Entering The Promised Land - BOOK REVIEW
by Stanley Bronstein on August 28, 2008
I’ve had the recent good fortune to strike up a dialogue with Willie Alexander, a former member of the Houston Oilers football team for 8 years in the 1970’s from 1971 through 1979.
Mr. Alexander was so kind as to provide me with a copy of his recent book, Entering the Promised Land. I’ve finally had the chance to review it and thought I should share my thoughts about it with you.
Having grown up in Houston, I was always impressed by Mr. Alexander’s story. The reason I’ve been impressed is that he was one of the earlier “breed” of football players who were wise enough to realize that they need to create careers for themselves that extend past their football playing years. Mr. Alexander did that and he did it very well.
If you want to read more about Willie Alexander, you can visit his website by clicking here.
What Is This Book About?
Mr. Alexander shares much of his life story. In effect, this book outlines his personal journey of how he went from a poor black youth growing up in Montgomery Alabama, all the way to having had a successful professional football career and moving on to a life as a successful businessman.
Throughout the book, Mr. Alexander talks about two of his personal passions. The first is how the black man in America needs to become more successful and the second is about his strong religious beliefs.
In this review, I’m going to focus primarily on the first; about the black man in Amercia becoming more successful and living a better life. THAT IS WHAT I BELIEVE IS THE OVERWHELMING MESSAGE BEHIND THIS BOOK.
Why Is Mr. Alexander Qualified To Write About This Subject?
Two reasons:
1) He has lived everything he’s talking about.
2) He’s educated enough to write about it.
Those two things are all that is necessary, IN MY BOOK, to qualify Mr. Alexander to speak about this most important subject.
What REALLY Makes This Review Timely?
I find it an interesting coincidence that I’m writing this review about a black man in America who wants to help other black men in America succeed, ON THE SAME DAY, that a black man (Barack Obama) was nominated to be the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party).
In other words, while the black man may still have a long way to go, progress (if you define progress as achieving one’s goals) is obviously being made.
I suspect that if Dr. Martin Luther King were alive today, he would be VERY PROUD as this moment in history takes place.
The Chapters In The Book
Chapter 1 - A Speech To Giants - This profiles one of the biggest speeches in Mr. Alexander’s life, where he had a chance to pore out his soul in front of the Greater Houston Partnership in 2002. He spoke about major issues facing the black community and people actually listened. It took guts on his part to do this.
Chapter 2 - The Parallel - In this chapter, Mr. Alexander talks about parallels in his life and those of previous generations, including Dr. Martin Luther King. I’m not totally sure what he was getting at, but I believe the point of his chapter is that history often repeats itself.
Chapter 3 - In Whose Image? - In this chapter, Mr. Alexander brings religion further into the picture and talks about what it was like growing up as a young black man in America and the overwhelming part religion played in his life.
Chapters 4 through 6 - Mr. Alexander talks about several key moments in his life when certain revelations came to him in the course of normal events.
Chapters 7 through 13 - This is where the book becomes heavy in its religious overtones. While I am not necessarily a fan of bringing the subject of religion heavily into the conversation, I read through it anyway. I paid less attention to the way the message was said and more attention to the message that was being said.
Willie Alexander explained how circumstances, both intentional and unintentional have conspired to make the black man in America less powerful than he might have otherwise been.
Just look at this POWERFUL example that illustrates 244 years or 12 generations of slavery in a typical black family of today with an American heritage:
- Parents were slaves.
- Grand parents were slaves.
- Great-grand parents were slaves.
- Great-Great-grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great-great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
- Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand parents were slaves.
So What Is The Point Behind This Book
Willie Alexander says that the black man in America needs to develop a strategic plan for their success. He quotes Dr. Martin Luther King on this:
The Negro will only be truly free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive selfhood his OWN emancipation proclamation. With a spirit straining toward self-abnegation and say to himself and the world: “I am somebody. I am a person. I am a man with dignity and honor. I have a rich and noble history, however painful and exploited that history has been”.
THIS IS THE POINT BEHIND THE BOOK. MR. ALEXANDER’S POINT IS THAT IT IS UP TO THE BLACK MAN TO DO IT FOR HIMSELF. HE MUST EMPOWER HIMSELF AND THE TIME TO DO THAT IS NOW.
Once again, I find it interesting that this all happens as, for the first time, a black man in America is receiving the nomination of one of the two major political parties to run for president of the United States. Furthermore, while it is far from guaranteed, he has an excellent chance of winning.
What Does This All Mean?
I’m not sure what it means. But if we all stick around, and pay attention, I’m sure we’re going to find out.
Until next time, take care, my dear friends.Mr. Achievement
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney & CPA
August 28th, 2008 at 6:02 am
A key difference between his people being slaves and my people having been slaves is that my people weren’t robbed of their culture. Beyond the pure cruelty of slavery, that was the real crime because it set his people back even more so than laws that were on the still on books in the South as late as this decade.
I believe that this is what Dr. King was really saying. Having an ethnic identity without a cultural identity is a horrible thing. One that most of us can’t fully appreciate, including myself. Our culture is a part of our self-identity and not something that can be defined by the amount of melanin programmed into our genetic code. It’s our culture that re-affirms for us from birth that we have dignity and honor, that we have a rich and noble history.
I have to respect a group of people who have established a culture of their own virtually from scratch. I can appreciate Mr. Alexander’s attachment to his religion. It makes sense to me.
I hope that in a few more decades, we’ll be in a place where such a culture will be so well established that we won’t have to think in terms of color anymore and as a nation, be able to focus entirely on economic status. I think we are close.
I think we might have a President who is Black because many people view him as the best person for the job. The turbulence of the civil rights movement paved the way for Obama’s potential Presidency within one generation. That strikes me as being a lot of progress. To me it means that we are mostly limited by our perceptions and if we can change our perceptions of ourselves and others, there are no boundaries as to who we can become and what we can achieve. This story doesn’t just apply to one group of people. It can apply to all of us.
August 28th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Mark:
I think your comments are excellent and well thought out.
To be truthful, I’m not totally sure that Barack Obama is the most qualified person to be president, BUT, I think such an occurrence might be a healthy thing for this country.
Personally, having been around in 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was running for president, I think Barack Obama is an extension on his ideas, that were tragically cut short.
Take care and stick around. Comments like yours are healthy and are appreciated.
Stanley Bronstein
MrAchievement