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Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing
“One of the nation’s most prominent civil rights leaders” (Washington Post), a New York Times bestselling author, community organizer, investigative journalist, Ivy League professor, and former head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous draws from a life lived on America’s racial fault line to deliver a series of gripping and lively parables that call on each of us to reconcile, heal, and work fearlessly to make America one nation.
Never Forget Our People Were Always Free illuminates for each of us how the path to healing America’s broken heart starts with each of us having the courage to heal our own. The son of parents who had to leave Maryland because their cross-racial marriage was illegal, Ben Jealous’ lively, courageous and empathetic storytelling calls on every American to look past deeply-cut divisions and recognize we are all in the same boat now. Along the way Jealous grapples with hidden American mysteries, including:
Why do white men die from suicide more often than black men die from murder?
How did racial profiling kill an American president?
What happens when a Ku Klux Klansman wrestles with what Jesus actually said?
How did Dave Chappelle know the DC Snipers were Black?
Why shouldn't the civil rights movement give up on rednecks?
When is what we have collectively forgotten about race more important than what we actually know?
What do the most indecipherable things our elders say tell us about ourselves?
Told as a series of parables, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free features intimate glimpses of political, and faith leaders as different as Jack Kemp, Stacey Abrams, and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and heroes as unlikely as a retired constable, a female pirate from Madagascar, a long lost Irishman, a death row inmate, and a man with a confederate flag over his heart.
More than anything, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free offers readers hope America’s oldest wounds can heal and her oldest divisions be overcome.
Never Forget Our People Were Always Free illuminates for each of us how the path to healing America’s broken heart starts with each of us having the courage to heal our own. The son of parents who had to leave Maryland because their cross-racial marriage was illegal, Ben Jealous’ lively, courageous and empathetic storytelling calls on every American to look past deeply-cut divisions and recognize we are all in the same boat now. Along the way Jealous grapples with hidden American mysteries, including:
Why do white men die from suicide more often than black men die from murder?
How did racial profiling kill an American president?
What happens when a Ku Klux Klansman wrestles with what Jesus actually said?
How did Dave Chappelle know the DC Snipers were Black?
Why shouldn't the civil rights movement give up on rednecks?
When is what we have collectively forgotten about race more important than what we actually know?
What do the most indecipherable things our elders say tell us about ourselves?
Told as a series of parables, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free features intimate glimpses of political, and faith leaders as different as Jack Kemp, Stacey Abrams, and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and heroes as unlikely as a retired constable, a female pirate from Madagascar, a long lost Irishman, a death row inmate, and a man with a confederate flag over his heart.
More than anything, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free offers readers hope America’s oldest wounds can heal and her oldest divisions be overcome.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 10, 2023
30 people are currently reading
1732 people want to read
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July 12, 2025
4 stars = Fantastic and easy to recommend.
“I think your wife’s family used to own my mama’s family.”
In a time that the USA is incredibly divided, deteriorating and vulnerable, I was drawn to this author’s optimism that Americans can look past their manufactured divisions and work together to take back the country for the working class. It was refreshing and inspirational to read positivity around this subject, even if it was not completely convincing to the disheartened.
“It’s amazing what can happen when you extend the hand of friendship across old lines of division.”
From America’s creation of the concept of race to divide indentured servants and slaves in the 1700s to the Republican’s modern day hateful attacks towards anyone that is “other”, he gives a shallow review of America’s incessant history of being divided by the owning class so that they can more easily exploit and pillage from the working class. He shows how America’s racist past and present harm white people as much as, if not more than, minorities. In addition to racism, he addresses sexism, and America’s dystopian mass incarceration. But most of all the focus is aptly on the fundamental root problem of classism.
“We think of ourselves as a free nation. We, Americans of all colors, are the most incarcerated people on the planet.”
My favorite part was his inclusion of the moving letter from a son of a preacher and Klansman. In the letter the man discussed his trauma from witnessing the Klan’s violence as a child, as well as his father’s cognitive dissonance struggles from attempts to reconcile his bigotry with the teachings of Christ. The author himself often interjects his own religious Christian beliefs but also voices respect for those that follow other religions, or no religion.
“But my father had also figured that holding black people down was impoverishing a majority of white people. He began preaching that if you were a poor, working-class white person in the South holding the black man down in the ditch, you should realize that you are down in the ditch with him. A rich man, Dad said, walked down the center of the road laughing at both men in the ditch - the black one and the white one.”
The ancestry line and current connections of the author are filled with famous names and he holds an equally impressive curriculum vitae. The book started slow as this information was relayed but ended strong with rousing passages about the power the American people can hold if they stop wasting time fighting over their miniscule and manipulated differences and instead come together to fight for the multitude of issues they have in common.
“If you don’t understand the true price paid for anything others have gained for you, the chance that you will lose it is pretty high. And if you don’t know what you are fighting for, the chance you will win it is pretty low.”
There are powerful books on this subject that are more informative on America’s sordid history, but this is an excellent starting point for people just starting to pay attention and the most optimistic one I have read so far. I would recommend this book to all Americans, especially those that automatically dismiss it, as well as to observers from other nations who continue to root for us to overcome our nation’s challenges, despite the current administration’s vitriol, destruction and disrespect to all of humanity across the globe.
“When a person acts badly, we say that they’re acting outside of their character. So it is for nations too.”
-----
First Sentence: A news alert flashed on the screens: VP Cheney Rushed to Hospital.
Favorite Quote: There is no way for you to oppress me and mine without you hurting you and yours.
“I think your wife’s family used to own my mama’s family.”
In a time that the USA is incredibly divided, deteriorating and vulnerable, I was drawn to this author’s optimism that Americans can look past their manufactured divisions and work together to take back the country for the working class. It was refreshing and inspirational to read positivity around this subject, even if it was not completely convincing to the disheartened.
“It’s amazing what can happen when you extend the hand of friendship across old lines of division.”
From America’s creation of the concept of race to divide indentured servants and slaves in the 1700s to the Republican’s modern day hateful attacks towards anyone that is “other”, he gives a shallow review of America’s incessant history of being divided by the owning class so that they can more easily exploit and pillage from the working class. He shows how America’s racist past and present harm white people as much as, if not more than, minorities. In addition to racism, he addresses sexism, and America’s dystopian mass incarceration. But most of all the focus is aptly on the fundamental root problem of classism.
“We think of ourselves as a free nation. We, Americans of all colors, are the most incarcerated people on the planet.”
My favorite part was his inclusion of the moving letter from a son of a preacher and Klansman. In the letter the man discussed his trauma from witnessing the Klan’s violence as a child, as well as his father’s cognitive dissonance struggles from attempts to reconcile his bigotry with the teachings of Christ. The author himself often interjects his own religious Christian beliefs but also voices respect for those that follow other religions, or no religion.
“But my father had also figured that holding black people down was impoverishing a majority of white people. He began preaching that if you were a poor, working-class white person in the South holding the black man down in the ditch, you should realize that you are down in the ditch with him. A rich man, Dad said, walked down the center of the road laughing at both men in the ditch - the black one and the white one.”
The ancestry line and current connections of the author are filled with famous names and he holds an equally impressive curriculum vitae. The book started slow as this information was relayed but ended strong with rousing passages about the power the American people can hold if they stop wasting time fighting over their miniscule and manipulated differences and instead come together to fight for the multitude of issues they have in common.
“If you don’t understand the true price paid for anything others have gained for you, the chance that you will lose it is pretty high. And if you don’t know what you are fighting for, the chance you will win it is pretty low.”
There are powerful books on this subject that are more informative on America’s sordid history, but this is an excellent starting point for people just starting to pay attention and the most optimistic one I have read so far. I would recommend this book to all Americans, especially those that automatically dismiss it, as well as to observers from other nations who continue to root for us to overcome our nation’s challenges, despite the current administration’s vitriol, destruction and disrespect to all of humanity across the globe.
“When a person acts badly, we say that they’re acting outside of their character. So it is for nations too.”
-----
First Sentence: A news alert flashed on the screens: VP Cheney Rushed to Hospital.
Favorite Quote: There is no way for you to oppress me and mine without you hurting you and yours.
August 15, 2024
Lots of name dropping
A sense of hope and humor
America stays
***this was a Goodreads win!***
A sense of hope and humor
America stays
***this was a Goodreads win!***
January 12, 2023
Never Forget Our People Were Always Free is excellently written and narrated. It has an inter-generational appeal.
As a political and urban sociologist, I found that each chapter in Jealous's book was an invitation for a class discussion on a different moment in American history and life from historical race relations, youthful optimism and activism, the passing on of lessons and resilience across generations, to a celebration of all that American society has to offer.
The book beautifully weaves together personal experiences and reflections with interjections and contextualization of these historical events and debates/contentions that impacted the nation and its democracy.
Academically, it is an excellent example of auto-ethnography embedded in deep knowledge and research about topics from criminology to family solidarity.
The sincerity with which Jealous shares his family's and personal trajectories encourages the reader to reflect on their own views of progress, democracy, and even how to relate to those who we deeply disagree with (especially now in a polarized historical moment).
I do not believe that I was the intended demographic for this book, I did not grow up in the US, and yet I found myself learning from and relating to the stories being told. Some are quite universal.
At times throughout the book, I was frustrated and at others I was out right laughing. This book is compassionate and forces the reader to withhold preconceptions.
Perhaps because I am an academic, I feel that this book speaks to the concerns and fears this younger generation has in a way to offer guidance, hope, and a model for action.
Lots of young folks have the right heart (and vocabulary) and the desire to create a better future, but they need a little more optimism and evidence that persistence and action does make a difference. This book offers just that: optimism, examples of determination and endurance, without being preachy and with a lot of fun insights and anecdotes about about a life meaningfully lived (and no where near done with the work).
As a political and urban sociologist, I found that each chapter in Jealous's book was an invitation for a class discussion on a different moment in American history and life from historical race relations, youthful optimism and activism, the passing on of lessons and resilience across generations, to a celebration of all that American society has to offer.
The book beautifully weaves together personal experiences and reflections with interjections and contextualization of these historical events and debates/contentions that impacted the nation and its democracy.
Academically, it is an excellent example of auto-ethnography embedded in deep knowledge and research about topics from criminology to family solidarity.
The sincerity with which Jealous shares his family's and personal trajectories encourages the reader to reflect on their own views of progress, democracy, and even how to relate to those who we deeply disagree with (especially now in a polarized historical moment).
I do not believe that I was the intended demographic for this book, I did not grow up in the US, and yet I found myself learning from and relating to the stories being told. Some are quite universal.
At times throughout the book, I was frustrated and at others I was out right laughing. This book is compassionate and forces the reader to withhold preconceptions.
Perhaps because I am an academic, I feel that this book speaks to the concerns and fears this younger generation has in a way to offer guidance, hope, and a model for action.
Lots of young folks have the right heart (and vocabulary) and the desire to create a better future, but they need a little more optimism and evidence that persistence and action does make a difference. This book offers just that: optimism, examples of determination and endurance, without being preachy and with a lot of fun insights and anecdotes about about a life meaningfully lived (and no where near done with the work).
July 10, 2024
using bullet points
• part memoir/autobiography, part history book, part self-help book??? paints a very hopeful future for america that places an emphasis on cross-aisle collaboration/conversation
• liked the phrase “physics of history” and the explanation of how america(ns) will revert back to its original state of inter-racial cooperation (gloucester county rebellion as example)
• dave chappelle is his godbrother???
• one part that rubbed me the wrong way was pgs. 99-101. the first person in his matrilineal line to arrive to the americas was an east african pirate of polynesian descent. he writes, “it all clicked. My mom’s love of the ocean, her surprising feeling of being at home in the Phillippines, as well as her need to live next to … the Pacific Ocean.” idk to me that felt 1) very reductive and 2) a large leap to say that the reason you feel those things is bc you have one ancestor of APIDA descent 200 years ago. that paragraph just didn’t sit well with me
• i appreciated the chapter on suicide rates and the interesting point on how it correlates with population density/support networks
• part memoir/autobiography, part history book, part self-help book??? paints a very hopeful future for america that places an emphasis on cross-aisle collaboration/conversation
• liked the phrase “physics of history” and the explanation of how america(ns) will revert back to its original state of inter-racial cooperation (gloucester county rebellion as example)
• dave chappelle is his godbrother???
• one part that rubbed me the wrong way was pgs. 99-101. the first person in his matrilineal line to arrive to the americas was an east african pirate of polynesian descent. he writes, “it all clicked. My mom’s love of the ocean, her surprising feeling of being at home in the Phillippines, as well as her need to live next to … the Pacific Ocean.” idk to me that felt 1) very reductive and 2) a large leap to say that the reason you feel those things is bc you have one ancestor of APIDA descent 200 years ago. that paragraph just didn’t sit well with me
• i appreciated the chapter on suicide rates and the interesting point on how it correlates with population density/support networks
January 5, 2023
It was just okay for me. I saw a lot of what was being said, some I agreed with wholeheartedly, but some of it, not so much. But understand the message of the story. Some things being written about weren’t historically correct, but I understand some have been lied to about history and they believe the lie, because they don’t or won’t believe the truth. But about half I agree with and believe. About half I don’t. But I do agree we all need to work together and stop racism. But I believe there are racists on both sides, not just one side. We all need to see that. And on both sides there are those who aren’t racist and are wanting what’s good for the country. When we start seeing that, maybe, just maybe, things can change.
August 30, 2024
This was beautiful. It was such a small part of the book but I loved the idea that politics should start by accomplishing the things we agree on instead of being gridlocked every time on the issues we disagree on. That has stuck with me.
January 18, 2023
I have become so cynical, so it was great to read a book that recognizes and understands the deep problems affecting the United States while also offering a path forward and an optimistic view of the future.
December 30, 2022
This is a book that will stay with me for a while. I found it heartbreaking at times, but also fascinating and inspiring. The author’s ability to find common ground with people from many different backgrounds is inspiring. It was a peek into how systemic racism impacts us all & how we can do a better job healing and working together.
November 12, 2023
I had picked this up at the library, thinking I should expand my interests and read something beyond my usual genres… and I’m so glad i did. I give page numbers in case any impatient reader confuses the early non-linear story telling for rambling.. give it a chance. There is pirate gold within. On page 24, Ben introduces us most amicably to the source of the title quotation.. and from that moment I understood how the stories from his own life he was choosing to churn out would become increasingly meaningful, and this resumed narratively on page 40, and again on page 102, and finally on 224. The first few chapters seem meant to shock for attention, but for me, they just were too far from my own experience, though I suppose perhaps not for his more typical reading audience.
"if you don't understand the true price paid for anything others have gained for you, the chance that you will lose it is pretty high. And if you don't know what you are fighting for, the chance you will win it is pretty low." (p43-44) Jealous presents this is in the context of voting and civil rights, but doesn't it apply to all of us, in our own life blessings and opportunties? It points to anything we (and our tribe) have that could be lost, and the opportunities we all will lose if we can't see that we need to fight for them. Jealous is now executive director of the SIerra Club, a tribe we share in common, and I won't lie and claim that commonality didn't make me more open to his words on everything... and there he is fight for the loss of our climate, and the opportunity for building a stronger economy with an environmental justice foundation. I could be fighting too, if I paid better attention to his grandmother's advice!
The fear of organizing voters in Mississiple in the 1990s (at the near same age as me then) just drips right off the pages, an acrid smoke of our shared social shame you just can't escape. Why are white southern supporters of MAGA allowed to pretend the injustice is gone, while they and their own parents and neighbors were perpretrating horrors? I just missed this in my formative years, as MAGAts are missing it today. I blame their willful blindness, but if I know the truth, how obligated am I to not be a silent enabler?
Tribalism is regrettably human nature, but racism by appearance was purposefully developed for social control by colonial elites, who rationally feared that poor indentured whites and enslaved blacks would cooperate. (p111) Yes this makes racism that much more evil.
Regarding media representations of poverty, “ When images of poverty shift from those who look like the majority population to those who look like minority populations, support for public investment in impoverished communities plummets.… racism has not just devastated, black communities, it has also devastated, blowing income, white communities.” (p114)
Bearing witness to the “Hayes-Tilden compromise” and the panic of 1873 from the perspective of Ben’s own multi-racial family history is amazing.. as heather cox Richardson concurs, this was an evil restoration of the confederacy that delayed progress on civil rights through so much needless suffering for a hundred years.
The last third of the book is harder for me to cover.. it deals with more recent events and just causes for which Ben is still fighting: abolishing the death penalty, excessive incarceration/prison overcrowding, racial profiling, police violence, voter suppression, and even immigration. Policy on many of these has been stuck for a decade by MAGA intrasigence, a conservative scotus and the filibuster... so this long section lacks conclusive wins.. and can feel a bit discouraging.
Finally, with respect to the strengthening revived confederacy we all can't help but seen, he prefers reconciliation around the common interests we certainly do share. I'm more with Heather Cox Richardson in that I'd like to see the facist nazis and the racist confederacy crushed a second time now, so completely that it can never rise again. I'm appauled at the ridiculous grifting takeover by MAGA of evangelical chirsitianity (and see it as irredeemable and deplorable), yet Ben is devoutly Christian expects the deeper, honest truth of Jesus to eventually be restored. In his determined efforts to show how racism is harmful to White people, how it leads to shame and emotional scars and fear, are fully humanizing. Whether leading the NAACP or the Sierra Club, Ben brings Everyone along, all races, all states, all perspectives. He believes we can all do better together, and whether red or blue, we can join together on just causes. I want to honor his fervent optimism.
"if you don't understand the true price paid for anything others have gained for you, the chance that you will lose it is pretty high. And if you don't know what you are fighting for, the chance you will win it is pretty low." (p43-44) Jealous presents this is in the context of voting and civil rights, but doesn't it apply to all of us, in our own life blessings and opportunties? It points to anything we (and our tribe) have that could be lost, and the opportunities we all will lose if we can't see that we need to fight for them. Jealous is now executive director of the SIerra Club, a tribe we share in common, and I won't lie and claim that commonality didn't make me more open to his words on everything... and there he is fight for the loss of our climate, and the opportunity for building a stronger economy with an environmental justice foundation. I could be fighting too, if I paid better attention to his grandmother's advice!
The fear of organizing voters in Mississiple in the 1990s (at the near same age as me then) just drips right off the pages, an acrid smoke of our shared social shame you just can't escape. Why are white southern supporters of MAGA allowed to pretend the injustice is gone, while they and their own parents and neighbors were perpretrating horrors? I just missed this in my formative years, as MAGAts are missing it today. I blame their willful blindness, but if I know the truth, how obligated am I to not be a silent enabler?
Tribalism is regrettably human nature, but racism by appearance was purposefully developed for social control by colonial elites, who rationally feared that poor indentured whites and enslaved blacks would cooperate. (p111) Yes this makes racism that much more evil.
Regarding media representations of poverty, “ When images of poverty shift from those who look like the majority population to those who look like minority populations, support for public investment in impoverished communities plummets.… racism has not just devastated, black communities, it has also devastated, blowing income, white communities.” (p114)
Bearing witness to the “Hayes-Tilden compromise” and the panic of 1873 from the perspective of Ben’s own multi-racial family history is amazing.. as heather cox Richardson concurs, this was an evil restoration of the confederacy that delayed progress on civil rights through so much needless suffering for a hundred years.
The last third of the book is harder for me to cover.. it deals with more recent events and just causes for which Ben is still fighting: abolishing the death penalty, excessive incarceration/prison overcrowding, racial profiling, police violence, voter suppression, and even immigration. Policy on many of these has been stuck for a decade by MAGA intrasigence, a conservative scotus and the filibuster... so this long section lacks conclusive wins.. and can feel a bit discouraging.
Finally, with respect to the strengthening revived confederacy we all can't help but seen, he prefers reconciliation around the common interests we certainly do share. I'm more with Heather Cox Richardson in that I'd like to see the facist nazis and the racist confederacy crushed a second time now, so completely that it can never rise again. I'm appauled at the ridiculous grifting takeover by MAGA of evangelical chirsitianity (and see it as irredeemable and deplorable), yet Ben is devoutly Christian expects the deeper, honest truth of Jesus to eventually be restored. In his determined efforts to show how racism is harmful to White people, how it leads to shame and emotional scars and fear, are fully humanizing. Whether leading the NAACP or the Sierra Club, Ben brings Everyone along, all races, all states, all perspectives. He believes we can all do better together, and whether red or blue, we can join together on just causes. I want to honor his fervent optimism.
January 10, 2023
Never forget our people were always free by Benjamin Todd jealous it is a memoir, an example in message of hope. I have read many books about race relations this is the best book I have read out of every book I have ever read about race relations. In the book we learned about his biracial parents and how he mostly identifies with his African American side only because his dad‘s parents cut his dad off when he married Benjamin‘s mom. That didn’t stop these two people from raising their children with love dignity and respect for others. He tells the stories about trips with his cousin Dave Chapelle to Mississippi Dave’s home in Idaho Benjamins younger years going to school in New York and all the great people he met like one of my favorite people Desmond Tutu man who lived this life is an example of how great men live. Mr. jealous has had A fat full life and one that isn’t over yet. This book is full of not just a great and not so great things he has experienced and the dangerous situation he has put his self in and all the great causes he has put his name behind he comes from a long line of great people on both sides of his family tree but mainly the African-American side and I know this summary isn’t doing this book the justice it deserves, but trust me when I say this is such a good book. He writes stories with facts and not accusations he tells it like it is and like it was. There’s many a history lesson in this book and all of that seems to pertain to his family or a situation he himself has lived through I really believe Mr. jealous judges people on the character and what they show him instead of what he assumes about people. He seems to be a student of life and one that is acing the course. I may huge fan of this author and can’t wait to read more books written by him. This book is full of well-known people and they’re all friends or relatives of the author I love learning about Dave Chappelle‘s ancestral history and all the great people he comes from this book is just full of lots of great stuff. Stories history lessons family trees but no matter what the subject is trust me when I say you will not want to put this book down this truly is an excellent book. I read a lot of books on race relations in Black people trying to navigate this obstacle course we call American freedom and I must say Benjamin Tod jealous says book is the first one I have bread that I can see making a difference. It’s a truly great book written with the respect experience and the knowledge to say this is what happened and let you decide how you feel about it. What are you born from this book is they have some truly horrible people in America but they also have some really great people as well and it’s people like the author that’s going to make America a better place in the end. I receive the book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
January 9, 2023
American Healing
This is an optimistic book. And that will stay with me. It is also a realistic book and that will also stay with me. The full title is Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing by Benjamin Todd Jealous.
The title make sense but to explain takes a while. So I’ll just skip that part and hope you are curious enough to get the book.I thank Netgalley for allowing me to read it before publication. The book will be released January 10.
The optimism hits me first.
We are all cousins. We generally don’t treat all of humanity or even all of our fellow Americans that way but it is true. Most of us know our first cousins and often second or even third cousins, Maybe some know the 4th, 5th or 6th cousins but usually not. There are various degrees of cousinship. And there are often multiple ways of being related. I have a few who are second cousins and also half third cousins.
One of my hobbies is genealogy so I can get a bit carried away with this stuff. I am also a geneticist so again this type of thing is an occupational hazard.
The story where he attended a dinner, talked to a someone he had not known, and they figured out that his new friend’s family once owned his family and they were probably fairly close cousins both surprised and pleased me. So now I have a cousin Ben and a cousin Maggie.
But cousin Ben was also realistic about discussing the racial divisions and other problems in the United States. His discussion of racism is especially interesting.
But to get back to the earlier point, it would be better if we remember that we are all cousins. Rather than allow skin color or political views to divide us, let our shared humanity unite us.
Some are better at this than others but I suspect we could all be a bit better. This book is definitely worthwhile and I recommend it highly.
This is an optimistic book. And that will stay with me. It is also a realistic book and that will also stay with me. The full title is Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing by Benjamin Todd Jealous.
The title make sense but to explain takes a while. So I’ll just skip that part and hope you are curious enough to get the book.I thank Netgalley for allowing me to read it before publication. The book will be released January 10.
The optimism hits me first.
We are all cousins. We generally don’t treat all of humanity or even all of our fellow Americans that way but it is true. Most of us know our first cousins and often second or even third cousins, Maybe some know the 4th, 5th or 6th cousins but usually not. There are various degrees of cousinship. And there are often multiple ways of being related. I have a few who are second cousins and also half third cousins.
One of my hobbies is genealogy so I can get a bit carried away with this stuff. I am also a geneticist so again this type of thing is an occupational hazard.
The story where he attended a dinner, talked to a someone he had not known, and they figured out that his new friend’s family once owned his family and they were probably fairly close cousins both surprised and pleased me. So now I have a cousin Ben and a cousin Maggie.
But cousin Ben was also realistic about discussing the racial divisions and other problems in the United States. His discussion of racism is especially interesting.
But to get back to the earlier point, it would be better if we remember that we are all cousins. Rather than allow skin color or political views to divide us, let our shared humanity unite us.
Some are better at this than others but I suspect we could all be a bit better. This book is definitely worthwhile and I recommend it highly.
July 26, 2022
Never Forget Our People Were Always Free by Ben Jealous is a memoirish collection of essays (parables) that offer the reader a great deal of insight in both our collective past and our potential future. I don't even know the woman and I'm gonna miss his grandmother too.
Through telling stories from his own storied life Jealous teaches us so much about history, both personal and collective, as well as about people. Many lessons to be learned here. Knowledge that might shed light on things as well as ideas that could lead us forward. I was constantly being surprised at just how much I didn't know.
Admittedly I find some of his approaches difficult to actually follow through on. This is a negative statement about me, not one about him or his approaches. In particular, I find it very difficult, in the case of some people who I feel have shown their true moral and ethical shortcomings, to want to reach across and find common ground. I don't deny that there is some, we all have some common ground with each other, but I am resistant to continuing to compromise with those who absolutely refuse to do so. I also refuse to associate with some who have consistently chosen what seems like a clearly hateful agenda over a compassionate one, thus my estrangement from a couple of family members. I acknowledge that Jealous, and all those who can work with those types, is a better person than I am.
I highly recommend this book to those who want to understand how we have gotten to where we are, and how we can move forward from here to a better world. It is slowly helping me to, not forgive, find ways of working with those I find utterly disgusting. Maybe if I find them less so, they may find me less so, and we can make some strides. Though some family members will never sit at my table again.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
Through telling stories from his own storied life Jealous teaches us so much about history, both personal and collective, as well as about people. Many lessons to be learned here. Knowledge that might shed light on things as well as ideas that could lead us forward. I was constantly being surprised at just how much I didn't know.
Admittedly I find some of his approaches difficult to actually follow through on. This is a negative statement about me, not one about him or his approaches. In particular, I find it very difficult, in the case of some people who I feel have shown their true moral and ethical shortcomings, to want to reach across and find common ground. I don't deny that there is some, we all have some common ground with each other, but I am resistant to continuing to compromise with those who absolutely refuse to do so. I also refuse to associate with some who have consistently chosen what seems like a clearly hateful agenda over a compassionate one, thus my estrangement from a couple of family members. I acknowledge that Jealous, and all those who can work with those types, is a better person than I am.
I highly recommend this book to those who want to understand how we have gotten to where we are, and how we can move forward from here to a better world. It is slowly helping me to, not forgive, find ways of working with those I find utterly disgusting. Maybe if I find them less so, they may find me less so, and we can make some strides. Though some family members will never sit at my table again.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
December 25, 2022
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital advanced copy.
Pain and History Often Travel Together
The author is the former president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), serving from 2008 to 2013. This is in part his life story, that of his family, the role of his family in the civil rights movement before it became a movement and how we are still grappling with systemic racism which impacts not only people of color, but all of us, black, white, indigenous, poor and the wealthy.
The author covers a wide swath here as he talks about:
* How his lineage goes back to Thomas Jefferson and England’s monarchy
* Aren’t we all cousins - How many a black person, if we did deep enough, might find that we are related to white cousins we could not fathom being related to, for example President Barack Obama and VP Dick Cheney being cousins and that Cheney was the author’s cousin as well. The vestiges of slavery….
* The roots of race, being bi-racial and the challenges and injustices faced
* The cruelty of slavery and the lasting ramifications, just think, being a slave when your white half-brother owns you, and the sad fact, this was replicated in similar form as white slave owners took advantage of their black female slaves, Thomas Jefferson a prime example...hypocrisy at its worst
* How increased incarceration impacts society at large, because it crosses all social, economic and racial lines
* How he owes his foundation to the wisdom of his grandmother, who as the book is titled, told him, remember "Never Forget Our People Were Always Free."
Book is both serious and at times light hearted, there are smiles baked in, especially when he talks about his god-brother Dave Chappell (yes that Dave Chappell, the comedian).
Pain and History Often Travel Together
The author is the former president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), serving from 2008 to 2013. This is in part his life story, that of his family, the role of his family in the civil rights movement before it became a movement and how we are still grappling with systemic racism which impacts not only people of color, but all of us, black, white, indigenous, poor and the wealthy.
The author covers a wide swath here as he talks about:
* How his lineage goes back to Thomas Jefferson and England’s monarchy
* Aren’t we all cousins - How many a black person, if we did deep enough, might find that we are related to white cousins we could not fathom being related to, for example President Barack Obama and VP Dick Cheney being cousins and that Cheney was the author’s cousin as well. The vestiges of slavery….
* The roots of race, being bi-racial and the challenges and injustices faced
* The cruelty of slavery and the lasting ramifications, just think, being a slave when your white half-brother owns you, and the sad fact, this was replicated in similar form as white slave owners took advantage of their black female slaves, Thomas Jefferson a prime example...hypocrisy at its worst
* How increased incarceration impacts society at large, because it crosses all social, economic and racial lines
* How he owes his foundation to the wisdom of his grandmother, who as the book is titled, told him, remember "Never Forget Our People Were Always Free."
Book is both serious and at times light hearted, there are smiles baked in, especially when he talks about his god-brother Dave Chappell (yes that Dave Chappell, the comedian).
March 19, 2024
Ben Jealous's Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing is a highly recommended book. Mr. Jealous emphasizes the importance of every person taking responsibility for their healing, which can contribute to repairing America's broken heart. He suggests treating each other like cousins would be transformative for all Americans. If we are not able to overcome the lie of racism, we will never be able to address any of the major issues that confront our society. We are one family and need to love each other.
I am grateful to live in a community where I can develop close friendships and witness the power of treating each other with the same love and respect shared between close family members. Living downtown has helped me heal after losing my wife. Though I have put my grief behind me now, I might still be grieving if I were living somewhere else.
Last May, I met Ben Jealous briefly during the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism's Day of Action in Washington. As the board chair of Bridges, I'm committed to working for justice. That event was part of my ongoing, lifetime commitment to that cause.
I attended his talk at Temple Emanu-El in Westfield and was deeply inspired by his advocacy for civil rights, the environment, and the healing of America's broken heart. It means a lot to me that someone with Mr. Jealous's experience wrote the inscription in my copy of his book.
I am grateful to live in a community where I can develop close friendships and witness the power of treating each other with the same love and respect shared between close family members. Living downtown has helped me heal after losing my wife. Though I have put my grief behind me now, I might still be grieving if I were living somewhere else.
Last May, I met Ben Jealous briefly during the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism's Day of Action in Washington. As the board chair of Bridges, I'm committed to working for justice. That event was part of my ongoing, lifetime commitment to that cause.
I attended his talk at Temple Emanu-El in Westfield and was deeply inspired by his advocacy for civil rights, the environment, and the healing of America's broken heart. It means a lot to me that someone with Mr. Jealous's experience wrote the inscription in my copy of his book.
February 17, 2023
I cannot begin to describe how much I enjoyed this book. Ben Jealous is a talented storyteller. And he has a breath and depth of experience both personally and professionally to draw upon to give us his view on race and reconciliation in this nation at this moment where arguably we need to hear from people like him now more than ever before.
He has an uncanny knack for drawing the reader in through his breezy style, while giving us all the feels. I felt like I was right there with him whenever he describe the scene of him talking to somebody, or we recounting his family's history, or some point in his own personal history.
I tend to be cynical about the state of this country, especially when it comes to race and racism. But even I could not resist being drawn in by his central message that we need to keep in mind that we share more in common than we don't.
I found myself laughing out loud as well as nearly tearing up. An unexpected side bonus were those stories that involved Dave Chapelle (yes THE Dave Chapelle), Ben Jealous' god brother.
I would highly recommend this to many people. I found this book and Ben's overall messages a refreshing needed reminder that it's worth taking the time to pause and despite all the messages surrounding us each day telling us that we have increasing reasons to feel contempt against "the other side," it is worth taking a minute to remember that not only do we share a lot in common but at the end of the day we need one another.
He has an uncanny knack for drawing the reader in through his breezy style, while giving us all the feels. I felt like I was right there with him whenever he describe the scene of him talking to somebody, or we recounting his family's history, or some point in his own personal history.
I tend to be cynical about the state of this country, especially when it comes to race and racism. But even I could not resist being drawn in by his central message that we need to keep in mind that we share more in common than we don't.
I found myself laughing out loud as well as nearly tearing up. An unexpected side bonus were those stories that involved Dave Chapelle (yes THE Dave Chapelle), Ben Jealous' god brother.
I would highly recommend this to many people. I found this book and Ben's overall messages a refreshing needed reminder that it's worth taking the time to pause and despite all the messages surrounding us each day telling us that we have increasing reasons to feel contempt against "the other side," it is worth taking a minute to remember that not only do we share a lot in common but at the end of the day we need one another.
January 13, 2023
A fantastic set of learnings through personal and family stories with underlying tenets that we have all learned as children: dig a little further to find the truth (also known as the five why's and don't judge a book by its cover), history will repeat if we do not have a good grasp of the past, and the ever-important golden rule. Through these and the wisdom of his grandmother Mr. Jealous shares fantastic insights into what is keeping us apart, how we can think and begin to bridge some of those perceived (and sometimes real) gaps, and why the past is so critically important if we hope to effect real change in ourselves or our society. Not only the broader topics of "race" as we know it today but the insights into social isolationism - especially as we and our children recover from the COVID pandemic and separation from society as we knew it prior to 2020 - may have been surfaced in multiple other places in the recent past but have yet to be discussed with such clarity into potential root causes. Mr. Jealous enables everyone who reads this book to learn or remind ourselves of valuable life lessons surreptitiously as we read a series of fun and well written life stories.
August 12, 2024
In 1776, seven of my ancestors were on the battlefields of Massachusetts fighting for freedom, one was just fifteen with a fife and a musket. A little less than a century later, two of my ancestors born into slavery in Virginia rose to be state legislators and helped rebuild and reshape the Commonwealth after the Civil War. This book is in the spirit of their and their families’ collective determination to build a nation that can deliver the “blessings of liberty” to all its children.
What a amazing viewpoint into the condition of our country as we grapple again and again with racism and oppression of all marginalized communities. From Guam to Georgia, we are fighting a battle where the status quo can’t stand if we are all to be free. The author has a perch on a mountain where half of it was forged in American independence and the other half in slavery, and together hold a view of our country that resonated and informed and educated and made me think, cry, and laugh. Another must read of the year.
The force that drives us to recognize the human dignity of our fellow Americans, regardless of their color, ethnicity, or race, is a power older than our country itself. As a person of faith, I would say that force is divine. Julian Bond, who chose not to follow any religion and professed no belief in God, would say it’s just people recognizing the logic that his old professor Dr. King taught him at Morehouse: it’s always the right time to do the right thing.
That force motivated my grandma’s grandfather when he helped lead former slaves and former Confederates to assert their rights, to assert their children’s rights to a free education and their own rights to public higher education they could afford.
That force moved through the hand of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he finished his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and handed it to a White prison guard he urged to join the civil rights movement because the guard was so deeply underpaid.
That force ordered the mind of Bob Zellner’s father as he struggled for his own sanity. If we’re honest, it’s there in the hearts of each of us. It’s in the pages of the parables you read in this book. I hope the lessons stick.
There is a gravity within humanity that pulls our hearts toward each other, despite demagogues, terrorists, or even governments trying to split us apart and pit us against each other. That gravitational pull helped power the uprisings in Gloucester. It rippled through the ink when my distant cousin President Thomas Jefferson penned the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And again when he confessed, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
Simply put, America doesn’t just have the most incarcerated Black or Brown people on the planet, we also have the most incarcerated White people on the planet… A Black man in the United States today is three times more likely to be incarcerated than a Black man was in South Africa at the height of apartheid, when that country led the world in incarceration….It is also true that a White man in America today is almost as likely as the average Black man in South Africa, at the height of apartheid, to serve time behind bars.
We must speak freely from our hearts in the languages that tend to pull on the heart strings and unite most Americans. When we do so, we speak in terms of the values that unite our faiths (and people of goodwill who aren’t believers), the love we share for our neighbors and families, our abiding patriotism and belief that our nation has a great destiny, and the great American Dream that our children will be better off than us. In the process, we remind ourselves that even bigger than our own families there is a great American family to which we all belong. Faith, Love, Patriotism, Aspiration, are the love languages of the American heart.
Professor Fields’s short history of the rehearsals for American colonialism and slavery reminds us that much of what the Europeans did in the Americas, they first did to one another. And yet slavery in America evolved into a unique institution. Throughout European history, enslaved people were always seen as fellow humans of nationalities that had lost wars or had been otherwise targeted for subjugation. Populations were stereotyped, and oppressed through the institution, but never was their basic humanity denied.
When we allow racism to cloud our vision of the poor, more Americans suffer than most realize. A nation that imagines most of the poor to be Black loses sight of the Whites who actually make up most of the poor. In the process many White political leaders let millions of their White constituents go hungry every year.
I believe that we can ultimately be as in rhythm with one another as the musicians in any bluegrass band, weaving all of that European heritage, all of that African heritage, hints of Native American heritage, all together at once. Heck, the mouth harp ultimately goes back to Asia. We can be that “perfect example of the unity and dignity of the human family” that Frederick Douglass envisioned a century and a half ago. We’ve already achieved it in music in so many ways. And not just in bluegrass but in rock ’n’ roll, soul, R&B, country, and jazz. The music that defines our nation, all of it, is gospel, which is the harmony of all of us—of all of our traditions. A piano here, a banjo there, a West African rhythm here, a European melody there, all blended together. Hints of Asia and other places woven through. Native American drums. Jewish klezmer. It’s all right there.
What a amazing viewpoint into the condition of our country as we grapple again and again with racism and oppression of all marginalized communities. From Guam to Georgia, we are fighting a battle where the status quo can’t stand if we are all to be free. The author has a perch on a mountain where half of it was forged in American independence and the other half in slavery, and together hold a view of our country that resonated and informed and educated and made me think, cry, and laugh. Another must read of the year.
The force that drives us to recognize the human dignity of our fellow Americans, regardless of their color, ethnicity, or race, is a power older than our country itself. As a person of faith, I would say that force is divine. Julian Bond, who chose not to follow any religion and professed no belief in God, would say it’s just people recognizing the logic that his old professor Dr. King taught him at Morehouse: it’s always the right time to do the right thing.
That force motivated my grandma’s grandfather when he helped lead former slaves and former Confederates to assert their rights, to assert their children’s rights to a free education and their own rights to public higher education they could afford.
That force moved through the hand of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he finished his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and handed it to a White prison guard he urged to join the civil rights movement because the guard was so deeply underpaid.
That force ordered the mind of Bob Zellner’s father as he struggled for his own sanity. If we’re honest, it’s there in the hearts of each of us. It’s in the pages of the parables you read in this book. I hope the lessons stick.
There is a gravity within humanity that pulls our hearts toward each other, despite demagogues, terrorists, or even governments trying to split us apart and pit us against each other. That gravitational pull helped power the uprisings in Gloucester. It rippled through the ink when my distant cousin President Thomas Jefferson penned the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And again when he confessed, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
Simply put, America doesn’t just have the most incarcerated Black or Brown people on the planet, we also have the most incarcerated White people on the planet… A Black man in the United States today is three times more likely to be incarcerated than a Black man was in South Africa at the height of apartheid, when that country led the world in incarceration….It is also true that a White man in America today is almost as likely as the average Black man in South Africa, at the height of apartheid, to serve time behind bars.
We must speak freely from our hearts in the languages that tend to pull on the heart strings and unite most Americans. When we do so, we speak in terms of the values that unite our faiths (and people of goodwill who aren’t believers), the love we share for our neighbors and families, our abiding patriotism and belief that our nation has a great destiny, and the great American Dream that our children will be better off than us. In the process, we remind ourselves that even bigger than our own families there is a great American family to which we all belong. Faith, Love, Patriotism, Aspiration, are the love languages of the American heart.
Professor Fields’s short history of the rehearsals for American colonialism and slavery reminds us that much of what the Europeans did in the Americas, they first did to one another. And yet slavery in America evolved into a unique institution. Throughout European history, enslaved people were always seen as fellow humans of nationalities that had lost wars or had been otherwise targeted for subjugation. Populations were stereotyped, and oppressed through the institution, but never was their basic humanity denied.
When we allow racism to cloud our vision of the poor, more Americans suffer than most realize. A nation that imagines most of the poor to be Black loses sight of the Whites who actually make up most of the poor. In the process many White political leaders let millions of their White constituents go hungry every year.
I believe that we can ultimately be as in rhythm with one another as the musicians in any bluegrass band, weaving all of that European heritage, all of that African heritage, hints of Native American heritage, all together at once. Heck, the mouth harp ultimately goes back to Asia. We can be that “perfect example of the unity and dignity of the human family” that Frederick Douglass envisioned a century and a half ago. We’ve already achieved it in music in so many ways. And not just in bluegrass but in rock ’n’ roll, soul, R&B, country, and jazz. The music that defines our nation, all of it, is gospel, which is the harmony of all of us—of all of our traditions. A piano here, a banjo there, a West African rhythm here, a European melody there, all blended together. Hints of Asia and other places woven through. Native American drums. Jewish klezmer. It’s all right there.
March 16, 2023
This is a well-crafted book with stories that are real and very gripping. Ben introducing Bernie to a very white crowd in the Ozarks... Ben learning what his 103 year old Grandma meant by the title... Ben learning what his grandma's grandpa did to build South Carolina alliances with a former Confederate general post-Reconstruction...
Ben talking with openness about race, "race mixing," etc with lightness, depth, and power. His section about his father healing the men who battered women... and how it nearly sent his father over the edge to bring that weight home is a section I am particularly xeroxing. Also xeroxing his father's answer on why white folks need to fight racism and sexism... of course!
TY to Ben and all who helped this book happen.
Ben talking with openness about race, "race mixing," etc with lightness, depth, and power. His section about his father healing the men who battered women... and how it nearly sent his father over the edge to bring that weight home is a section I am particularly xeroxing. Also xeroxing his father's answer on why white folks need to fight racism and sexism... of course!
TY to Ben and all who helped this book happen.
January 13, 2023
This book is worth reading and couldn’t come at the right time. I find myself having conversations over and over again why as a country we all can’t get along. Politically racially divided. Ben addresses in his book his own life experiences starting from his family his thoughts and where he is today.
As a biracial woman born and raised in NYC I understood similar experiences. I believe his book can shed some light on racial tension and act like like we’re all almost the same.
It’s time to move forward not behind
As a biracial woman born and raised in NYC I understood similar experiences. I believe his book can shed some light on racial tension and act like like we’re all almost the same.
It’s time to move forward not behind
Read
February 8, 2023This is a wonderful book. I loved Ben’s search for truth that is so consequential in our times. It is informative and healing.
I especially appreciate his tribute to his family and the foundation that they built that has enabled transformational change.
Ben’s journey is compelling and reminds us that ours is as
well and that what be believe in and stand for and what we do matters
I am personally grateful for this book and the love, truth
and hope that it reflects..,
I especially appreciate his tribute to his family and the foundation that they built that has enabled transformational change.
Ben’s journey is compelling and reminds us that ours is as
well and that what be believe in and stand for and what we do matters
I am personally grateful for this book and the love, truth
and hope that it reflects..,
August 10, 2023
“Baby, its true. Pessimists are right more often, but optimists win more often. In this life, you have to decide what’s more important to you. As for me, I’ll take winning.”
Nice read. To me this quote encapsulates the idea of this book. We’ve got a rough history. But there’s no need to ignore it or give up because of it. This book offers a different view, a view of hope. There’s potential to be a great nation still, by acknowledging our past and uniting together. Still, there’s work to do.
Nice read. To me this quote encapsulates the idea of this book. We’ve got a rough history. But there’s no need to ignore it or give up because of it. This book offers a different view, a view of hope. There’s potential to be a great nation still, by acknowledging our past and uniting together. Still, there’s work to do.
February 15, 2025
I liked how this was like storytelling, about events in his life , his family, history of Blavk people in America, but they all came together to tell his particular story of activism, and how his family contributed to his activism. It’s about living
, loving your neighbor, and that even when people have opposite convictions, it is possible for them to get together and solve problems
, loving your neighbor, and that even when people have opposite convictions, it is possible for them to get together and solve problems
February 7, 2024
Every single American adult should read this. And it should be required reading for every student in every school in America and then discussed in class. To paraphrase the old saying, "walk a mile in Ben's shoes, and the people of which he tells the true stories."
February 22, 2024
I was stunned to learn some powerful lessons in organizing across unlikely allies and genius alignment of self interest of black and white folks in the south. Overall a wonderful read and more informative for my work than I expected going in.
January 11, 2023
Insightful. Impactful. Thought-provoking. Required reading for anyone with a soul and will to reshape America.
January 23, 2023
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Told in a series of parables, stories of injustice are both heartbreaking and inspiring.
Told in a series of parables, stories of injustice are both heartbreaking and inspiring.
February 13, 2023
I wil write a review on this book later.
February 18, 2023
Very thought-provoking book, with some surprises throughout. Well-written and engaging.
February 25, 2023
Such an excellent book. Highly recommended for all. Ben Jealous is an American treasure. Amazing stories, so well-written.
September 27, 2023
The stories in this book are wild. Ben's an engaging story teller, and the parables woven into the essays are really valuable.
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