When you get woke, you gotta get up, too
Caribbean Life, Oct. 2-8, 2020 23
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
You’re beat down.
Tired, ready to rest, just
plain done. So much racism,
so many politicians doing so
many things. You’re wiped,
laid low with no more go, and
you’re not sure you have the
energy for more of this. But
there’s hope for the hopeless,
a lift for the fallen, and
in “Rise Up” by Reverend Al
Sharpton, there’s reason to
keep on.
We are being tested.
It’s happening now, Sharpton
says, in a way that we’ve
never seen. We’re poked by
haters every day, prodded by
evildoers. The nation is at
a “crossroads” and work is
being done to “make America
great” but not for everybody.
This has to change.
Democracy, says Sharpton,
is not perfect but it really is
the best of all political practices.
To make it work now,
we need and “deserve” strong
leadership that isn’t racist
or homophobic, misogynistic,
or against immigration
or voter’s rights. It’s what
we must have to preserve
democracy – and yet, he says,
in the last four years, we’ve
gone from a transformational
leader who embraced
diversity to one that’s transactional,
and does not. The
former allowed a cultural
shift that many in the Black
community enjoyed. With
the latter, we seem to have
backtracked.
That came as no surprise
to Sharpton: he’s known
Donald Trump for decades,
has met with him numerous
times on various projects.
He knows him as just a guy
from Queens, a deal-maker,
just another politician
Sharpton’s acquainted with.
He’s known a lot of politicians:
King, Obama, Mandela,
Clinton. Shirley Chisolm,
whom he sweetly calls “Mrs.
C.” He’s known celebrities,
too: James Brown was like
a father to Sharpton. Aretha
Franklin was a friend.
Moving forward, he says,
we must ask white allies to
step aside and make room for
Black leaders in issues where
Black lives are most affected.
Black activists shouldn’t
ignore the fight for LGBTQ
rights because they, too, are
human rights – as are issues
of climate change. And as for
staying “woke,” remember
that waking up means getting
up, too…
Let’s start here: Reverend
Al Sharpton doesn’t have
very much good to say about
Donald Trump. If you’re
familiar with Sharpton, you
already knew this was coming
– but “Rise Up” offers
some background that happened
between the two, and
they’re great stories.
That’s a lot of what you’ll
get inside this book, in fact:
stories, and they mix in with
Sharpton’s observations and
thoughts so well that it’s
easy to be lulled into the telling.
No worries: like any good
preacher does, he happily
yanks your attention back to
the pulpit, to racism, voter’s
rights, and politics. True to
what you’d expect, Sharpton
isn’t shy, and he’ll make
readers who are Black, white,
and brown think, hard, about
today’s issues.
Don’t be surprised to see
a somewhat gentler version
of Reverend Sharpton in this
book – gentler, but no less
fierce. Don’t be surprised if
this book sparks conversation
and action. Now go: you’ve
got time, read it before the
election, and “Rise Up” won’t
let you down.
“Rise Up: Confronting
a Country at the Crossroads”
by Reverend Al
Sharpton
c.2020, Hanover
Square Press $27.99 /
$34.99
Canada
288 pages
Book cover of “Rise Up” by Rev. Al Sharpton.
“Rise Up” author Rev. Al
Sharpton. Michael Frost