Nigger - Dick Gregory

Rating: 3 stars

Shelf: 2012

Published in 1964 - a year after the church bombing in Birmingham - Dick Gregory's memoir was one about civil rights before civil rights was even fully realized. 

Broken into three parts,  Gregory begins at the beginning, his life as a 'broke, not poor kid' on relief with an absent father and a mother who works herself to her death to keep her children well. It's very clear just how much of an impact Gregory's mother had on his life - her positive attitude in the face of many adversities and her insistence that she and her children face every day with a smile certainly made Dick Gregory into the man that he was. 

From a kid on relief, to a track star, to a famous comedian - Dick Gregory dreamed big. Growing up and leaving him forced him to face his black and segregated reality. He was no longer a kid on relief - a problem that had a solution, however far away - he was a black individual - a problem that shouldn't have been. In the last part of the novel, Gregory talks about his work with the civil rights movement. He talks to his long deceased mother at the end - "We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it, either. I'm going to be an American citizen. First class." 

Unique because it was written in the midst of change rather than after it, Nigger ("When we're through, Momma, there won't be any niggers any more."), captures the raw emotion and unbelievable inequalities that were America's past. It isn't an historical account, yet it is. "This is a revolution. It started long before I came into it, and I may die before it's over, but we'll bust this thing and cut out this cancer. America will be as strong and beautiful as it should be, for black folks and white folks. We'll all be free then, free from a system that makes a man less than a man, that teaches hate and fear and ignorance." 

I didn't know Dick Gregory, prior to picking up this book and reading it. Though, to do a quick search shows that he's still incredibly active and is often interviewed concerning political matters. He was the first black comedian to entertain an all white audience and he was known for his ability to joke, yet also speak intelligently, about politics and racial inequalities without coming off as preachy or bitter. I actually like the man a lot more watching him through the clips I was able to find, watching him speak - seeing how engaging he was. How quick witted he was. And there were moments in his book when I loved him - found him to be earnest and endearing. But there were also moments when I didn't understand and didn't agree with his actions.

For example, he writes about losing his infant son. On the night before a protest, Gregory had a premonition of death, and, since he was going into "battle" he was sure it was his own. Instead it was his son's. To shock his wife out of her grief, that very same night, he explains to her that perhaps God wanted it this way, because Dick Gregory got to go on and fight another day for equality. And if she had to choose, him or the baby, to die - who would she have chose? 

That just seemed horrible to me. And there were a few other strange, grand-stand-y type admissions from Gregory throughout the memoir. I couldn't help but wonder if the tone at these moments was there to cover up his own grief and guilt. 

In the end, I think, this is probably one of the most important books I'll have read this year. The most important book I think anyone could probably read. To be shown a glimpse of what was as if it currently is. To be reminded to behave as an American. First class.