ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602270057
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: G-5 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
LIKE JUDGMENT DAY: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood.
By Michael D'Orso. Grosset Putnam. $27.50.
Norfolk-based writer Michael D'Orso vividly recreates the circumstances of the 1923 destruction of the black town of Rosewood, Fla. Using several accounts, including one based on personal interviews with survivors, "Like Judgment Day" portrays the actual attack on Rosewood by an out-of-control band of whites determined to revenge the possible rape of a white woman. The book chronicles the triumphant efforts of black descendants of Rosewood's murdered population to ultimately obtain $2 million in monetary compensation from the state of Florida.
"Like Judgment Day" is a readable, detailed and well-written illustration of the massive damage racism and hate crimes can do. D'Orso makes the massacre all the more poignant by beginning each chapter with a photograph of a Rosewood casualty.
Not for the squeamish, this history is a riveting, annotated narrative that reminds readers of the horrible legacy post-Civil War racism left in the United States.
- SUSAN TRENT
THE TROUBLE WITH FRIENDSHIP: Why Americans Can't Think Straight about Race.
By Benjamin DeMott. Atlantic Monthly Press. $22.
DeMott, who has written a variety of books on American culture, begins with what seems a fairly defensible thesis - that the problem of race relations is a serious and continuing one that isn't solved by suggesting that simple friendship is enough. But then he turns to history, or his interpretation of it, and trots out the idea that racial problems are the fault of whites and that government social action is the answer.
DeMott's book is thus a terrible disservice to improved race relations, not just because he is so wrong in so much of what he says, but because he so blindly encourages the idea that blacks can do nothing to help themselves. Such an attitude not only encourages the evil of white racism; it is an unforgivable racial insult to the thousands of American blacks who have made it on their own.
This is a missed opportunity.
- ROBERT P. HILLDRUP
Susan Trent lives in Roanoke.
Robert P. Hilldrup was active in efforts to integrate the Richmond public schools.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB