poa

I bought this book on a whim while walking around Chelsea at one of my favorite bookstores. I started reading it in the store and continued as I walked around the city that afternoon. As well as on my way home, and then at the seat by the window in my apartment till I finished it. I could not put in down. I completed it in less than 3 hours. Yes, I thought it was that good. The story is of my city, my borough, in particular, about Brooklyn. The people in this story - all young and under 30 - could be my neighbors or friends. The streets, businesses, and homes, described throughout the story are the same as mine. Their habits and mannerisms are all similar to people I know. Their dreams, hopes, and struggles are that of most any New Yorker- or really most any individual that I've ever met, which is why I found this book so infuriating and so stunningly good. Moustafa Bayoumi is an English professor and takes the title of this book after W.E.B. Du Bois, "The Souls of Black Folk" where he talks to and about African Americans during Jim Crow. In this book, Bayoumi profiles seven young Arab-Americans living in New York City. The book walks the reader through how it feels being Arab and, for example; going to high school, serving in the US Army, manning a deli, shopping on the street, or trying to attend a dance. Its just soul crushing to think that here - where we all live in a "RELATIVE" peace amongst each other - there continues to be such injustice over basis tenements of humanity. Many of these stories are tragic; a handful are hopeful, but all of them stay with you, and that is a testament to the writer and the story tellers. Read this book, ignorance is nothing to be proud of.

2022-11-14 18:39