What Truth Sounds Like by Michael Eric Dyson

Michael Eric Dyson has written 19 books, including 4 best-sellers and we own several of his titles (Making Malcolm, The Black Presidency, Tears We Cannot Stop) so I was curious to see his latest: WHAT TRUTH SOUNDS LIKE which is subtitled “RFK, James Baldwin, and our unfinished conversation about race in America.”  Here, Dyson reviews a private breakfast meeting held in 1963 between then attorney general Robert Kennedy and a group of black intellectuals and entertainers (Lorraine Hansberry, freedom rider Jerome Smith, Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte) organized by James Baldwin. Dyson summarizes the meeting as a “watershed moment in American politics, revealing the limits of liberal good will and the explosive power of truth through testimony.”

He argues, “if hope led people to that room more than 50 years ago ... that hope will still be our guide in continuing conversation today.” Dyson, a Georgetown University Professor, then compares and contrasts with current actions and discussions involving activists, artists, intellectuals, and politicians, referring to Colin Kaepernick, Jay-Z, Kamala Harris, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Cornel West, and many others.  Throughout, there is much focus on anger, but students will likely be intrigued by the historical ties to present day events as well as the section where Dyson comments on The Black Panther and fictional Wakanda.  WHAT TRUTH SOUNDS LIKE received a starred review from Booklist.