Breaking Barriers with Chili: Virginia Ali: The Matriarch of DC

by Bernard Demczuk Ph.D.

332 pages, Hardcover

Published December 8, 2023

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I highly recommend CSPAN's interview with Bernard Demczuk and his subject Virginia Rollins Ali, https://www.c-span.org/video/?535899-.... It spurred me borrow Breaking Barriers with Chili from the library. When the voice of Virginia Ali dominates, the text shimmers with authenticity and delight. Unfortunately other parts are poorly edited (less than half of a list I started when I realized editing was probably the problem: "fret" when "fraught" is needed, a list of luminaries whom I think taught at Howard University refers to them as students while the next paragraph lists well-known students as attending, lawyers representing petitioners in significant civil rights cases are misidentified, Holmead Street is called Homestead Street, cocaine is said to be from poppy farms, "never-before-scene"). There are repetitive passages, such as ones about Rhozier Brown's childhood. It is told well by "Roach" Brown himself and Ali but also described by Demczuk at least twice. This is a book that could have been richer in D.C. history. The clientele at Industrial Bank and Ben's Chile Bowl are fascinating. I loved the section on Odessa Madre, queen of Washington's underworld in the 1930s+, and a customer at Industrial Bank where Virginia Rollins worked in the 1950s.

The Commissioner system that preceded D.C. home rule is never fully explained. The influence of the U.S. House Committee on the District of Columbia's members who were flagrant segregationists is covered. The electoral wards of D.C. are not described. Demczuk seems to take every opportunity to slam The Washington Post, but does not tell readers that it was Post endorsements and Ward Three votes that assured Marion Barry's first-term election as mayor.

There is no index. One might have helped the author see that some of his idees fixes could be pruned to make more room for a fuller matriarch-in-the-making story. Did Virginia ever meet her mother-in-law? Which schools did Ben and Virginia's sons attend? Did Virginia attend the opening of the Ben's Chili Bowl stands at Major League Baseball's National's Park? These are just three questions that are prompted by tantalizing predicates, but never answered.

The subject is five-star worthy, the finished book is not.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of this wonderful eatery … and a whole lot more