I remember the first time I really heard, really listened to Malcom X speak. Of course back in the late sixties and early seventies my white racist family and many of my racist friends never really listened to someone like Malcom X--we made assumptions and we reacted. Really listening to a genius like Malcom X, who was years ahead of his time, is both entertaining and enlightening at the same time. The Rock and the River is a book that finally portrays the social and political climate that produced the growing dissatisfaction of blacks to the peaceful methods of Martin Luther King without demonizing the people or suggesting that they were out of control hotheads.
In the late sixties and early seventies the United States saw the rise of the Black Panther Party in Chicago. In my neighborhood, the Black Panther Party was imbued with a certain amount of awe mixed with terror. We saw Blacks on the street and we locked our car doors. We took an exceptionally long time to really look at a Black like Huey Newton and really try to understand what he is saying and why he is saying it. We never really learned to understand that the police officers we see as peace keepers can be instruments of racial abuse. We have faith in a system of justice that always treats us fairly and we never investigate whether or not our justice deals with everyone equally. We pretend to be in favor of Civil Rights but only as long as really nice negroes like Martin Luther King are leading things and not angry trouble makers like Bobby Seale or Malcom X or Huey Newton.
Magoon’s book is an excellent fictional depiction that captures the fierce debate within the black community about how to end the systematic degradation and humiliation of black people in America. What I like about this book is that it gives readers, even old white readers like me, an insight into the human cost of protesting. Whether one supports Martin Luther King or the Black Panther Party, one still pays a very real price. Despite what my childhood neighbors would have us believe, the Black Panther Party establishes health clinics, works to educate black people, insures that white police officers do not harass black citizens, and more. This book is excellent because it does not present superheroes; the characters are motivated to make the world better. They fiercely disagree because they care deeply about improving their world. They are human. They learn and they change, just like we all do.
While the bulk of this “review” is focused on my own personal reflections about black revolutionaries, readers should understand exactly why these reflections denote a book that everyone should buy and read. The Rock and the River will make you think. It will make you think regardless of your racial or social background.
Readers should also understand that Magoon has created exceptional characters. Roland Childs is so believable that readers will be looking him up online to discover just exactly his connection with Martin Luther King. Sam and his brother Stick (Stephen) are very different and very real brothers. Their reactions to their rigid father’s speeches are honest and provide readers with some sense of what it must have been like for King’s children and King’s inner circle of friends. Maxie, the girl Sam likes, introduces both the romantic, coming of age element to the story and also highlights differences within the black community related to class (as does Bucky).
The language of the book includes sentences that soar. The details of the story are the very best history lesson. We have adventure. We have romance. We have very typical teen reactions. We have tragedy. We have hope. We have truth. We have, finally, a story that has been missing from the young adult literature canon for far too long. Buy this book. Read this book. Share this book with others. You will not be sorry.
