A person that I dated (who shall remain nameless) once dismissively told me that I viewed the world through the fantasy world of literature. He was right. I do interpret the world through the prism of literature, but not because it's fantasy. In my mind, literature represents the highest reflection of our reality as human beings. There is no greater expression of this than the words of Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man. I taught Invisible Man for several years to 7th and 8th graders at The Children's Storefront School in Harlem. At first it was hard for many of my students to make a connection to the novel because, according to them, it was about "back in the days of slavery," or "back in the days of segregation" (the latter statement being highly ironic because the school where I taught was 99% Black).
As I look at images from across the country, I am reminded of how relevant Ellison's novel is today. It is a shame that a book that was written in 1952 continues to reflect the racism and rage that is part of our current reality as Americans. The connection between Ellison's words and the images coming out of Ferguson, Missouri cannot be denied. If you look closely, you will see that Fact and Fiction are one in the same.
"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination -- indeed, everything and anything except me."
"Then too, you're constantly being bumped against by those of poor vision. Or again, you often doubt if you really exist. You wonder whether you aren't simply a phantom in other people's minds. Say, a figure in a nightmare which the sleeper tries with all his strength to destroy. It's when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump people back."
"Beware of those who speak of the spiral of history; they are preparing a boomerang. Keep a steel helmet handy."
"I don't know if all cops are poets, but I know that all cops carry guns with triggers."
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| This book should be required reading for all Americans |
"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination -- indeed, everything and anything except me."
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| Photo: New York Post |
"Then too, you're constantly being bumped against by those of poor vision. Or again, you often doubt if you really exist. You wonder whether you aren't simply a phantom in other people's minds. Say, a figure in a nightmare which the sleeper tries with all his strength to destroy. It's when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump people back."
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| Photo: St. Louis Post Dispatch |
"Beware of those who speak of the spiral of history; they are preparing a boomerang. Keep a steel helmet handy."
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| Photo: USA Today |
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| Photo: St. Louis Post Dispatch |
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