Say it Loud by law professor, Randall Kennedy is a collection of essays on African American racial thought on our place in American society. The question of if Black people are true citizens and belong maybe the underlying question.

"Within the Diverse, always-changing spectrum of Black American racial thought can be discerned two broad camps: the optimist and the pessimists-those who believe that blacks are members of the American family and those who believe that blacks will always be outsiders; those who predict that we shall overcome and those who conclude that we shall not"

I feel that this explains our current fight for Democracy and our right to vote and those individuals who feel black and brown people are not deserving of this natural inheritance. Randall Kennedy tries his best at conveying his optimism, but with myself everyday becomes a struggle to see through rose colored glasses.

I enjoyed these essays especially Derrick Bell and Me and his honesty about their strained relationship, as well as other essays such as Frederick Douglas Everyone's Hero and Isabel Wilkerson, the Election of 2020 and Racial Caste.

The fight for racial and social justice takes all of us to stay the course in order for us to see it bear fruit. The essays were interesting and insightful with alot of historical context to help put these thoughts into perspective. This book is a great resource for those in academia and individuals interested in race in America.

Thank you Netgalley for this e-arc and Penguin Random House for the hard copy.

Pub Date: September 7, 2021

A collection of essays, Say It Loud! chronicles the racial tensions in the US over the last quarter century.

This was my first book through Netgalley and I must say I learned my lesson and need to do a bit of research before requesting books.

As much as it's important to educate oneself on the issues covered in the essays, each of them seem to be written for academics. I felt like I was back in college trying to force myself to read it for homework.

I'm roughly 20% of the way through the book as a whole and I'm not sure I'll ever actually finish.

That said, my favorite essay so far is the one by Isabel Wilkerson, The Election of 2020 and Racial Caste. It is a look at how different classes, particularly across racial divides, influenced the 2020 election.

Rating: not rated yet, though if I had to rate it so far I'd say 4/5 because of the writing and various writers included.

Recommended to those interested in the subject packaged in a academic way. It's obviously written by a law professor.

Admittedly, I’d never heard of a lot of this stuff. As what the author calls a “woke” white person, I was irritated with myself for being so ill-informed, but I found this book to be incredibly interesting. I liked the way the author integrated history with law cases. I’m no lawyer, but I still really enjoyed this book and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an education on racial issues in America.