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Review of The Covenant with Black America

By: Lanie Dixon

lanieblaze@excapethematrix.com

 

 

 

When my book club chose Tavis Smiley’s “Covenant with Black America” as its selection for the month, I instantly assumed it would be a regurgitated version of Ralph Wiley’s “What Black People Should Do Now: Dispatches from Near the Vanguard.”  The latter was a collection of critical essays full of satire and finger pointing.  I found not a single tangible plan for solutions to the many ills that plague us as Black people.  Nonetheless, I felt compelled to finish it out of some sense of duty as a Black person.  Damn a duty. 

“The Covenant with Black America is not just a book.”

Reading and acting upon the principles within Smiley’s “The Covenant with Black America” may just actually be what black people should do now.  In thorough essays on various topics including Healthcare and Well Being, Community-Centered Policing and Closing the Racial Digital Divide, insightful authors are able to “peel back the layers” on many of the problems afflicting Black America.  In a time where many make statements such as “Oh…Black people do/don’t do this or that,” this book examines why Black people may or may not do this or that. 

The chapter on Education addresses what I believe to be the key to what can help us break the cycles of illiteracy and underachievement in our communities; reading to our children early and often.  When children see constructive examples of parents who read and read to them, their perception of obtaining knowledge through books will be a positive one. 

The Covenant with Black America is not just a book.  It is defined as a national plan of action to address the primary concerns of African Americans today -- from health to housing, from crime to criminal justice, from education to economic parity.[1]  

A testament to how this covenant is more than just a commentary is the fact that my book club members and I, based on the “What Every Individual Can Do Now” list included with each essay, have committed to add an additional fruit or vegetable to our diets each day, and to ensure that our children are eating healthy diets as well.  We’ve also committed to taking our families out for educational field trips to museums, libraries and college campuses each month this summer.  We are also striving to include other children from our community who might not otherwise have the opportunity to have these experiences. 

“Reading and acting upon the principles within Smiley’s “The Covenant with Black America” may just actually be what black people should do now.”

On June 28, 2007, Tavis Smiley moderated a Democratic Presidential Forum on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., which was broadcast live in primetime on PBS. Along with Tavis, three journalists of color posed questions to the candidates regarding the Covenant with Black America and other domestic issues that affect all Americans.[2] 

The one irony about The Covenant with Black America is that it seems the people who could benefit most from its information, inspiration and concrete plans may never read it.  So I highly encourage you to not only read this book, but to pass it along to that brother or sister that you may know who could be uplifted from what you found inside.  It’s a duty even I couldn’t damn.