Letters in Black and White...
Hi all,
I’m often asked for recommendations for new books on race. Sadly, most of the new books do not add much to the topic. However, I recently came across a pleasant surprise: “Letters in Black and White” by Winkfield Twyman and Jennifer Richmond.
After reading the book, I tweeted out my rough thoughts on the merits of this book and what follows are my tweets cut and pasted:
How is an exchange of letters between a black man and a white woman worthy of being published? Then I read “Letters in Black and White” by Jen Richmond & Wink Twyman. What a fresh departure from our racialized era of fear and self censorship.
There is freedom in the letters between Jen and Wink. Freedom from political correctness. Freedom from the fear of being charged with racism. Freedom to explore what our current "woke" culture deems off limits.
This freedom allows for the arc of learning and there is a certain warmth that grows with each letter. This warmth comes from the trust that Wink and Jen, two strangers to begin with, have for each other. And it is this trust that allows us, the reader, to grow with them.
As a white woman, Jen represents modern-day America wrestling with today's crucible on race. She attended a diversity workshop that left her disillusioned. That led her to write an essay criticizing the workshop and she invited people to respond, and that is how she met Wink.
Wink, on the other hand, knows race intimately. He traces his impressive lineage to the early days of slavery. He carries with him a tradition of overcoming and his overriding desire is to be seen fully as the individual that he is.
The letters cover significant ground. We learn the brutal details of slavery, we learn from Wink's complex past how slavery shaped people in various ways, and we learn from Jen what it is like to wrestle with America's past and make sense of it today.
Both of them ask naked and difficult questions. Even I found myself thinking, ooh, what will the other say to that? There's tension, impatience, and even dismissals, yet the two never stop writing.
What these letters reveal is how today's woke empire has tragically oversimplified America's racial history. Reading these letters moves one from the simplicity of racial essentialism to the complexity our greater humanity.
Lastly, the thing that touched me most about these letters was Wink's argument for his humanity. He comes from a long tradition of resilience, and overcoming. He knows every injustice intimately but chooses to focus on the human spirit and the path forward.
Jen challenges him on this view several times and with merit. But Wink knows that a life drowning in race has nothing to offer him. At every turn, he argues for the path of overcoming and achieving that his ancestors set him on.
I found myself wondering if his ancestors' proud tradition of overcoming will survive past today's woke era?
The power of this book is that one cannot read it without being transformed, educated, or touched by it in some way.
A friend of mine, Tara Henley, did an in-depth interview with Wink and Jennifer that is worth checking out:
And here is the link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Black-White-Correspondence-America/dp/1634312368
If you do read it, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Have a great weekend,
Eli
The podcast interview with Tara Henley was outstanding. I look forward to reading the book.
Thanks for the shout-out, Eli, and for introducing me to a fantastic book!