Between God and Gangsta Rap Bearing Witness to Black Culture

"Dyson is not afraid to go against the grain. He defends Martin Luther King against revisionists who would portray him as a 'sell-out' compared with the more militant--and currently more fashionable--Malcolm X. Dyson argues that those who (rightly) lionize Malcolm should re-examine the radical final stage of King's life, in which he sought to unify 'poor blacks, whites, Latinos and native Americans in a multiracial coalition ... to challenge the unfair distribution of wealth' Dyson also offers a defense of singer Mariah Carey against critics who say her music is not "authentically" black. He writes: "What Carey's career may teach us is that paranoia about purity is the real enemy of black cultural expression, which at its best is characterized by the amalgamation of radically different elements." Dyson's worthy amalgam of essays proves that correct."Dyson, Michael E. is the author of 'Between God and Gangsta Rap Bearing Witness to Black Culture', published 1997 under ISBN 9780195115697 and ISBN 0195115694.