"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies
but the silence of our friends."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
When I first scanned the list of book suggestions for this particular quest and saw XXII. A Book With Pictures I immediately knew that I was going to be reading a graphic novel of some variety. While I grew up watching Batman, Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, and X-Men I didn't really get into comics until I was in my early teens, but when I did, I fell hard, devouring almost anything I could get my hands on, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Valiant, Image is mattered not. I fell in love with the art, good art meant I would buy it, if one of my favorite artists (Jim Lee, Mark Bagley, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larson, etc.) jumped to a new book, I'd buy it even if I didn't know anything about the character, even if I didn't like the character.
My love of comics followed me through the rest of high school and on into college and grad school. As time progressed I would have seasons when I would follow various storylines closer than others, seasons when I would push comics to the side and others that I would dive headfirst into a comic shopping spree. A couple years ago I finally decided to stop purchasing comics cold turkey, partly I am able to do this because our public library has a wonderful selection of graphic novels.
I say all of that to say that when I saw XXII I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would simply pick up the newest TPB [trade paper back] that the library had of Batman or the Avengers or X-Men or Spiderman or ... at least until I went to the library to pick up the book. Once I entered the library and made my way to the graphic novel section I perused the superhero section, but then I made my way down the aisle to the non superhero section. There the library contains things like Sin City, From Hell, Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, Mouseguard and other random graphic novels. As I scanned the shelves I came to this black spine that read The Silence of Our Friends in yellow, I had never heard of it and grabbed it to take a look. Given the events of the past few months I decided to bring it home and give it a try.
Given the quote and the author of the quote and my reference to current events you probably have an educated guess as to what The Silence of Our Friends is about. The Silence of Our Friends is an account of true events that occurred roughly 48 years ago in Houston Texas. The story revolves around two men, two families, two races. Jack Long, one of the authors's father, is a reporter recently moved into the area in order to cover race related news stories. Jack is a white man who believes in equality in a time and location where race relations are boiling over. The story follows Jack and his family and their interaction with Larry Thomas an editor of The Voice of Hope and an activist working with students on the campus of Texas Southern University [TSU]. The men meet and begin to become allays and then friends.
The tension is Houston, particularly an area surrounding Wheeler Avenue begins to boil over. The date is May 17 1967, the location is Wheeler Avenue, a peaceful sit-in protest turns violent due to police overreaction and then it turns deadly when a police officer is killed. Almost 500 people are arrested, with all but 5 being released the next day, the five remainings were charged with murder and became known as the TSU Five. They are eventually found innocent due to evidence being brought that the officer was struck down accidentally by another officer.
With all true stories that are turned into any form of entertainment names and details are changed, Mark Long explains it this way, "Creating a book like this one requires finding a balance between factual accuracy and emotional authenticity. What we have striven to create is a story that offers access to a particular moment in time, both for those who lived it and those who are just discovering it." [pg. 198-199] I for one believe they accomplished their task.
The beauty of reading a story like The Silence of Our Friends is having the benefit of reading about it 48 years later, after we have taken huge strides forward. This, of course, is not to say that we don't still have huge strides to make going forward, because we do. I for one hope that in some time less than 48 years from now we can look back on the events of this time and see the huge strides we have taken forward again, so that no more unarmed minority faces need dot the evening news.
I read this book and think very highly of all of the white people who stood side by side with those who were fighting for the same rights as the majority. I read the quote that started this whole post and remind myself that there is still work that needs to be done, and I need to keep my mouth open, speaking up for those whose voice is not heard, here is hoping that if my voice is remembered past my time it will be remembered for speaking up.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
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