The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming

The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and FarmingThe Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming by Natasha Bowens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A compilation of images and observations profiling Asian, Black, Latina and Native farmers in these United of States, unearthing critical issues where race and food intersect to challenge the status quo of agrarian identity. The Color of Food’s message is about preserving culture and community, not just about buying local and protecting soil.

Five Stars for the theme, captures and narratives.

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Between the World and Me

Between the World and MeBetween the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Who Are You?

Find out who you really are and accept this person. What else can you do?

The writing opens with a poem by Richard Wright from which the title of the book is lifted, this quickly sets the tone of Coates' part letter, part memoir to his son. Poetry imbued with passion; there is a delicate duality, a double consciousness as Coates moves chronologically from a teenager in Baltimore, to a student at Howard (The Mecca), into a career as a writer, and lastly as a father. Between the World and Me explores and listens for the subtext: facts, feelings, values and opinions on the meaning and value of black bodies. The narrative lives between his story and history. An important voice, effectively communicating a point of view many share considering the current state of these United of States where black American lives are being numbered, a devaluation.

“I have spent much of my studies searching for the right question by which I might fully understand the breach between the world and me.”

There are no grand antidotes on overcoming or defeating racial prejudice, Coates views race itself as a restatement and retrenchment of the problem. I appreciate this approach as it charges us not with saving the Souls of Black Folks but remembering who we are-who are you?, to survive … to stay woke.

I read this twice, purchased an electronic version for my Kindle and purchased a hard copy for the collection, goals. I love this book, I would rate it five stars for the way Coates writes from his soul on that merit alone. Between the World and Me should be required reading.

Review on Read In Colour http://www.readincolour.com/2015/08/b...

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Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism

Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New RacismBlack Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I approached this read with the understanding that identities are always influx, complicated, and often times contradictory. The author does an incredible job proving her theory. The take-away for me was an understanding of how numerous theoretical frameworks assist us in engaging black sexual and gender politics within a historical and contemporary context.



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