"Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."

some thoughts on this most heinous of holidays...



even more things to think on can be found at...
Resources for Rethinking Columbus

Erika's fond farewell…

Five years ago I became part of the unparalleled Food for Thought Books Collective right after I graduated from UMass – what an amazing opportunity! Since then I’ve had countless rich conversations with folks in the community and within my collective; I’ve had the privilege of hosting incredible authors, activists, and artists; and I’ve collaborated with many brilliant, creative comrades. I’ve had the distinct pleasure of unpacking hundreds of boxes of exciting new books, experiencing each time the power of the written word to move me to feel, to remember, and to act… and I’ve gotten to share all of this with people every day. How have I been so lucky?!

And yet…it’s come time for me to move on. Bittersweet indeed.

In the fall I’ll start the History MA program at UMass, back to my old stomping ground! I really see this move as just another step in my larger life project: to make space for silenced voices, to look to past and present examples of radical resistance for maps of the future, so that we might all experience justice, joy, and exuberant, expansive love. I’d like to try to be a truly engaged activist-scholar, inspired by the many folks I’ve met while working at Food for Thought who are doing just that. I hope you’ll all hold me to it!

Food for Thought Books is a unique and important place, I’m so grateful to all of you for keeping it alive all these years. I hope that, with some effort, it will be here decades from now, still dynamically engaged with the world.

I’d like to invite you all to stop by the store to say hello/farewell on Tuesday, May 26, my last day, from 4-5:30. We’ll have some cake and I’ll try not to cry the whole time. Hope I’ll see you there.

Chávez creates overnight bestseller with book gift to Obama

"Our defeat was always implicit in the victory of others; our wealth has always generated our poverty by nourishing the prosperity of others."

In my political education Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano holds a central place. I can still remember the sensation I felt when I first read it years ago: the strange & heady vertigo one feels when the world is turned upside-down. Ever since, I have tried to get everyone I know to read it.

Now, Hugo Chávez has re-introduced this essential work to the world with really nothing more than a simple gesture: giving someone a book. I can only hope that Obama will read it. But even if he doesn't, Chávez's gift has ensured that thousands more surely will. That's good enough for me.

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Interested? Order this book from our store
Monthly Review Press: Open Veins of Latin America
Pre-order Galeano's new book: Mirrors, Stories of Almost Everyone

Douglas Blackmon wins Pulitzer Prize

Congratulations to Douglas Blackmon who has won a Pulitzer for his superlative work of historical investigation Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.

In school, many of us were taught that the Civil War ended slavery. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that while one form of enslavement fell with the war's end, another more insidious form rose to take its place. It was called the "convict lease system" and it exploited a loophole in the 13th amendment that allowed for slavery as punishment for a crime. African American men, recently emancipated but also jobless and without resources, were quickly rounded up and convicted on all manner of spurious and incidental charges. They were then leased to businesses and corporations who literally worked them to death building railroads, mining coal, and yes, even farming plantations once again. To call it "slavery by another name" is no exaggeration.

Armies of "free" black men labored without compensation, were repeatedly bought and sold, and were forced through beatings and physical torture to do the bidding of white masters for decades after the official abolition of American slavery.

The convict lease system has been condemned since its inception by many voices, including prominent ones like that of Frederick Douglass. But until recently, many did not know just how extensive (and how brutal) this system really was, not to mention how long such corporate exploitation of ex-slaves lasted (all the way up until WWII).

We owe this new knowledge to Blackmon's painstaking and exhaustive eight year long search through the court records of the time and his eloquent reconstruction of the stories these records revealed. His book is not an easy one to read. The truths he uncovers are dark and terrible ones about our history. But it is an important book, and a necessary one if we are ever to begin grappling with and healing the deep and open wound that we call race in this country. As Blackmon stated in a recent interview:

"What's clear is that the crimes against African American men were much greater than we have cared to acknowledge, and that you can't understand the state of race relations and the harm it has done to African Americans to this day without taking into account the harsh and terrible truth."

It is very gratifying to see such work get the honor and recognition it so rightfully deserves. Congratulations, Douglas Blackmon. You have earned it.

. . . . .

order at our store: Slavery By Another Name
be sure to see: Douglas Blackmon's website
related news: Books That Explore Race in U.S. Lead Arts Pulitzers