Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

Michael Eric Dyson was born in 1958 in Detroit, Michigan. Dyson’s mother was born and raised in Alabama during the Jim Crow era. She used to work at the family farm before moving to Detroit to work as a teachers’ assistant in public schools. Dyson was influenced by his mother’s courage and determination. He was raised by her and his stepfather in the inner city of Detroit. As a young boy, Dyson used to help his stepfather with his work and later worked at a factory for years to support his family. He became an ordained Baptist minister at the age of 19.

Dyson attended public schools, where his teachers recognized his potential and encouraged him to be proud of his African American heritage. Dyson was an avid reader of literature at an early age and listened to African American musicians. During the 1960s, Dyson was a boy, and his childhood was shaped by the turbulent events of the era. With the race riots in Detroit in 1967, Dyson witnessed the effects of police brutality and the destruction around the city. During the riots, many people died, or were injured or arrested. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 also impacted Dyson’s childhood. These events introduced him to the meaning of race and racial politics in America. Martin Luther King Jr. remains an influential figure in Dyson’s life and work, inspiring him to become a public speaker and an advocate for racial justice.

Dyson received a scholarship to attend a boarding school in Detroit which brought him among white students for the first time, and introduced him to the privilege and power of white American society. Dyson realized that he was part of a segregated community. This made Dyson realize the effects of racism.

After working various jobs, Dyson became an ordained Baptist minister, discovering his passion for public speaking. Religion and his roots in the Black church led him to pursue education and cultural studies. Dyson began his academic studies as a major in philosophy while working to support his family. He graduated magna cum laude in 1982. During the 1980s, Dyson started working as a writer at several newspapers and magazines. He received an master of arts in 1991 and PhD in 1993 in religion from Princeton University. His dissertation involved Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Dyson has worked as a professor at many prestigious universities including Brown, Princeton, Columbia, and Georgetown. Since 2021, Dyson has served as a distinguished university professor at Vanderbilt University. He holds positions at the College of Arts teaching African American and diaspora studies and in the Divinity School. Dyson includes the study of Black popular culture like hip-hop and gangsta-rap in the classroom and analyzes their sociocultural perspective.

Apart from his academic career, Dyson is also a distinguished author of more than 25 nonfiction books, including seven New York Times bestsellers. He is a public speaker in various media. He has won several literary awards, including two NAACP Image Awards and the Langston Hughes medal in 2020. His work focuses on diverse topics such as the civil rights movement, Black culture and music, and American politics. Prominent figures in his books are Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Tears We Cannot Stop is a New York Times bestseller and critics have praised it for its profound and honest discussion of race and racism in America. The success of his literary work posits Dyson among the most distinguished and influential African American writers and intellectuals. Dyson continues to be a fervent advocate for justice and a critic of white privilege and institutional racism.