by Tavis Smiley
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Product Description
Six years' worth of symposiums come together in this rich collection of essays that plot a course for African Americans, explaining how individuals and households can make changes that will immediately improve their circumstances in areas ranging from health and education to crime reduction and financial well-being. Addressing these pressing concerns are contributors Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. surgeon general; Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Angela Glover Blackwell, founder of the research think tank PolicyLink; and Cornell West, professor of Religion at Princeton University. Each chapter outlines one key issue and provides a list of resources, suggestions for action, and a checklist for what concerned citizens can do to keep their communities progressing socially, politically, and economically. Though the African American community faces devastating social disparities—in which more than 8 million people live in poverty—this celebration of possibility, hope, and strength will help leaders and citizens keep Black America moving forward.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Awareness is Created, 2008-12-10
When I first started reading The Covenant I felt as though I already knew much of what was being talked about. But, as I continued to read I learned that much of what the book talked about with regard to taking action, I was not doing in my own life. The Covenant is a good book because it informs and reminds us that we need to be actively engaged in the continuous development of Black America in areas that we may not be familiar with. I was moved when I read about the injustices and inequalities that low-income Blacks and Blacks in certain neighborhoods experience because I thought about what it would be like if I were in their shoes. The Covenant is good for reminding Blacks that we need to help each other on multiple fronts as a united, organized group. When reading the statistics presented it is clear that there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Although there has been progress in some areas like civil rights there are many hurdles that need to be overcome in education, healthcare, wealth creation, policing, etc. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to be informed about the problems in Black and is committed to selecting an area to start taking action.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Five stars, 2008-02-27
America, and especially Balck America, needs books like this one. It is a powerful book that everyone who wants to understand racism and human nature in general should read. This is a very informative and moving piece dealing with current situation of not only African Americans but also other Americans who are often disenfranchised. The author offers practical, how-to-do information for individuals and communities to take political action on the issues. Definite five stars!
I also suggest to read Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
book lover, 2008-02-25
It was a good book, I really learned a lot from this book. I have twins boys in school. They don't do too well in school. But I did learn a lot about how to handle the school system. They wanted to put one of my twins in special education. So reading this book taught me a lot. It gave me an edge on the school system, and my right regarding my sons.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A must read!, 2008-02-23
I loved this book and bought a copy for my sister in law as well.
The 10 covenants are on my wall. Thank you Tavis Smiley and all of the contributing authors.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 A great disappointment, 2008-02-10
After I was disappointed with "Come On People" by Cosby and Poussaint I started looking to see if anyone in the African-American community has written a book describing success in raising community standards or community involvement in improving education. The doorway out of poverty is education. So I got this book edited by Smiley. The back cover sounded promising: "... the time has come for African Americans to shift the conversation from talking about our pain to talking about our plan." That sounds positive. Here are the chapter titles.
(1) Securing the Right to Healthcare and Well-Being, (2) Establishing a System of Public Education in Which All Children Achieve at High Levels and Reach Their Full Potential, (3) Correcting our System of Unequal Justice, (4) Fostering Accountable Community-Centered Policing, (5) Ensuring Broad Access to Affordable Neighborhoods that Connect to Opportunity, (6) Claiming our Democracy, (7) Strengthening our Rural Roots, (8) Accessing Good Jobs, Wealth, and Economic Prosperity, (9) Assuring Environmental Justice for All, and (10) Closing the Racial Digital Divide.
All the chapter titles sound like failed ideas except chapter 8, about good jobs. I hoped that author would talk about working hard in school.
Chapter 8 was written by Marc Morial. He writes, "...closing the equality gap is not merely a challenge for black Americans and other people of color; it is also a challenge for the nation if we are to maintain our position as the economic and moral leader of the world. How do we get there? The most powerful tool we have to make our voices heard is the vote."
What a disappointment. I agree with Morial that the nation needs the African American community to be more successful, but voting will not end poverty. Morial is a humbug. Marc Morial was mayor of New Orleans. I used to live in New Orleans and the city went to pieces under Dutch Morial and Marc Morial. They wrecked New Orleans. The city was a disaster before hurricane Katrina hit. His suggestion for people to improve their lives by voting for African American politicians is self-serving and futile.
The entire book is a disappointment. The only positive development I believe people can replicate is the "Knowledge is Power Program" founded by Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg. It is not mentioned in this book. You can read about it online by googling for it, but it is not in books yet. A lot of people in America want to see the African American community succeed, but this book is self-defeating.
An important insight to the fundamental flaw in the book is in the article by Haki Madhubuti. He writes, "...do what all people who are in control of their own cultural imperatives do: control their own liberating narratives; that is, write their own liberating prescriptions and stories." This means that Madhubuti, and people with the same philosophy, intend to reject everything not created by African Americans. Hmmm, that would include rejecting Christianity. Wait! That's what the Nation of Islam did!
Rejecting all other cultures means rejecting the best ideas of all humanity. Successful people, however, copy the best ideas other people have. Look at Bill Gates at Microsoft. He bought Q-DOS from Seattle Software, he ripped off Windows from Apple and Internet Explorer from Netscape. Every product that makes him money he copied from other companies. Copying what works is the backbone of success in America.
Rejecting good ideas because they did not come from the African American community is self-defeating.
Continuing to think about rejecting good ideas, I discovered that Richard Rorty, in Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, said "ironists" are afraid their ideas were imprinted on them by society and are not really their own ideas. Then I thought about how teenagers are desperate for their own music and don't want to listen to mom and dad's music.
So I can understand how someone will reject good ideas in pursuit of individuality, but it does seem to me that rejecting good ideas only because you did not think of them is short sighted.
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