The Wind in the Reeds is an emotional and deeply heartfelt testament to the truth, goodness and beauty the author has experienced in his life. The author is Wendell Pierce, apparently, a well known African American actor. His biggest roles were on a very popular TV Show called The Wire and then another very popular show called Treme. Since I don't watch TV much, I was clueless about this but now I'd really like to see these shows.
Wendell Pierce grew up in New Orleans in the first African-American housing development built in 1954.. It was a product of a deal cut due to segregation, but it turned out to be a wonderful thing, in spite of that. Pierce says it was like a Mayberry for black kids. The neighborhood was a true community of stable, hardworking black families who had pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps in the face of overwhelming hate and poverty. Pierce's beloved mother was a school teacher and his father, who had frustrated dreams in his youth of being a professional photographer, worked at a furniture store during the day and as a janitor at night. Wendell's mother was a devout Catholic and even though she'd experienced bigotry from members of the Church, his mother, and hence Pierce, was always able to differentiate between the humans in the Church and her divine call as the Church Jesus established. Wendell Pierce himself is an uneasy Catholic but he has a great love for her nonetheless.
Pierce left New Orleans to attend The Juilliard School in New York to become an actor, a lifelong dream of his. This was an amazing feat. And he loved going to the Julliard School. Winton Marsalis was a couple years ahead of him and he and his brother Bradford (who went to Berklee, from where my son just graduated) hung out together. A few years after Julliard, Pierce was playing major broadway theater. His career took off in another major way when he played the part of a tough, alcoholic homicide detective in Baltimore in The Wire. He got to really know Baltimore and the police department there. This book ends just a little too soon for me. I would love to have read his opinions on the whole Freddy Gray debacle in Baltimore. When I worked in Baltimore with the Public Defenders I sensed no great tension between blacks and whites there. It seemed ideally and fully integrated. Everyone was a Democrat (including myself). The city is owned by the Democratic party. Although I am sure that racism never entirely goes away and that there probably was some going on somewhere, there are plenty of black police officers, prosecutors, public defenders, etc. Pierce never mentions racism on the police force (though he did have bad encounter with police in Baltimore much earlier than when he started working on The Wire - but that may or may not have been a racist thing). Pierce worked with black officers. Anyway, I would love to know how this racism suddenly cropped up as a major issue to riot over. Something went terribly wrong.
Hurricane Katrina was a major life changing event for Pierce and his family. He was visiting his parents (he'd moved to California) before he started another season of The Wire. News of a major hurricane came in. Being New Orleanians they didn't panic, except the news kept saying that this was the most powerful storm to ever hit. They relocated to a relatives house further north and sat out the hurricane. It was rough at the uncle's house so they could only imagine how hard it must have hit their area, but even then they were not prepared for the utter destruction of their how neighborhood which sat under toxic flood waters for weeks.
The storm galvanized Pierce completely. He realized how much he'd lost, all his parents's hard work in owning a home, all his childhood memories, his stable start in life that allowed him to be successful. First he gave his all to get his parents' house back in shape, then he tried to get the neighborhood back, and finally he worked and continues to work these many years later to help his beloved city of New Orleans, so rich in history and culture, and unfortunately corruption, back on her feet.
This book is about family, faith in God, traditional values, African American history and, most especially, art. How art ennobles and strengthens us. How art can be an empowering force that gives voice to anguish and allows for hope.
Rod Dreher is the co-author. He is also from New Orlean but he's white and is certainly not a Democrat (Pierce worked for the Obama campaign and got a chance to introduce his parents to Obama) but the two collaborated on this book and became friends as a result.
I found this book engrossing. It is a powerful reflection on the terrible legacy slavery and bigotry and the toll it took on African Americans, but also how they, as a culture, rose above it and much of that is reflected in the music and culture of New Orlean. If I were interviewing the author though, I would ask him what he thinks of gangsta rap and the glorification of ghetto/drug lord/gangs. He seems to come down very hard on those aspects of modern culture. He talked about how the 1 or 2 percent were hurting all the other upright and hardworking African Americans, like his parents.
There's a lot more to this book I haven't even touched on, including an ongoing and really deep analysis of the play Waiting for Godot. Just remember 'can't' died three days before creation and always be wary of people who don't have your best interests at heart! And you can't get lost in America!
Two thumbs up! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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