Need help finding 1960s Black Counter-culture book

[Hereward]

Hi, I read a book some years ago and now need to reference it for a work I am doing, but have forgotten its name and the name of the author.

It is extremely difficult to find because it does not fit into the current political discourse.

It is by a black writer, and is chiefly about race relations. It talks about, for instance, interracial sexual dynamics. It has a very 1960s non-PC tone, sort of like other underground radical works such as Ringolevio, though it is largely nonfiction.

Another question would be if you know anywhere where people might be more likely to know about such subject areas, as this forum is pretty old-school literature?

Thanks!

[YesNo]

Have you checked your university library? Some decades ago I remember going through microfilms of alternative or "underground" publications from the 1960s. So I think what you are looking for has been archived somewhere.

[Calidore]

Depending where you live, a used book store may help. Many of them will have beat/counterculture sections.

[tailor STATELY]

Sounds like "Soul On Ice" by Eldridge Cleaver... I read it for a sociology class back in 1972 at university... ( might still have it somewhere ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_On_Ice_(book)

Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75162.Soul_on_Ice (also links to Amazon and some other suggested books).

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Red Terror]

Soul on Ice was also my first guess. But, it could also be Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth. Or Huey Newton's Revolutionary Suicide or Bobby Seale's Seizing the Time.

Check out www.revleft.com for a more leftist community.

[Hereward]

Thanks, it's not soul on ice, it's not by any of the big names. I genuinely think it's unfindable as even though it's from the 60s 'left' to an extent, no leftist would read it or publicise it today as it doesn't fit into the left discourse on race.

[Hereward]

On looking it up, Soul on Ice does contain similar ideas, though the book I was looking for was not rape-centred. Almost fulfils the request though, thanks!

[Red Terror]

On looking it up, Soul on Ice does contain similar ideas, though the book I was looking for was not rape-centred. Almost fulfils the request though, thanks!

We could help you find the book you are looking for but we need more clues. Think back and try to remember anything from the table of contents or if you remember any particular phrase.

[Red Terror]

Could it be: Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson

[YesNo]

Thanks, it's not soul on ice, it's not by any of the big names. I genuinely think it's unfindable as even though it's from the 60s 'left' to an extent, no leftist would read it or publicise it today as it doesn't fit into the left discourse on race.

What were the ideas that would not be popular today?

[Hereward]

Red Terror: I have contacted my friend who owned the book and he says 'Soul on Ice' was around at the time, so it probably was that. I think I had just read the second half which I understand contain letters to his lawyer; most content reviews just mention the contents of the first half.

YesNo: It is not a matter of popularity, it is a matter of 'difficult' or controversial discourse. Basically, as you know, the far right have surged in popularity recently. A central part of the most racist and extreme factions of the far right is the discourse of the 'threat to the white woman' or 'threat to the white race' (in terms of reproduction). This discourse is of course reacted to by the press and mainstream society by repressing it with ridicule or by simply ignoring it.

Eldridge Cleaver's book 'Soul on Ice' directly describes him targeting white women for rape, for political purposes. Even more significantly, given he repudiates this conduct, I believe according to my memory that in the latter part of the book he describes a socio-sexual theory whereby the 'destined partner' of the white woman is the black man and the 'destined partner' of the black woman is the white man.

Therefore a book like this would seem, on the face of it, to provide justification to the racist right. But do not worry, I will not use it for that purpose. I believe that the healing of racial discord requires things to be in the open, resolved and discussed, not repressed.

[YesNo]

So it is a dream of making everybody the same by forced interbreeding through rape. How do you plan to heal racial discord by discussing this?

[Hereward]

I don't believe that is the content of the book, no. He describes a personal history of rape that he repudiates. Then, AFTER that, he describes a racial theory of characteristics and behaviour, and how that leads to inevitable dynamics.

This is an example of racialised thinking that could easily be classified as racism. But it is part of the current left dogma that only white people are capable of racism - or/and that only white racism has an effect on lives in terms of 'power'.

Therefore the example Soul on Ice is a useful counter-example to this dogma. Breaking this dogma is one of my purposes, along with others, because I believe the imbalance of it causes harm. I'm not studying the book beyond that.

[YesNo]

What "inevitable dynamics"? Something that is inevitable has a cause underlying it. What is that cause?

I agree with you that white people are not the only ones capable of racism. However, if current left dogma views that as the case, then leftists holding those dogmas are themselves racist against white people. Exposing that racism might be valuable, but in my personal experience leftists have always been accusing each other of racism or sexism or whatever other ism they can throw at each other even going back to those Soul on Ice days.

I do think we will get more politics of alienation especially as the fifth wave of this bull market tops and turns down. Should that occur, bringing up issues of rape of one group against the other will justify further isolation.

[Hereward]

Yeah, I'm not sure people can be divided any more than they already are. Have you seen it out there? I believe that a lot of issues surrounding these areas are repressed which makes things alot worse.

I'm actually from a radical left background, and there is a different left tradition which is not judgemental at all.

[YesNo]

I don't understand your political position, Hereward, and why you need something like "Soul on Ice" to present it. Just one note: Even though Cleaver "repudiates" his "personal history of rape", that doesn't mean he has been forgiven by a larger audience.