Transcending fear of racial violence through community: Author connects his novel’s themes, King’s legacy

By EMILY THURLOW

Staff Writer

Published: 01-16-2023 11:17 PM

NORTHAMPTON — The fear and the reality of racial violence is something that haunted Ousmane Power-Greene as a child.

Born in 1973 in Harlem, and raised in the predominantly white suburbs of Westchester, New York, Power-Greene considers himself to be a “child of the dream,” some 10 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.

In facing those deep-seated fears, Power-Greene, a professor of African American history at Clark University in Worcester, brought them to life in writing his novel, “The Confessions of Matthew Strong,” and then imagined a way out of it.

The way out of that fear, Power-Greene says, is through community.

“It all starts with community. It starts with coming to self-reliance, coming together and community wisdom,” he said.

In engaging the community, Power-Greene led a community conversation Monday at Edwards Church where he connected the ideas and themes from his novel and the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Roughly 80 people attended the event, which was hosted by educational nonprofit Self-Evident Education in Florence and the Collaborative for Educational Services.

In his book, Power-Greene tells the fictional story of a philosophy professor who was kidnapped by a white supremacist when she returned home to Birmington, Alabama. While there, she discovers that her kidnapper has been abducting other Black girls in hopes of igniting a revolution.

During his presentation, Power-Greene addressed the ways in which his novel and the ideas it forces its readers to grapple with coincide with the African American struggle against racial violence. While his book is set in the South, he noted that racial violence is not isolated to Southern states.

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He referenced the fire that destroyed the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield in the wake of the election of President Barack Obama.

“The shadow struggles that Dr. King brings up have not ended and continue on to this day,” he said. “That wasn’t in Alabama, that was right here in Massachusetts. … Violence happens everywhere. This is a national issue, a global issue.”

Following his presentation, the audience was split into groups for facilitated discussions about the book and its themes.

The event was an introduction to what is hoped to become future reading circles driven by the book, said Michael Lawrence-Riddell, executive director of Self-Evident Education.

The nonprofit makes multimedia documentary films that look at moments in American history that help to critically understand the histories and legacies of systemic racism. The organzation’s resources are available to educators or community members who are looking to dig deeper into their ideas or themes in their stories, he said.

As a former teacher at schools in Brooklyn, Boston and most recently, Amherst Middle School, Lawrence-Riddell was looking for resources in his classroom that didn’t really exist.

“As we got going in creating those resources, it became really clear that those tools weren’t just meant to engage students in classrooms,” he said.

Since its formation, Self-Evident Education’s programming has been used in college-level courses, continuing education courses and community events.

“We’re trying to create these opportunities for expanding communities and expanding people’s access to other people’s thinking and ideas,” said Lawrence-Riddell.

Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com. ]]>