Books

COMMENTARY: ‘Poverty Scholarship,’ THE book to read if you care about poverty

SAN FRANCISCO BAY VIEW — As a professor with UC Berkeley’s Global Poverty and Practice Program, this is the book I have been waiting for, and that I want all of my students to read. I am so grateful for the effort that has gone into the writing and publishing of this essential book.

Published

6 years ago

March 20, 2019

Cecilia Cissell Lucas

By Cecilia Cissell Lucas

As a professor with UC Berkeley’s Global Poverty and Practice Program, this is the book I have been waiting for, and that I want all of my students to read. I am so grateful for the effort that has gone into the writing and publishing of this essential book.

In programs like the one in which I teach, we often talk about notions of “expertise” and about the need for those who experience issues most directly to be central parts of designing solutions. Too often, however, when it comes to poverty, the voices of poor people are only presented through the ventriloquism of academics, professional activists, and service providers. This book, by contrast, is an act of self-determination.

This book contains deep theory regarding the origins of poverty and current homelessness crises, as well as case studies describing solutions being designed and implemented by poor people, in collaboration with those who have access to greater material means. The word “collaboration” is key here; the solutions being modeled involve horizontal approaches, not inconsequential “participation” or “input” on strategies being determined by those with more money and more power.

In addition to theories and solutions, this book is also a work of art, full of creative writing, creative thinking, and descriptions of creative doing of all kinds. One of the subsections of the book actually focuses specifically on Art and Cultural Work, as this work is central to POOR Magazine. Other areas discussed include Media Production, Education, Healthcare and Social Work, Employment, Activism and Advocacy, Housing Provision and Community Reparations as an alternative to charity and philanthropy.

It is easy to despair at the enormity of the problems that exist. This book, however, in its description of the work being done by the authors, is hope in action.

I have also had the privilege of experiencing the teachings of POOR Magazine live, as well as visiting Homefulness, the self-determined solution to houselessness they are creating, and can say without hyperbole that the work they are doing is not only cutting-edge, it is absolutely fundamental to the kinds of personal, interpersonal, cultural, institutional and societal changes we need to make if we truly care about poverty.

I cannot overemphasize how much I urge everyone to read, learn from and be moved to action by this book. If you live in or are visiting the Bay Area, I also recommend coming to meet the authors and check out the work they are doing on the ground. But I am so grateful that this book now exists so that those who are not able to come in person can still learn from the enormous wisdom, experience and expertise of these magnificent leaders.

Cecilia Cissell Lucas is a faculty member at UC Berkeley, teaching in the Global Poverty and Practice Program and co-teaching a course on Art and Activism. She is also the co-founder of Creating Freedom Movements: more justice, more joy. She can be reached at cecilialucas@berkeley.edu.

This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Bay View.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

3 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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BOOK REVIEW: The Afterlife of Malcolm X

Betty Shabazz didn’t like to go to her husband’s speeches, but on that February night in 1965, he asked her to come with their daughters to the Audubon Ballroom in New York. Did Malcolm X sense that something bad would happen on that night? Surely. He was fully aware of the possibility, knowing that he’d been “a marked man” for months because of his very public break with the Nation of Islam.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Book Cover of the Afterlife of Malcolm X. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: by Mark Whitaker, c.2025, Simon & Schuster, $30.99, 448 pages

Who will remember you in fifty years’ time?

A handful of friends – at least those who are still around – might recall you. Your offspring, grandkids, and greats, maybe people who stumble upon your tombstone. Think about it: who will remember you in 2075? And then read “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” by Mark Whitaker and learn about a legacy that still resonates a half-century later.

As the news of his murder spread around New York and around the world, his followers and admirers reacted in many ways. His friend, journalist Peter Goldman, was “hardly shocked” because he also knew that Malcolm’s life was in danger, but the arrest of three men accused of the crime didn’t add up. It ultimately became Goldman’s “obsession.”

Malcolm’s co-writer for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley, quietly finished the book he started with Malcolm, and a small upstart publishing house snatched it up. A diverse group of magazines got in line to run articles about Malcolm X’s life, finally sensing that White America “’needed his voice even more than Blacks did.’”

But though Malcolm X was gone, he continued to leave an impact.

He didn’t live long enough to see the official founding of the Black Panther Party, but he was influential on its beginning. He never knew of the first Kwanzaa, or the triumphs of a convert named Muhammad Ali.

Malcolm left his mark on music. He influenced at least three major athletes.

He was a “touchstone” for a president …

While it’s true that “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” is an eye-opening book, one that works as a great companion to the autobiography, it’s also a fact that it’s somewhat scattered. Is it a look at Malcolm’s life, his legacy, or is it a “murder mystery”?

Turns out, it’s all three, but the storylines are not smooth. There are twists and tangents and that may take some getting used-to. Just when you’re immersed, even absorbed in this book, to the point where you forget about your surroundings, author Mark Whitaker abruptly moves to a different part of the story. It may be jarring.

And yet, it’s a big part of this book, and it’s essential for readers to know the investigation’s outcome and what we know today. It doesn’t change Malcolm X’s legacy, but it adds another frame around it.

If you’ve read the autobiography, if you haven’t thought about Malcolm X in a while, or if you think you know all there is to know, then you owe it to yourself to find “The Afterlife of Malcolm X.”

For you, this is a book you won’t easily forget.