Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

Surrealism," Robin Kelley writes, "recognizes that any revolution must begin with thought, with how we imagine a New World, with how we reconstruct our social and individual relationships, with unleashing our desire and building a new future on the basis of love and creativity rather than rationality" (Kelly, Freedom Dreams 193). Kelley uncovers "freedom dreams" in this (re)vision of history vis-à-vis renegade academics, thinkers, and artists of the African diaspora in the 20th century. It is a book, Kelly writes, that guides us "somewhere in advance of nowhere" (Kelly, Freedom Dreams xii) and "is simply to reopen a very old conversation about what kind of world we want to struggle for" (Kelly, Freedom Dreams 7). Kelly zeroes in on the visions of activists from James, Cesaire, to Malcolm X, Kelley authors the text of the sense of nostalgia for hope that Communism offered, utilizing the mindscapes of Surrealism, as well as the transforming possibility of radical feminism, in an effort to reverse 400 years of slavery and Jim Crow. Kelly writes, "it is precisely those alternative visions and dreams that inspire new generations to continue to struggle for change" (Kelly, Freedom Dreams ix). Moreover, it is "black radicals forced the white Left to see and hear differently, and they and a few white rebels heard in the sounds and movements and writings the birth of a Utopian future rising out of the abyss of racism and oppression" (Kelly, Freedom Dreams 51). Kelley constantly challenging us by asking the right questions but conversely recognizing the confines and disappointments of these social movements writing "reparations as part of a broad strategy to radically transform society... holds enormous promise for revitalizing movements for social justice" (Kelly, Freedom Dreams 129). Kelly passionate (and some would argue emotionally) documents black resistance to oppression in social, economic, and political spheres. Kelley' argues that to make a better world we must first imagine it; this book recounts the endeavors of black activists and thinkers over the past centuries that have been committed to reshaping the world. Kelly scrutinizes the people and groups behind black freedom initiatives in relation to the Communist party: Marxist, Leninist, and Maoist influences on black nationalist and anticolonial movements; the reparations movement; radical black feminism; and black influences on and adaptations of surrealism. We, as readers are challenges to "imagine otherwise" envisioning a world where race, class, gender, cultural, sexual, and spiritual oppression do not exist - a process.

This book is beyond excellent. It covers the topics that are not usually covered in regards to the political activity and productions of African Americans. GREAT READ! For those not as radical as I it may be a challenge, however, that makes it all the more important for you to dive into!

While Robin Kelley might claim this book is not a "true" intellectual history, there's an awful lot of intellect packed inside. His profound thoughts, engaging writing, and motivating ideas all find focus with his idea that the center of any movement for change has to be love -- love of self, love of people, love of place. Jammed with interesting historical notes and biographies, his sweeping perspective on what it has meant to be black and, perhaps more importantly, identified as such, would serve every citizen of the world well. And if Mayor Mike B. and his constitutents would read Kelley's idea for downtown NYC, New York -- and the world -- might have a chance.

This is the BEST book I've read in the last 20 years!! A must read for anyone interested in the Utopian vision of radical movements. I learned a great deal about the reparations movement, Black feminism, and a movement no one is talking about-Surrealism. And it's beautifully written.