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Midtown Scholar Bookstore Podcasts

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Brought to you by one of the nation’s premier independent bookstores, in the heart of Pennsylvania’s capital city. We proudly host national award-winning authors and emerging literary sensations in our weekly book-talk-and-signing series. SIGNED books by featured authors now available at www.MidtownScholar.com

Join us as we celebrate the essential role of literature in contemporary society and engage the region’s vibrant literary and civic community in wide-ranging discussions on books, politics, arts & culture.

“Every Booklover Should Visit” – Travel + Leisure

“Indie bookstore jewel” – Publishers Weekly

We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America

 
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From the row houses of Baltimore to the stoops of Brooklyn, with searing conviction and full compassion, D. Watkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Cook Up and The Beast Side lays bare the voices of the most vulnerable and allows their raw, intimate stories to uncover the systematic injustice threaded within our society. Honest and eye-opening, We Speak for Ourselves makes us listen, feel, and create a course toward change that starts right where we are.

Watkins introduces you to Down Bottom, the storied community of East Baltimore that holds a mirror to America’s poor black neighborhoods—“hoods” that could just as easily be in Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, or Atlanta. As Watkins sees it, the perspective of people who live in economically disadvantaged black communities is largely absent from the commentary of many top intellectuals who speak and write about race.

Unapologetic and sharp-witted, D. Watkins is here to tell the truth as he has seen it. We Speak for Ourselves offers an in-depth analysis of inner-city hurdles and honors the stories therein. We sit in underfunded schools, walk the blocks burdened with police corruption, stand within an audience of Make America Great Again hats, journey from trap house to university lecture, and rally in neglected streets. And we listen.

Watkins shares the lessons he has learned while navigating through two very distinct worlds—the hood and the elite sanctums of prominent black thinkers and public figures—serving hope to fellow Americans who are too often ignored and calling on others to examine what it means to be a model activist in today’s world. We Speak for Ourselves is a must-read for all who are committed to social change.