It’s Gonna Make you Think - Book Review - Forty Acres by Dwayne Alexander Smith

From the onset of this book review I will tell you that this will make you look at history in a very different concept. It will pull at your humanity, it will have you thinking about things in a manner that you have never challenged yourself before. As a rule of thumb I like to read the back of the books to see if this is something I want to explore, I look at reviews but with all my process there was something that kept leading me back to this book.

I knew it would be a thriller which I love by the way, so I knew that it would have some twists and turns. Now for me to be clear, I will not give away all the details but I can assure you that the moral questions in the book will change your thinking forever.

Martin Gray is a successful attorney living that black and bougie life. He has a practice in Queens and is doing quite well for himself. He is married to Anna who also has a career as a nurse. By all eyes this is an example of a power couple living the life of riches that include good friends and business partners who are white.

Martin met some new friends. These friends are black, bougie and just as successful as Martin if not more successful. By all accounts Martin is able to connect with these new friends simply because they are skinfolk, he now feels he has a group of brothers who are down for the cause just like he is and he doesn’t need to feel like he is not culturally connected based on this new group. One of the amazing finds in the book is the talk about ancestry, the book does a good job of connecting black folk to their ancestral history to Afrika. It is determined that Martin is a direct descendant to the Zanto Tribe in which the book provides a historical account of how the tribe was wiped out and how his existence is so important to why he was invited to this very elite private party. Martin is excited about the possibilities despite his hesitation and gut feeling that something is off.

Upon arrival at the resort, Martin notices that he is not on a river rafting trip. He is at an exclusive club but the one thing that is peculiar is the staff is all white. Now given that there are still all white country clubs this poses nothing strange to Martin he simply sees it as an exclusive club and one of the aspects is the staff is white. The Country Club is breathtaking, the book describes in great detail how immaculate the club looks and one of the book giveaways is that the grounds are described as a typical plantation but it has been modernized and upscaled.

No matter what you feel, the descriptions in the book will take you directly back to an era of pain and suffering. Maybe it was the author’s goal to take the reader back in time and have the reader really feel some of the most horrific time in history. Dr. Kasaim (the Hotep Psychologist) goes on to tell Martin about why his ancestry is important and that he is the only one who can help him with his disease. This disease is described as “Black Noise”. Now at no time in the book does the good Doctor include women in having this disease nor does he do anything to address women in fact this club is exclusively for men , black men only.

Black Noise is described as the noise and programming black men hear when around white people. The need to become their protector even though they have committed some of the most heinous crimes against black people and continue to commit these crimes. This Black Noise drowns out the loyalty to race, the desire to unify and most importantly the ability to be self determined as a race by doing for self. Dr. Kasaim offers Martin the opportunity to free himself from this Black Noise if he is willing to open his mind. Now you know at this point in the book you're wanting Martin to go the extra mile cause you want to know how he can be free from Black Noise because to some degree the explanation makes you think and in some regard there is a level of belief to the concept. Black people have been in a fight with America since the arrival of the first Ancestors, this war continues to this day. So to read a book that gives a name to what we feel was in some aspects celebratory but it really offered validation to the ever growing, ever constant Black Noise that black people feel on a regular basis.

During this time of listening to Dr. Kasaim’s description, he offers foundational purpose of why he has become the expert on this dilemma black men suffer from, he goes on to tell a heartbreaking story of how he was wronged by a white slave owner, his land stolen from him by the son of the slave owner and it is at this point you start to realize that the all white staff could be part of a revenge plot that satisfies Dr. Kasaim’s need to be in control of white people. Although Martin thinks this is one of the most ridiculous plans ever executed he can’t help but see the great detail that went into executing an elaborate scheme like this, kidnapping descendants of slave owners and forcing them into slavery.

At the onset of this book it’s natural to say this is absurd, silly, a crime against humanity but as a black person are you telling me that it wouldn’t cross your mind in the least little bit. I mean let’s think about it, the opportunity to give white descendants of slave owners a small fraction of what they dispensed isn’t intriguing in the least little bit.

I found myself resonating with concepts of Dr. Kasaim’s philosophy, I found myself agreeing with levels of what he proposed especially his mentorship he offered the men, wanting to know how they were providing opportunities for the community, the leadership in the home, and especially the mentorship to see more black men successful. The downside to the concept in parallel to today there was nothing for the average man, this was all set for the exclusive black man, the black and bougie.

Throughout the book Martin begins to set in motion an elaborate plan where he is trying to convince his friends, show his loyalty to Dr. Kasaim and figure out what is really happening within the compound. By the time Martin puts together all of his wanderings you guessed it this is a typical plantation and the difference is white people are the slaves. The book leaves nothing to imagination, all the torture that can be thought up is happening at the compound. But the justification is where I feel the author is striking at the reader, especially black readers. The opportunity to turn the tables, give them a dose of their medicine is where the author is going and in honesty it does make you say hmm a victory even if you disagree you feel some level of vindication for our Ancestors who suffered and paid the ultimate price.

Now I’m sure you know a protagonist in the book has to save somebody. Yes Martin is the Captain Save (you get the rest). He fakes it all the way to his initiation, he even participates in the whipping of a woman to prove his loyalty. He then executes his plan to save the slaves and escape himself. To no degree does the author disappoint, he has you literally talking outloud to the book because you know they're gonna kill Martin, and his wife who is no short of Nancy Drew herself. I’m not gonna give it all away because I believe you need to read it for yourself.

I will say this: ask yourself these questions, given the opportunity to turn the tables and give white descendants of slave owners a dose of the medicine they gave to our Ancestors. Are you telling me it wouldn’t even be a thought in your mind? You wouldn't want to engage on the smallest level? No matter what you feel, it’s human to want some level of revenge whether right or wrong, the feelings will be there. Keep in mind for black people its the acknowledgement. Critical Race Theory is a fight for our history to exist and exist in a manner that is not changed and whitewashed to be inconsistent and incorrect. Acknowledgement that the greatest travesty happened on America’s soil and it happened to a people who still suffer from its effects.

Acknowledgement that just like the Holocaust the Enslavement of Afrikans will forever be in our culture and there is no getting over it. There is no theory that says it was just stories, there is no book that can make you think it didn’t happen, and there is no movie that will ever display the horror our Ancestors endured. It is acknowledgement that makes you think and be the type of person who is not just living to be politically correct., but a person who can admit that history still has an effect and instead of finding terms to describe one’s feelings, how about acknowledging them and allowing for that individual to heal in their own cultural time. If this took place there would be little agreement with books like this in fact the only reason why this book has some level of romance around the idea is because there is little to no acknowledgement around what took place historically thus black people are forever in a state of proving their existence. We had to prove we were human and deserved humane treatment then and we still are fighting that same fight now. Being black is not a theory, it’s not a race, group, marginalized people, being black is a state of being an honor, a celebration to our ever evolving culture, history, and traditions. Many of us know from whence we came and have a road map to whence we are going. Allow us the opportunity to enjoy literary content that does not have to be politically correct, allow us the ability to enjoy this content without the feeling of shame because in the rooms where it's just you and Olodumare - you wouldn’t admit in public but there are parts of you who will resonate privately. For those of you who are not black, be open to learning why there is pain and why black people can resonate with the concept of Black Noise even if it is fictional, allow yourself the opportunity to really get it because black people are tired of explaining it after all haven’t we had these hard conservations enough?

I invite you to Aspire to Inspire