TEARS WE CANNOT STOP A Sermon to White America

Michael Eric Dyson's elegant discussion of the role of race and privilege in white culture proves to be simultaneously provocative and sincere. Because he has framed his book as a sermon, audio is a natural medium for the work. But Dyson's delivery wobbles between sounding emotionally connected and apathetic. Given the framework of a sermon, he doesn't always live up to the energy and emphasis that one typically anticipates from a message bound in emotion, inspiration, and gospel. Still, time and again, his ability to draw out the incongruities of contemporary white American culture and its assault on non-white lives, culture, and identities will leave listeners reconsidering their complicity in the challenges currently faced by African-Americans and others. L.E. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2017]