... a profound and lyrical meditation on race, class, justice and their intersections with art ... her sons are 22 and 23, and one of its most intimate and moving passages expresses her fear for their safety, as members of the generation she has christened ... When Dr. King gazed upon the...National Mall, transformed into a sea of radical hope, in the crowd was a baby [Alexander] being nurtured to witness and one day testify on behalf of the struggle for Black equality and self-determination. As much as this magnificent book is anything else, it’s a commitment to that generous and crucial life’s work.
... in Elizabeth Alexander’s beautiful, relevant book, The Trayvon Generation, the poet redefines the proximity of Black identity to loss as an opportunity to create new rituals and a new paradigm ... Alexander is focused both on memory, recollecting parts of ourselves and psyches, and also on repair and replenishing through a shift in perspective, helped along by the beautiful art from a range of artists including Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker throughout. The work of Black artists in these pages elevates the conversation at the heart of the book ... Like a prose poem, The Trayvon Generation is deceptively succinct even as it humanizes our needlessly dead, the incarcerated, the many survivors of instantiations of Black inferiority. The book offers wisdom, reflection, and reportage with a crystalline precision infused with a powerful, elegant empathy ... This is one dazzling, beautiful aspect of The Trayvon Generation; joy as an act of resistance.
How do you mark your pages when you read a book? Whatever you use, have a lot of them on hand because nearly every other paragraph of The Trayvon Generation contains a sentence or three that you’ll want to remember, to reread, or turn over in your mind ... Author Elizabeth Alexander uses personal stories, Black literature, history, racial violence, and current events to paint pain inside the pages of this book. There’s outrage here, too, but it’s different than perhaps anything you’ve read: it shows itself, then it sits back and waits to see what a reader will do before getting another punch or gasp, another George Floyd, another Angola, another 'shock of delayed comprehension' ... That’s what makes this book so must-readable, so thoughtful and compelling. It’s what makes it something you’ll want to share with your older teenager and your friends, for discussion. Find The Trayvon Generation, and you won’t miss a thing.
... expands like a blanket of rain across a parched horizon ... This prose is a gorgeous elegy. Among the sorrow of The Trayvon Generation are also songs of hope and a promise that freedom comes closer with the rising of each new day. As the struggle for racial justice and equality continues, we can all hold this brilliant, pocket-sized book as essential reading to help guide us through the dark.
Alexander...eloquently writes about the importance of bearing witness to the violence directed against Black people in the United States ... Alexander deftly touches on many other important topics related to violence against Black people, by examining how American society normalizes white supremacy ... What is most striking is the way Alexander incorporates the value of public art, poetry, dance, and writing as central to memorializing and commemorating Black history and events ... A very moving short book that seeks to challenge readers’ assumptions about American society; highly recommended for all libraries and for reading groups.
Poet and memoirist Alexander...deftly blends family history and cultural criticism in this bittersweet essay collection on race, memory, and memorialization ... Alexander is a thoughtful and eloquent chronicler of racial anxiety and pain ... Illuminated and illustrated with poetry and art by Lucille Clifton, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, and many more, Alexander’s piercing inquiry merits a place in the ongoing social justice conversation.
... vigorous and inspiring ... By capturing the rich spectrum of Black culture in America, Alexander offers hope and instruction for younger generations. The result is a thought-provoking must-read.
An artful book-length essay on generational trauma in Black youth ... Alexander...depicts in sharp relief the realities of living as a Black youth in today’s America. In this short yet poignant book, the author notes the ways in which Black people have always been marginalized ... At its core, this is a powerful treatise on the humanity of Black Americans and how it has been denied, how generations of people have persisted despite that fact, and how it continues to be one of the most pressing issues we face as a nation. A dynamic critique on the sprawling effects of racism and its effects on today’s youth.
