Black & Free - Tom Skinner

BLACK & FREE - TOM SKINNER

Well, to say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I'm underwhelmed, and it all started off so promisingly. From the title 'Black & Free' and the front cover picture in almost dayglo pink and blue of black men facing off gun-toting National Guardsmen. From the introductory first few pages describing a rumble in Harlem between rival gangs wielding bicycle chains, bottles, knuckledusters, and lead balls in socks. All good stuff but by page 26, however, the author is talking about Jesus and Christianity and it's suddenly one of those Talking Heads moments where you might ask yourself 'How did I get here?'

It turns out that author Tom Skinner is a Baptist minister and Black & Free is his memoir. Doh! as Homer Simpson would say. I've nothing against the author personally, of course - how could I, he's probably been dead for years - but the story of how he came to accept Jesus Christ into his life is not what I'm after. In fact, I couldn't give a flying fucking fuck, to be frank.

Written in 1968 at a time when the barricades were going up in Paris, when Vietnam was a slaughterhouse, and revolution and emancipation was on the agenda along had come Tom Skinner - self-proclaimed peoples' prophet - declaring that all the problems of the world, all the social injustice, prejudice and oppression was all down to the sin in the hearts of men. Live and let live and each to one's own but as Patti Smith once advised, Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine so you can stuff such ideas as 'original sin' where they belong in the dustbin of history or better still up your arse.

'Forgive them, for they know not what they do' is the reply. So the crusaders, the ministers and all the soldiers of Christ are right and I'm wrong. Which is a bit presumptuous, is it not? A bit arrogant? A bit overbold? To believe and then exclaim that you're right and everyone else is wrong isn't 'faith'. It's self-idolatry and it's the seed of prejudice that when pronounced as a sin in others goes unrecognized in the self because it also serves as a blacked-out mirror. 

'Love does not come naturally. Love is not part of human nature. It is not in the nature and desire of man to love instead of to hate. That type of life can only be produced by the person of Jesus Christ,' the author says. But I beg to differ. And actually, this is a fundamental building block of a person's worldview that dictates their course through life. Personally, I'm with Kropotkin and the idea that man is a naturally social creature and the key to his welfare and survival is through co-operation, mutual aid and altruism. It's obvious. If it wasn't then we'd all be out in the streets killing each other, or at least absolutely despising each other. 

What a horrible life it must be to believe that man is naturally hateful? No wonder anyone thinking this might turn to Jesus for salvation. For sanctuary. For a crutch.

I bought Black & Free on the strength of its cover and the series of photos enclosed within its pages showing the ghettoes of America in flames during the race riots of the Sixties but on reading it found myself caught-up in the tortured fantasies of a Baptist minister. I wanted revolution and the Black Panthers but found myself being told it's better to suck it up and to turn the other cheek. 

Well, thank you for the advice. But no thanks.

John Serpico