Book: The Bluest Eye Author: Toni Morrison Times Read: 4
I went to a book discussion about Morrison’s first novel around the time the author died last year. The book deals with colorism and particularly protagonist Pecola Breedlove’s distorted view of herself through her dark skin tone.
My mother’s favorite book is Imitation of Life, which has a character called Peola (renamed Sarah Jane in both the 1934 and 1959 film versions), a light-skinned black woman who passed for white. Peola is very aware of her white appearance and black identity. It was my mother who pointed out that Morrison’s Pecola was inspired by Fannie Hurst’s Peola, which would make sense as both of them have an identity crisis caused by the racial politics of their time.
Someone once told me, “Jonestown is what happens when you worship a man more than God.”
I have always been fascinated by Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the Jonestown massacre. I have read many books, including Raven, and articles by survivors and seen almost all the documentaries about it. I also regularly visit the website Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. I was fascinated but, I could figure out why I was fascinated. It had all the hot topics that make for a great true-crime thriller – sex, drugs, race, religion, murder, and mental instability.
Then I read Jeff Guinn’s book, The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, which I think is the most comprehensive book about this topic. It does a good job of taking a wide-angle view 40 years on. After reading it, Jim Jones and the state of Peoples Temple made a lot more sense to me. To really understand Jones, you have to look at his beginnings as a young child growing up in segregated Indiana, worshipping Hitler and having animal funerals.
Page 34 – “When Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, thwarting enemies who sought to capture and humiliate him, Jimmy was impressed.”
He didn’t worship Hitler because of his racist view, but rather studied Hitler’s demagoguery. Over the years, he would be mentored by Father Divine, another spiritual leader who controlled his followers.
Page 60 – “Jones seemed to believe that once he did anything for someone, from that moment forward the person belonged to him, with no right to disagree about anything or ever leave.”
Page 186 – “Keep them poor and keep them tired, and they’ll never leave. How well he understood his people.”
Page 197 – “He’d learned well from Father Divine that having enemies, real and imagined, was invaluable in recruiting and retaining followers.”
Page 311 – “Individual suicide was wasteful, but mass suicide that sent a message of defiance, and that encouraged future generations to fight oppression to the death, was admirable.”
Jones was a racial justice advocate and used his position in his church to help integrate Indianapolis. While no one can know what he truly believed, it seemed like he genuinely did care about racial and class equity. However, it always seemed off that Jones only had one black person with a leadership position in his church. Also, it is also true that he hijacked social justice issues and Christianity and took advantage of society’s most vulnerable and marginalized groups to push his own agenda. His ultimate betrayal was seen in Jonestown on November 18, 1978.
This quote fixes all the missing links I mentally had about this situation.
Page 467 – “Demagogues recruits by uniting a disenchanted element against an enemy, them promising to use religion or politics or a combination of the two to bring about rightful change.”
Roll Call recently did a podcast series about government oversight (or lack thereof) in Jonestown.
Here is a talk with the author.
This is original news footage from San Francisco two days after the massacre in 1978, hosted by trailblazing reporter Belva Davis.
I have been reading (and rereading) a lot of books this year. I made a list not only to share my reading habits but also to hold myself accountable to continue reading. My new year’s resolution every year is to read more books, and I think I have achieved that!
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Looking For Lorraine by Imani Perry
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn
Paul Robeson: A Watched Man by Jordan Goodman
War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
The Queen by Josh Levin
Vegan Eats: Tasty Plant-Based Recipes for Every Day by Rachel Ama
Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers by Elaine Mokhtefi
Grand Union by Zadie Smith
Black Software: The Internet and Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter by Charlton McIlwain
Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene Carruthers
Dear Ijeawele or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Groundings with My Brothers by Walter Rodney
Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies by Dick Gregory
A Terrible Thing To Waste: Environmental Racism and its Assaults on the American Mind by Harriet Washington
Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art by Dale Rosengarten
Our Rainbow Queen: A Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and Her Colorful Wardrobe by Sali Hughes
The Beautiful Ones by Prince
Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams
The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson
The Handbag: An Illustrated History by Caroline Cox
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah by Kwame Nkrumah (I was so excited to get a second edition copy of this from my local thrift shop!)
I stumbled upon this great discussion between two of my favorite writers – Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ibram X. Kendi. Coates was at a book event at DC’s Politics and Prose to discuss his first novel, The Water Dancer. Kendi is the author of another book I read recently, How To Be Antiracist.
It’s a great conversation with a meeting of two great minds.
Book: The Bluest Eye
