Spring Break
D.C.'s 'Big Read' choice sparks controversy
Sophia Adem/Contributing Writer
Issue date: 4/27/08 Section: Neighborhood
One discussion to be held on May 4 at Busboys and Poets is called "Race, Money and Class." It will start at 4 p.m. at its Washington, D.C. location.
McElvene and Hurston/Wright are partnering with the IKG Cultural Resource Center, an organization that promotes the discovery of historic African culture, to host a counter discussion on the novel. The discussion forum entitled, "The American Dream and the Racial Divide of the 1920's and Today" has a tentative schedule for May 21st at 7:00 pm in the Thurgood Marshall Center located at 1816 12th Street, NW.
The panelist at the discussion will include African-American historians, authors, and culture activists. They will talk about the racist comments of the novel and the social conditions of African Americans during the time period of The Great Gatsby.
"I cannot fault them. They are supporting literacy, but we are going to piggyback off them and tell another side to the story," said Anthony Browder, founder of IKG Cultural Resource Center. "There are two Americas, a white America and a black America."
"The Great Gatsby is a novel that has racist elements in it and as a person of black decent, I was taken aback after the reading the novel," Boston retorted. "But, you have to ask yourself, 'Is the novel eye opening in terms of how the characters think and see things?' You can get a heads up in the novel or get a real slap across the face in real life. The novel exposes us to real characters that believed that. It reveals a certain type of people that we would not come across in real life. That is the knowledge part of reading."
For more information on The Big Read, visit any D.C. public libraries or visit www.neabigread.org. For more information on the panel discussion on race, contact the Hurston/Wright Foundation at 301-683-2134.
McElvene and Hurston/Wright are partnering with the IKG Cultural Resource Center, an organization that promotes the discovery of historic African culture, to host a counter discussion on the novel. The discussion forum entitled, "The American Dream and the Racial Divide of the 1920's and Today" has a tentative schedule for May 21st at 7:00 pm in the Thurgood Marshall Center located at 1816 12th Street, NW.
The panelist at the discussion will include African-American historians, authors, and culture activists. They will talk about the racist comments of the novel and the social conditions of African Americans during the time period of The Great Gatsby.
"I cannot fault them. They are supporting literacy, but we are going to piggyback off them and tell another side to the story," said Anthony Browder, founder of IKG Cultural Resource Center. "There are two Americas, a white America and a black America."
"The Great Gatsby is a novel that has racist elements in it and as a person of black decent, I was taken aback after the reading the novel," Boston retorted. "But, you have to ask yourself, 'Is the novel eye opening in terms of how the characters think and see things?' You can get a heads up in the novel or get a real slap across the face in real life. The novel exposes us to real characters that believed that. It reveals a certain type of people that we would not come across in real life. That is the knowledge part of reading."
For more information on The Big Read, visit any D.C. public libraries or visit www.neabigread.org. For more information on the panel discussion on race, contact the Hurston/Wright Foundation at 301-683-2134.
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