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If Beale Street Could Talk is a novel by James Baldwin, a writer who besides being one of the most distinguished literary references of the 20th century, also acted as a civil rights activist.
Narrated by Tish, a young black woman who resides in Harlem, NY, in the 1970s, this book follows her family’s struggle against the justice system that unfairly and falsely framed and arrested her fiancé, Fonny, a 22-year-old black youth. The narrative is punctuated by excerpts from Tish and Fonny’s life as they grew up and fell in love, exposing aspects of the perverse and inescapable social structure that would ultimately lead to Fonny’s detention. With the discovery of Tish’s pregnancy, the narrative accelerates, unfolding on the despair, sacrifice and efforts of a family that wants to recover one of their own, before the arrival of a new member.
In this book, the hope and loving bonds between members of an oppressed community, particularly within Tish’ family, opposes the corruption and implacability of an intrinsically and historically racist judicial system and social structures.
With this history, as pertinent today as on the day of its publication, Baldwin places us in the bleak and helpless role of observers of the crucially perverse action of a dominant white structure in the powerlessness and silencing of the black community.