• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Life, Breath, and Death: Michael Eric Dyson’s ‘Long Time Coming’ as Elegy and Call to Action

February 28, 2021 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Michael Eric Dyson's "Long Time Coming: Reckoning With Race in America" is published by St. Martin's Press. (© FlaglerLive)
Michael Eric Dyson’s “Long Time Coming: Reckoning With Race in America” is published by St. Martin’s Press. (© FlaglerLive)

By Kashif Andrew Graham

“I can’t breathe.” Michael Eric Dyson’s Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America focuses on life, breath, and death, particularly regarding Black bodies. The book is centered around those recently departed — George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade — as well as others now in line for Black sainthood: Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Clementa Pinckney, Michael Brown. The question then remains — who to beatify them?




Dyson takes up the task in chapters which serve as both elegies and letters to the slain: “Dear Elijah McClain, I write to you out of profound grief.” And the beatification begins.

The letters also illustrate, perhaps to the dismay of readers, that not much has changed. In the first chapter, Dyson writes to Emmett Till, telling him of the murders of Medgar Evers and, more recently, George Floyd. With compassionate and paternal language, Dyson brings us back to Till’s grave. He addresses Till as “a beautiful boy” and highlights the way he was robbed not only of his life, but of Black boyhood — an all too common occurrence. Dyson also adeptly uses Till as co-preacher. He and Till together turn to white readers with the demystifying statement: “[T]here is a great deal more heartbreak and tumult that you haven’t seen behind what you are now finally beginning to see.” In this way, Dyson enjoins those newly “woke” to approach social justice work with humility.

chapter 16Dyson’s prowess as a skilled public theologian is especially evident in the second chapter, “Blue Plague.” Here he writes to Eric Garner, recounting both Garner’s 2014 death at the hands of police and that of George Floyd. Dyson analyzes Floyd’s murder through the lens of automortology, a narration of one’s own death. Considering, forensically, Floyd’s final words, Dyson boldly draws comparison to those of Jesus Christ; he likens Floyd’s “You can ask him, they know me” to Christ’s “… they know not what they do.” And the parallel narrows: Floyd cries out, “God, man … Why is this going on like this?” while Jesus wails, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And finally, Dyson concludes, they both give up the ghost: “I’m through, I’m through” is resonant of “It is finished.”

Each chapter is also named for various facets of Black, and thus American, oppression. For instance, the third chapter, “White Theft,” is formulated as a letter to Breonna Taylor. Dyson interweaves the history of American slavery, highlighting the manner in which the vestiges of this institution continue to oppress African Americans economically and to subjugate their bodies. But this recounting does not go without the joy note — Dyson also tells of Black resistance to slavery and Jim Crow through rebellion, protest, and the court system.




Dyson, who joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University this year, is an ordained minister and writes with sermonic elan, but the book avoids religious dogma. The knowledge of America’s original sin remains before the reader from prelude to postlude, but not without the awareness that Dyson is co-laborer toward the necessary reform. Beyond this, the language is accessible to a wide audience and offers a healthy launch pad for newcomers to the world of social justice. Pithy epitaphs from literary and historical figures head each of the seven chapters and serve to prime the reader for the eloquence to come.

Activists, acolytes, and academics alike will draw strength and clarity from Long Time Coming, but so will the laity. This book is for those who are just beginning to see; for those who are seeking to reignite the fire, following the protests of 2020; for those who seek historical context for their passion; and for those who are coming, as is said in the Black church, from a mighty long way.

Kashif Andrew Graham is a writer and theological librarian. He enjoys writing poetry on his collection of vintage typewriters. He is currently at work on a novel about an interracial gay couple living in East Tennessee. This first appeared in Chapter 16.

Support FlaglerLive's End of Year Fundraiser
Thank you readers for getting us to--and past--our year-end fund-raising goal yet again. It’s a bracing way to mark our 15th year at FlaglerLive. Our donors are just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who seek us out for the best-reported, most timely, trustworthy, and independent local news site anywhere, without paywall. FlaglerLive is free. Fighting misinformation and keeping democracy in the sunshine 365/7/24 isn’t free. Take a brief moment, become a champion of fearless, enlightening journalism. Any amount helps. We’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible.  
You may donate openly or anonymously.
We like Zeffy (no fees), but if you prefer to use PayPal, click here.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Conner Bosch law attorneys lawyers offices palm coast flagler county
  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Ed Danko, Former Vice-Mayor PC on Judge France Signs Order Against Palm Coast Mayor Norris, Ending Attempt to Unseat Gambaro
  • JimboXYZ on Pier Construction Update: Parking Zone for 3 Blocks around the Pier Will Be Eliminated
  • Deborah Coffey on Pier Construction Update: Parking Zone for 3 Blocks around the Pier Will Be Eliminated
  • Deborah Coffey on Data Center Planned for 2028 in Palm Coast Cloaked in More Secrecy and Undocumented Boasts than Answers
  • Shawn on 5 Felony Charges for Palm Coast IT Administrator Accused of Launching Cyber Attack on His Company After He’s Fired
  • Big Mike on Data Center Planned for 2028 in Palm Coast Cloaked in More Secrecy and Undocumented Boasts than Answers
  • JimboXYZ on Flagler OARS Offers Free Narcan Distribution Kiosks for Local Businesses
  • KMedley on Judge France Signs Order Against Palm Coast Mayor Norris, Ending Attempt to Unseat Gambaro
  • Matt on 5 Felony Charges for Palm Coast IT Administrator Accused of Launching Cyber Attack on His Company After He’s Fired
  • Sherry on Welcoming Immigrants, Detroit Ends Decades of Population Declines
  • Bo Peep on Pier Construction Update: Parking Zone for 3 Blocks around the Pier Will Be Eliminated
  • Ed P on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, July 10, 2025
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, July 10, 2025
  • John on Pier Construction Update: Parking Zone for 3 Blocks around the Pier Will Be Eliminated
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, July 11, 2025
  • Ray W, on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, July 11, 2025

Log in