Book Review… A Stirring Oratory

Oct 25, 2020 Book Review…, News

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Book: Through Two Black Eyes
Author: Vinette Hoffman-Jackson
Critic: Glenville Ashby, PhD

Kaieteur News – Vinette Hoffman-Jackson’s ‘Through Two Black Eyes’ is a confessional call for justice. Hoffman-Jackson is irate, her angst bleeding through every page. But her rage does not only target an unforgiving society. Surely, we can all rage against inhumanity. But are we willing to bare our foibles? Will we concede that our silence, our misdirected need for acceptance have made us enablers, more so, quislings in a system that thrives on racial injustice? It’s the author’s self-disclosure, her veridical response to self, her authenticity, that defines her work.
She cries out in ‘I am Sorry,’
“I am sorry
remaining silent when you treated me unkind
Then patronised me by saying never mind
I am sorry,
Sorry I gave you the impression
That I was okay and not breaking under the oppression
Accepting everything that came my way
Never daring to oppose or have my say
I am sorry,
Sorry that I was not as brave as I should be
And protest about the treatment meted out to me…”
In like vein, she writes in ‘Token Blacks,’
“The slavery mentality
Embedded through history
Have turned some insides white
So, they believe this is not their fight
They are paraded like puppets to prove the masses wrong
A bomb note in our freedom songs
Standing on the wrong side of our fight
and casually denying their birthright.”
But in the cauldron of protestations, the fight for social justice can miss its mark oftentimes bedeviled by special interests and the incorrigibility of the lumpenproletariat.
‘Through Two Black Eyes’ attempts to channel incendiary emotions into a singular, cohesive statement. Unswerving and resolute, Hoffman-Jackson pounds her literary gavel loud enough for the politically deaf to take note. The George Floyd murder, in plain view, triggered a deafening response, a global zeitgeist, no less. It was the tipping point that galvanized a people from their complacency and slumber. Black Lives Matter (BLM) emerged, a movement and a brand of immeasurable reach. In lock-step with the ideals of BLM, ‘Through Two Black Eyes,‘ is an uncompromising and stirring response to injustice. It speaks to an atavistic, primal anguish that is masked and left to fester.
Hoffman-Jackson’s words are raw; hers is a soul tormented.
‘My Poetry’ encapsulates the anthemic thrust of her work. She unravels,
“My poetry is not meant to tell only of love and happiness
It is meant to stir your mind and awaken your consciousness
If I don’t speak now, then when?
You would empathise if you were a friend.
I will not be muted or be more subtle
Just because my words make you uncomfortable
If I can evoke a reaction
Stir your emotion
Then job well done
Life is not just sunshine and fun.”
Indeed, the George Floyd tragedy unveiled society’s damning lie. No doubt, the odds are stacked against a people, a people brutalized and disenfranchised. Hoffman-Jackson challenges the post-racial world concept leaning toward a psychoanalytic resolution. Unable to integrate the dynamics of a racist society, she relieves her burdens. She sheds her persona, the false-self that strives to succeed in inimical environments.
But for a moment she steps outside the boundary, her rhetoric taking on a sharper tone that arguably tramples sensibilities. With a leap of fate, she sides with rioters, inconsequential their deeds she opines in the face of historic crimes against peoples and nations. Nothing compares to such egregious acts.
She writes in ‘How Dare You?’
“…Then cry out for peace and ask us for pity when we retaliate and burn down your city? Now the bullies’ backs are against the rope
As we fight for a future filled with hope!
The time for speaking calmly is truly done
Because our black brothers have met with your guns
The beast of anger and pain has been released
And will not be silenced until we get some peace!”
In the same jarring cadence, she echoes in the pithy, ‘Harvest time,’
“It is harvest time for all that was sown.
And the seeds, buried in the dark, are finally shown. Raped our lands,
and watered it with our blood…
Thinking olive trees would sprout but thorns rose instead. The bitter fruits of inequalities, injustice and intolerance are now ripened on the t’ree
And now they trample the crops instead of blaming the allottee.”
‘Blackened Eyes, is deft play of imagery, an interplay of physical and mental realities.
“Then you touched your blackened eyes to my surprise! And I had to remind you, I too see the
world through blackened eyes,” she shares.
In ‘School of Life,’ she raises the specter of white supremacy, intoning, “They will break you slowly destroy your legacy.
If you ever dare forget,
To recognise their supremacy.”
‘My Brother,’ ‘Identity,’ ‘Be Honest,’ and other equally provocative offerings demand reflection.
In this timely oratory, Hoffman-Jackson walks a fine line between justice and vengeance. Understandably so. Aren’t we human? But, haven’t sages warned against compulsion of any kind?
Black protests have raged before, countless, for that matter. But inequality and racial justice persist. Admittedly, some are fast becoming weary of BLM sensing lack of accountability and its political dance with ideologies antithetical to black progress. But a far bigger question looms: can racism and inequality ever be erased from our midst? Human nature has long spoken. Despite all, we still persevere.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
Through Two Black Eyes by Vinette Hoffman-Jackson
Copyright © Vinette Hoffman-Jackson 2020
Publisher: YouCaxton Publications 2020
ISBN 978-1-913425-46-3
Available at Amazon
Ratings:****Highly recommended

 

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