For some time now, I have been completely consumed by three powerhouse novels written by Richard Wright: Black Power, The Color Curtain, and White Man Listen. Although Wright penned these novels in the 1950s, they speak volumes today, laying the background to the civil unrest, the racism and the hatred that resounds around the world!
In the Afterword of the Color Curtain Wright makes this poignant observation:
"In the future there will be white men who will look
into black and yellow and brown faces and they will
say to themselves: "I wish to God that those faces were
educated, that they had lived lives as secure and serene
as mine; then I would be able to talk to them, to reason
with them..." But then it would be too late."
According to Wright, the aforementioned will be the case because of the way in which "the white man" has oppressed the entire world-Asia, Africa, Mexico and India-via Slavery, Colonization, Imperialism and War. It seems that we are living out Wright's prophecy, and he was absolutely correct in his assessment of the times!
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