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BMK REVIEW
: Fsalms of Survival in an Alien Land Called Home i ;
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Gospel Choirs: Psalms of Survival in an Alien World Called Home
By Derrick Bell
$23 Hardcover
Writer and civil rights lawyer Derrick Bell has never been one
to back away from or avoid controversy. In his latest book, Gospel
Choirs: Psalms of Survival in an Alien Land Called Home
(Basicßooks, June 1996), Bell confronts the growing “white rage”
and the inevitability of racism in this country and challenges
Americans— black and white — to rethink our basic assumptions
about the relation between the law and race.
According to Bell, racial equality may be a legal imperative, but
in today’s explosive economic and political climate, the law alone
is woefully ineffective in guaranteeing protection of black peo
ple’s rights and well-being.
African Americans are both bearing the brunt of unemploy
ment and the anger of many whites who, fearful for their own jobs
and future well-being, are convinced that the black population is
at the heart of their problems. In this “environment of black
blame,” Bell contends, “the traditional sources of relief —the
courts and the political process — are not likely to prove useful.”
In Gospel Choirs Bell addresses many of today’s most perplex-
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New collection offers
direction for lifeina
racist world
ing social, economic and political issues using gospel music as an
inspiration and source of strength in much the same way as it has
inspired the black community in past struggles.
“There must be a connection between this music and how we
utilized it in earlier ordeals and its potential for now,” Bell
explains. “Gospel, and particularly the gospel choir at its best,
echoes the tempos of the soul searching for God’s peace in the
midst of a hostile world. I believe that within the ultimate
optimism of gospel music, black people can find the insight to
comprehend, the courage to confront and the wisdom to find new
solutions to our greatest crisis since the end of the Reconstruc
tion.”
The third book in a series that began with And We Are Not
Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice (1987) and “Faces at
the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992), Gospel
Choirs uses both traditional and contemporary gospel music in
a series of parables and essays featuring the lawyer-prophet
heroine Geneva Crenshaw to offer provocative comments on
affirmative action, the Million Man March, today’s social poli
cies, the Contract with America, feminism and the role of the
black woman and much more.
“The Space Traders” in Faces at the Bottom of the Well, is Bell’s
best known story, one the Hudlin Brothers made into an HBO film.
There, America votes totrade all blacks to visiting aliens from outer
space who offer the nation resources that would guarantee its
prosperity for 10 years. In Gospel Choirs, the story continues as
blacks aboard the space ships discuss and vote on whether toreturn
to Americain responsetoanurgentcall from the badly demoralized
country, or whether to proceed with the aliens who promise them
lives not marred by racial subordination.
Another story, titled Staying ‘No Ways Tired’, opens with a
verse from a song by gospel singer James Cleveland and attacks
Gingrich’s Contract with America, opponents of affirmative
action policies, and Charles Murray’s controversial bestseller
The Bell Curve. A disturbing essay, Nigger Free, highlights the
ease with which Americans are able to scapegoat black Ameri
cans for today’s economic and social problems as Bell finds
himself in the midst of futuristic white rage riots. Women to the
Rescue praises the tenacity and loyalty of black women as Bell
makes a convincing argument for gender equality. “... we blacks
must deal with sexism and patriarch in our communities before
we can address effectively the continuing evils of racism,” he
writes. “Indeed, black people must come to realize that our
greatest strength, our survival hope, if you will, is black women.”
Asin his previous books and essays, Bell serves up an intellectu
ally provocative, incisive look at contemporary racial dynamics in
American society. Gospel Choirs is fierce and funny, angry and
heartfelt. It will both astonish and edify its readers with its honesty
and intensity and confirm Bell as one of the most outspoken and
powerful voices in America today.
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M i S 1 C AL EV ENTS
The Augusta Focus presents
the following schedule of events
column for keeping our readers
informed about happenings on
the local club music scene.
Thursday, August 15:
Playback “The Band” at
Touch of Class Lounge, 7:30 p.m.
to 10:30 p.m.
Soul Dimension at Stopper’s
Lounge, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
The Other Brothers at Word
of Mouth Lounge,9p.m.tola.m.
Confirmation at Private Eye
Lounge, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Buzz Clifford’s Jazz Piano
at Case DuTeau restaurant, 7
p.m. to 11 p.m.
CigaretteJonesTrioat Fox’s
Lair, 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Thirsty Thursdays: Foxie
-103 dance music, 6 p.m. until at
BL’s Restaurant.
Friday, August 16:
Oscar “Panama” Wallace
with Full Force at BL’s Res
taurant, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Playback “The Band” at
Surrey Tavern, 9:45 p.m. to 1:30
a.m.
Word of Mouth Band at Word
of Mouth Lounge, 9:30 p.m. to
1:30 a.m.
All That Jazz at Partridge
Inn, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Saturday, August 17:
Buzz Clifford’s Jazz Piano
at Case DuTeau restaurant, 7
p.m. to 11 p.m.
Word of Mouth Band at Word
of Mouth Lounge, 9:30 p.m. to
1:30 a.m.
All That Jazz at Partridge
Inn, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Sunday, August 18:
Last Bohemian Quartet at
Case DuTeau, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Confirmation at Private Eye
lounge, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Word of Mouth Band at Word
of Mouth Lounge,9p.m.tol a.m.
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August 15, 1996
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Buzz Clifford plays at Case :
DuTeau restaurant, 7 p.m. to
11 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. and with
the Last Bohemian Quartet on
Sunday.
Tuesday, August 20:
Touch Tuesday, 96.9 The
Touch radio (dance), 5 p.m. un:
til, at BL’s Restaurant.
Wednesday, August, 21:
Playback “The Band” at
Touch of Class Lounge, 7:30 p.m.
to 10:30 p.m.
The Other Brothers at Word
of Mouth Lounge,9p.m.tola.m.
Soul Dimension at Stepper’s
Lounge, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Upcoming Gigs:
Bud Hudson Jazz Project,
a John Coltrane tribute at
BL’s Restaurant, Sunday, Au
gust 25, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ;
Paine College Evening of
Jazz, a UNCF benefit featuring-
Jean Carne and local artists,
Jessye Norman Amphitheaterat’
Riverwalk, Sunday, Sept. 1, 6.
p.m. to 10 p.m.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Band,
managers and club owners
should call 706-724-7855 to
relay information to this col
umn.)
7