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January 18, 2017 The Skanner Page 9 BOOK REVIEW: ‘Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America’ By Michael Eric Dyson St. Martin’s Press Hardcover, $24.99 202 pages ISBN: 978-1-250-13599-5 Book Review by Kam Williams “America is in trouble, and a lot of that trou- ble--p erhaps most of it--has to do with race. Everywhere we turn, there is discord, divi- sion, death and destruction. When we sur- vey the land, we Michael Eric Dyson see a country full of suffering that it cannot fully un- derstand, and a history that it can no longer deny. Slavery casts a long shadow across our lives... Black and white people... seem to occu- py different universes with worldviews that are fatally opposed to one another... What, then, can we do? What I need to say can only be said as a sermon... I offer this sermon to you, my dear white friends... I do so in the inter- est of healing our our nation through honest, often blunt, talk... Without white America wrestling with these truths and confronting these realities, we may not survive. To paraphrase the Bible, to whom Arts & Entertainment Film Review: ‘Silence’ Documents Priests’ Search for Missionary Mentor much is given, much is expected. And, you my friends, have been given so much. And the Lord knows, what wasn’t given, you simply took, took, and took, and took. But the time is here for reckoning with the past... and moving together to re- deem the nation for the future.” — Excerpted from the Chapter 1, “Call to Worship” (pages 3-7) M ichael Eric Dyson teaches So- ciology at Georgetown Univer- sity, and is the prolific author of 20 best-sellers and a popular face on the TV talk show circuit. Many might forget that Professor Dyson got his doctorate in Religion from Prince- ton University. In his new book, “Tears We Cannot Stop,” he reminds us that, “Although I am a scholar, a cultural and political critic, and a social activist, I am, before, and above anything else, an ordained Baptist minister.” That helps explain the profusion of captivating, flowery rhetoric whenever the brother’s been handed a microphone. While his previous works were aimed at a black audience, this is his first intended to be read by whites. It is also written in a unique literary style, namely, as a sermon designed to keep Caucasians standing on their feet like an inspired congregation of holy roll- ers. The chapters are even laid out like a See BOOK on page 11 ‘Silence’ By Kam Williams For The Skanner News P ortuguese traders first landed in Japan in 1543, followed soon thereafter by Francis Xavier and other Jesuits. So many lo- cals started converting to Christianity that, less than a decade later, the em- peror issued an edict banning Cathol- icism and ordering the expulsion of all missionaries. Violators were forced to either re- nounce the religion or face crucifix- ion, which resulted in many of the faithful’s going underground to avoid persecution. Consequently, when a cleric disappeared, it was often diffi- cult to discern whether the missing person had been martyred or was merely in hiding. This was the case with Father Cris- tovao Ferreira (Liam Neeson) who had been spreading the gospel around Japan for close to a quarter-century before he suddenly vanished with- out a trace after sending an ominous See ‘SILENCE’ on page 11