This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism

by Don Lemon

Overview

Don Lemon brings his vast audience and experience as a reporter and a Black man to today’s most urgent question: How can we end racism in America in our lifetimes?
 
The host of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon is more popular than ever. As America’s only Black prime-time anchor, Lemon and his daily monologues on racism and antiracism, on the failures of the Trump administration and of so many of our leaders, and on America’s systemic flaws speak for his millions of fans. Now, in an urgent, deeply personal, riveting plea, he shows us all how deep our problems lie, and what we can do to begin to fix them.

Beginning with a letter to one of his Black nephews, he proceeds with reporting and reflections on his slave ancestors, his upbringing in the shadows of segregation, and his adult confrontations with politicians, activists, and scholars. In doing so, Lemon offers a searing and poetic ultimatum to America. He visits the slave port where a direct ancestor was shackled and shipped to America. He recalls a slave uprising in Louisiana, just a few miles from his birthplace. And he takes us to the heart of the 2020 protests in New York City. As he writes to his young nephew: We must resist racism every single day. We must resist it with love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316257572
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	418,722
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Don Lemon anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, airing weeknights at 10pm. Based out of the network's New York bureau, Lemon joined CNN in September 2006.

A news veteran of Chicago, Lemon reported from Chicago in the days leading up to the 2008 presidential election, including an interview with then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel on the day he accepted the position of Chief of Staff for President-elect Barack Obama. He also interviewed Anne Cooper, the 106-year old voter President-elect Obama highlighted in his election night acceptance speech after he had seen Lemon’s interview with Cooper on CNN.

Lemon has reported and anchored on-the-scene for CNN from many breaking news stories, including the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO (2014), the George Zimmerman trial (2013), the Boston marathon bombing (2013), the Philadelphia building collapse (2013), the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (2012), the Colorado Theater Shooting (2012), the death of Whitney Houston, the Inaugural of the 44th President in Washington, D.C., the death of Michael Jackson (2009), Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana (2008) and the Minneapolis bridge collapse (2007).

Lemon has also anchored the network's breaking news coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Arab Spring, the death of Osama Bin Laden and Joplin tornado. Lemon reported for CNN’s documentary Race and Rage: The Beating of Rodney King, which aired twenty years to the day of the beating. He is also known for holding politicians and public officials accountable in his "No Talking Points" segment.

In 2009, Ebony named him as one of the Ebony Power 150: the most influential Blacks in America. He has won an Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers. He won an Emmy for a special report on real estate in Chicagoland and various other awards for his reporting on the AIDS epidemic in Africa and Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, he won three more local Emmys for his reporting in Africa and a business feature about Craigslist.

Lemon serves as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, teaching and participating in curriculum designed around new media. He earned a degree in broadcast journalism from Brooklyn College and also attended Louisiana State University.

Table of Contents

Prologue: A Letter to My Nephew 3

1 Do I But Dream 9

2 We Didn't Get Here by Accident 33

3 My Lord, What a Mourning When the Stars Begin to Fall 55

4 Seeking Justice in the Land of Law and Order 79

5 Of Movies, Myths, and Monuments 99

6 About the Benjamins 125

7 How Change Happens 153

Appendix 199

Read 199

Listen 201

Watch 203

Engage 204

Acknowledgments 205

Index 209

Editorial Reviews

02/15/2021

CNN host Lemon (Transparent) ruminates in this lyrical yet diffuse account on the legacy of white supremacy in America. Emulating James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me, Lemon opens with a letter to his 13-year-old nephew, recounting how his own grandmother, who had a fifth-grade education, had to submit to a literacy test in order to vote in Louisiana. From there, Lemon reflects on the founding of an African American enclave in Sag Harbor in 1947, describes how the election of Donald Trump (“a blatant White supremacist”) made the problem of racism “impossible to ignore,” and recounts his family’s grief in the wake of his sister’s accidental death in 2018. He also traces the roots of modern policing to pre–Civil War slave patrols and shares insights from historians and political analysts about the Lost Cause mythology and Jim Crow–era racial segregation. Lemon folds in noteworthy interviews from his TV show and startling statistics about Black mortality and incarceration rates into his personal reflections, but he meanders across well-trod ground, losing some of the thrust of his arguments. Readers will savor the well-honed language, but wish for stronger substance. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

03/01/2021

Journalist Lemon (CNN Tonight with Don Lemon) candidly reflects on history and the major events of 2020, beginning with a heartfelt letter to his nephew in the wake of George Floyd's murder, describing progress and pitfalls in racial equity since Jim Crow. He argues that readers need to do something, however small, to combat racism and white supremacy in the United States. In order to inspire action, Lemon briefly describes historic events, as well as key stories he covered in 2020, like the COVID-19 pandemic and protests in response to racial injustice. He also provides thoughts and analysis on topics such as police brutality, death, segregation, and reparations. Lemon discusses anecdotes from his own life, including a trip to Ghana with his mother to discover their ancestry, and the tragic death of his sister Leisa. Throughout, he emphasizes empathy and the need for readers to value fellow humans despite their differences. Lemon ends by declaring that we are all capable of doing the work necessary to combat white supremacy. VERDICT A thoughtful analysis which deserves a place on readers' anti-racist reading lists. Recommended for those interested in trying to enact systemic change.—Rebekah Kati, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Library Journal

★ 2021-01-12
The well-known, forthright news anchor astutely diagnoses our nation’s greatest malady.

Readers who only know Lemon from his high-profile gig as a CNN anchor will be pleasantly surprised by his abundant prose skills. In his second book, the author not only plays off the title of James Baldwin’s classic, The Fire Next Time; he also echoes Baldwin’s opening salvo (both open with letters to the respective authors’ nephews) and its learned diagnosis of a sick society. Lemon begins with a mournful tone: “Today I heard a dying man call out to his mama, and I wept for the world that will soon belong to you.” This evocation of George Floyd compels us to take a long view of not just the tumult of 2020, but also the distinctly American history that brought us here. “Racism is a cancer that has been metastasizing throughout the land ever since Columbus showed up,” writes Lemon. “It’s persisted because the right people had the luxury of ignoring it. Not anymore. With the election of a blatant White supremacist, the problem became palpable, impossible to ignore. It touches every one of us, because it’s a detriment to every aspect of our society.” Thankfully, within this dilemma, the author finds a sliver of hope. When a problem is impossible to ignore, it may eventually be solved—at least if large coalitions decide they share enough common interest to make it happen. Lemon strikes a nice balance between the personal and the political, sharing moments of his life with his fiance, Tim, and his family, dealt a severe blow by the death of his sister, Leisa. Throughout, the author demonstrates an impressive ability to loop it all together and make it stick. He puts 2020 in context and gives it the language to sing a quietly outraged song.

Long on context and analysis, this is a vital book for these times.

Kirkus Reviews

"A forthright, historically supported examination of the racial divisions that have plagued our nation.”—Wesley Lowery, New York TImes

"Lemon brings a searing power and persuasiveness to his arguments and views. In his eloquence and candor, Lemon is a lyrical and ardent advocate for what is decent, just, and long overdue. His dismay and anguish are laid bare with a fervor that is authentic and hard-won. Lemon's call-to-action is a soaring examination of the causes of racist violence and injustice past and present, and he expresses his commitment to asking tough questions and seeking demanding answers that he hopes will kindle the fire this time to constructively confront racism in all its forms."—Booklist

"Astutely diagnoses our nation’s greatest malady. . . . Throughout, the author demonstrates an impressive ability to loop it all together and make it stick. He puts 2020 in context and gives it the language to sing a quietly outraged song. Long on context and analysis, this is a vital book for these times."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Much like his popular CNN show, Don Lemon’s new audiobook is well researched, thoughtful, and passionate. The book includes a collection of personal stories and observations mixed with a detailed history of racism and analysis of current events. Of particular note are Lemon's reflections on his visit to Africa with his mother to trace his family's ancestry. His emotional recollections set a powerful tone for the content that follows. Lemon outlines how our country got where it is today and includes a heartfelt appeal to resist racism to help heal our nation. Lemon also emphasizes the need to consider all voices and ideas, not just those we agree with, if we want to create lasting change. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2021 - AudioFile

Much like his popular CNN show, Don Lemon’s new audiobook is well researched, thoughtful, and passionate. The book includes a collection of personal stories and observations mixed with a detailed history of racism and analysis of current events. Of particular note are Lemon's reflections on his visit to Africa with his mother to trace his family's ancestry. His emotional recollections set a powerful tone for the content that follows. Lemon outlines how our country got where it is today and includes a heartfelt appeal to resist racism to help heal our nation. Lemon also emphasizes the need to consider all voices and ideas, not just those we agree with, if we want to create lasting change. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2021 - AudioFile