologized, claiming ignorance of history. Here’s some of the history. Blackface was used in 19th and early 20th century “minstrel shows.”  These popular offerings featured white performers in blackface who sang, danced, and clowned around for the benefit of white audiences. They did not portray blacks so much as they parodied them by perpetuating stereotypes of stupidity and laziness. One of the most popular minstrels was Thomas Rice, who perfected the “Jim Crow” persona, a caricature that served to reinforce white supremacy. It’s no accident that the term “Jim…

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From the Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) — Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first black president, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not. Those views could cost President Barack Obama votes as he tries for re-election, the survey found, though the effects are mitigated by some Americans’ more favorable views of blacks. Racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008 whether those feelings were measured using questions that explicitly asked respondents about racist attitudes, or through an experimental test that measured implicit views toward race without asking questions about that topic directly. In all, 51 percent of Americans…

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Once upon a time, signs at the Forsyth County line let black folks know they weren’t wanted there—and not very politely, either. Those signs are gone, but a series of anti-Obama messages on an electronic billboard on Georgia 400 near Exit 13 in Cumming has raised some eyebrows. The most incendiary message compares the president to Hitler and calls him “Comrade” (talk about mixed messages), but at least these latter-day signs don’t use the  N-word. Atlanta’s 11Alive has the story. I don’t know why the person or people behind this billboard’s messages bothered to post them. Forsyth County is the most Republican County in Georgia and will deliver more than 80 percent of its votes to Romney, anyway.  For the record, local Republican officials disavow the…

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This amazon.com review comes from Julio A. Campos, who gives Brambleman 4 1/2 stars.  Unfortunately, this translated to 4 stars on Amazon.com. Round up peopple, round up! I like a review to say it how it is….This is a good book ! You should get it! Read the other reviews to see what it is about. I won’t waste your time on that, but listen up–it’s a fun read and worth your time. I will also add, I read this as part of my book club. It is an excellent book club selection as the book leaves the reader with intrigue, shallow doubt, and many details to ponder and hash out in a group!