Book Reviews: Talon of God

Talon of God
by Wesley Snipes and Ray Norman

I had mixed feelings about this book. It started out one way and then immediately went another. At some points it was something less than a book and more like a screenplay. The good part about the book is that it has a particular point of view and strongly argues for that. 

The bad news is that a great deal of the book is not interesting plot development or even fun mindless action but rather pages and pages and pages of theodicy-that is arguing for the existence of an all powerful all good God even though the world is crammed full of evils, big and small, random and deliberate, human and otherwise.

While I don't mind going down the rabbit hole that these questions pose and debating them with people I know and respect that really wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for from this book. I was expecting, and briefly got, a superhero that was very reminiscent of Snipes' best known film role, Blade.

Unlike Blade, however this hero is something of a goody two shoes, whose abilities are not primarily martial, but rather moral and emotional. This paladin is more interested in faith, forgiveness and love than in smiting evil. He's not quite a pacifist , not running around with a broadsword, but he's pretty close.

In Chicago there's a new drug that just hit the streets. The young attractive doctor Lauryn Jefferson sees the impact of this drug first hand when a heretofore friendly homeless man is injected with the drug and starts to turn into something not of this world. 

However, even though she doesn't know how she did it, with the help of the mysterious sword armed man, known only as Talon, Lauryn is able to heal the homeless man and bring him back to himself. 

Book Reviews: Invisible

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster
by Stephen L. Carter

People have always seen the African-American elite or upper middle class differently. People who think everything is fair use this class to support their belief that nothing needs to change. Racist are often threatened or angered by this class's existence and may single them out for degradation or violence. 

White Americans began many race pogroms because they were upset that a Black person had the unmitigated audacity to compete with whites economically or be better off than any white person. Some nationalist or more left leaning types think that a black upper class makes mass progress more difficult. There are many more gradations of these arguments, which vary by time and place. 

Author and Yale law professor Stephen Carter wrote this biography of his paternal grandmother, Eunice Hunton Carter, in part because of his annoyance at responses to HBO's Boardwalk Empire's depiction of a black woman prosecutor in 1930s New York City. Some viewers mocked the idea of a black woman prosecutor, viewing it as hyperbolic political correctness.  Untrue. Eunice Carter really was a prosecutor who worked for Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey during his 1930s racketbuster days. She was the only member of Dewey's team who wasn't a white man. Eunice Carter, initially shunted away to taking complaints about streetwalkers and brothels, was the first to realize that the Mob, directed by the most powerful boss, Lucky Luciano, had taken over the prostitution business. Eunice Carter conceived the legal strategy that saw Luciano convicted and sentenced to a thirty to fifty year prison sentence. 

Book Reviews: Man Eater

Man Eater
by Gar Anthony Haywood

This book is seemingly written deliberately to be very similar to Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, screwcap films by Preston Sturges, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and perhaps most of all to Everybody Smokes in Hell by John Ridley. As many of the #metoo, Sony hack and related allegations and revelations have shown Hollywood can be an amoral, even immoral cutthroat environment where everyone is out to get over on everybody else and maybe get laid in the process. 

Like the stories referenced, Man Eater posits that the streets and their twisted tenets of respect, honor and vengeance really aren't all that different from Hollywood. The stakes are higher in the streets perhaps but it's really the same game.

Ronnie Deal is a mid level project executive for a Hollywood studio. She has a secret past which she doesn't share with anyone, least of all her insincere female boss and a male peer who's trying to prevent Ronnie from moving up the ladder by any means necessary. Ronnie is also stunningly attractive, something which she cynically uses when she thinks it's necessary.

Having been temporarily embarrassed and outmaneuvered by her aforementioned male rival, causing her to lose a movie deal, Ronnie travels to a bar after work to stew over the insults and general sexism of the world. She's in no mood then, to watch quietly as a intimidating muscular man named Neon Polk starts to harass and assault a tiny woman named Antsy Carruth. Surprising herself with her aggression and fearlessness, Ronnie decides to strike one for the sisterhood by sucker punching Neon upside the head with a beer bottle and doing a Texas two step on his face. Both women flee.

Book Reviews: Imperium In Imperio

Imperium In Imperio

by Sutton E. Griggs

Sutton Griggs was a black man born in Reconstruction era Texas. He later became an author, publisher and minister, among other professions. Griggs was a great proponent of activism for Black Americans. Griggs was an example of deeds being as important as faith. He helped build and maintain social institutions for Black Americans during the worst time for Black Americans outside of slavery. 

From the very first time that enslaved Africans arrived in this country there have always been different, occasionally conflicting ideas about how to best obtain freedom or even what freedom is. People of course change their minds depending on their life experiences. A traumatic experience as a youth can set the adult on a different path than he or she otherwise might have been. 

Growing up at a time when racist atrocities against Black Americans were literally unchecked Griggs used that environment to produce a novel that is by turns didactic and descriptive if not always entertaining in the modern sense. Griggs was a supporter of DuBois and thus perhaps a believer in the "Talented tenth" and integrationist models. However in this novel Griggs seems to be working out his own skepticism about the limits of those models and their ability to solve the needs of Black Americans. Griggs calls back to earlier more specifically Black nationalist writers such as David Walker. Griggs also eerily anticipates upcoming Pan-Africanist nationalist activists such as Marcus Garvey, who would come on the scene just a few short years after this novel, as well as later folks like Elijah Muhammad.

The novel is really more of a short story or even novella. It's just under 100 pages. It's occasionally dense reading. Griggs really liked prepositional phrases, a weakness I share. 

Book Reviews: Black Detroit

Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination
by Herb Boyd

Herb Boyd is a journalist and historian. This book is a sober overview of African-American history in Detroit from its founding to current day, a personal narrative (the author is a Detroit native), and an impassioned love letter to all those various Black people, men, women, and children, famous and anonymous, who made Detroit ground zero for Black resistance to racism in all of its forms from slavery to segregation and beyond. 

Although the South was notorious and in some aspects unique in its racial segregation and state and individual terror utilized to enforce white supremacy, the North, including Michigan and Detroit, saw non-Blacks express just as much racial hostility towards Blacks. Blacks had to deal with housing segregation,  public and private establishments that excluded Blacks, sundown towns or neighborhoods where Black presence was only barely tolerated during the day as domestic labor, police contempt for and violence against Blacks, and of course ubiquitous employment discrimination in every single trade or career.

Despite all of that or perhaps because of all of that Black Detroiters, their backs against the wall, had no choice but to come out swinging. Because of its proximity to Canada, Detroit was one of the key hubs of the Underground Railroad. Boyd examines this theme of resistance from antebellum days through the present day. I learned that the author is related to one of my high school classmates. That classmates's family was active in the movement during the sixties and seventies. Boyd details their tragic encounter with the Detroit Police STRESS unit which was notorious for harassing, beating and murdering Black citizens. It is indeed a small world. 

Book Reviews: If He Hollers Let Him Go

If He Hollers Let Him Go
by Chester Himes

This was Himes' first full novel. Although it has been compared to such works as Black Boy and Native Son, I thought it was a forerunner of such later works as Catcher In The Rye. I was impressed at how thoroughly this book captured its setting of time and place, 1940s California, and at the same time discussed and displayed many issues common to 2017 American culture. The book is an examination of racism and many of the other isms you might imagine. In the past election cycle many black public intellectuals blasted Bernie Sanders for seemingly only understanding race issues as a subset of class issues. 

Although I thought their dismay was somewhat overblown, there is indeed a certain type of leftwing activist who would indeed rather talk about class as the primary or even sole issue worth addressing, while ignoring race issues. Himes parodies this type in at least two different story characters.  One character means well while the other doesn't but both think race is a secondary concern. The protagonist, a black man named  Bob Jones, is a rarity. He is a foreman at the Atlas Shipyard, overseeing a crew of black workers. Usually, Bob is not allowed to supervise white workers. Most of Bob's white co-workers consider it intolerable to work closely with or take orders from a black man. Many white workers hail from from the Deep South: Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. And these people would sleep six feet in their grave before they let some n***** tell them what to do. This is especially the case for most of the white female workers. No one wants to risk being known as a n**** lover. Whenever white female workers are in close proximity to black men, other whites watch both people closely for any sort of untoward behavior. Even a smile or touch is enough to set off nasty gossip or worse reactions.

Book Reviews: A Rage in Harlem

A Rage in Harlem
by Chester Himes

The author Chester Himes (1909-1984) had a very short career as a screenwriter for Warner Brothers. It ended when studio boss Jack Warner heard about Himes' hiring and immediately ordered Himes' firing, stating "I don't want no n*****s on this lot!". So much for liberal Hollywood. Himes said that incident in particular and the Los Angeles racism in general was something that more than anything else embittered him. That's saying a lot since Himes had been tortured by police, served time in prison, and watched helplessly as his blinded brother was turned away from a whites-only hospital. But Hollywood's loss was literature's gain. This is African-American noir fiction based in, as is apparent from the title, late fifties Harlem. Hollywood made a nineties movie based on this book starring Robin Givens, Forest Whitaker and Danny Glover. I've seen the film but didn't remember much about it. Hollywood previously made seventies era semi-comedic blaxploitation films based on Himes' other works. I didn't recall much about those movies besides the Donny Hathaway soundtrack and Redd Foxx appearance. So when I set down to read this taut, short novel I didn't have a lot of expectations, good or bad. 

After reading it I was impressed. Himes doesn't waste prose. He describes things quickly but not to the point where you get bored reading it. He paints a picture and lets the reader fill in the rest. There is some humor within the pages but it's not slapstick. It's more subtle. And at least in this story, which also serves as the introduction to the rough black detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, the detectives are not humorous at all. They aren't interested as much in protecting citizens as they are in defeating any challenges to their personal authority.  They are not nice people. 

Himes writes: Grave Digger and Coffin Ed weren't crooked detectives, but they were tough. They had to be tough to work in Harlem. Colored folks didn't respect colored cops. But they respected big shiny pistols and sudden death. It was said in Harlem that Coffin Ed's pistol would kill a rock and that Grave Digger's would bury it. They took their tribute like all real cops, from the established underworld catering to the essential needs of the people--gamekeepers, madams, streetwalkers, numbers writers, numbers bankers. But they were rough on purse snatchers, muggers, burglars, con men, and all strangers working any racket. And they didn't like rough stuff from anybody else but themselves. "Keep it cool", they warned. "Don't make graves."

Book Reviews: The Black Russian

The Black Russian
by Vladimir Alexandrov

Today Russia has a reputation, fair or not, as a xenophobic haven for Neo-Nazis and white supremacists and thus a hostile place for anyone of apparent African descent. But at the turn of the 20th century this wasn't the case. Frederick Bruce Thomas, an African-American, made and lost a fortune in Russia during the pre-Bolshevik years. He also repeated his success in Turkey. Thomas' story is an example of what someone intelligent can do when freed from the strictures of American racism. Thomas' life is also an unfortunate example of how American racism can still reach out and touch people far from its shores. The Black Russian is lastly an intoxicating tale of the events around the time of the First World War and how they shaped the world we live in today. I knew that the Turks stole (conquered) Constantinople from the Byzantine Greeks in 1453, renaming it Istanbul. 

I had forgotten that in the aftermath of WWI the Greeks, with Allied assistance, attempted to partition Turkey, conquer (retake) the Greek founded city of Smyrna, and make Istanbul an international city, with the likely aim of eventually claiming it for Greece and of course changing the name back. The Greeks were unsuccessful, something that would have a negative effect on Thomas' life and business interests. Frederick Thomas was born in 1872 Mississippi, not a place that was very hospitable to black people, especially black people who "didn't know their place". This was probably a designation that fit both of Frederick Thomas' parents, Lewis and Hannah, as well as his stepmother India, who helped to raise him after Hannah's death. Former slaves, Lewis and Hannah (and later India), had left sharecropping as early as 1869. Lewis and Hannah purchased their own farm.

The Thomas property grew to over 600 acres, a decent sized farm then or now for a single family. The Thomas family wealth allowed them to donate land for schools and churches. The family made business partnerships with white English immigrants and hired local black residents as workers and sharecroppers. White people noticed the economic power wielded by Lewis Thomas and his wife. This would prove to be the downfall of the Thomas family in Mississippi.

Book Reviews: In the Midnight Hour-The Life and Soul of Wilson Pickett

In the Midnight Hour: The Life and Soul of Wilson Pickett
by Tony Fletcher

This was a gift from my brother. This is a beautiful book. As far as I know this is the only complete biography of Wilson Pickett (1941-2006) that exists. There is a quote within the book that really tells you everything about the man who was also known as "Wicked". Picket said in 1979, speaking to another musical journalist that, "James Brown to me is strictly small time. Just some Georgian kid working in some cramped sweaty bar where the stage is so damn small there's only room for him and the drummer.". That Wilson Pickett was quite comfortable calling Soul Brother Number One "small time" and making fun of his show lets you know that if nothing else Pickett had a very healthy ego. It was this ego and drive, along with his earth shattering voice, leonine good looks, and regal stage presence that took him out of the Alabama backwoods to Detroit success and later stardom with New York based Atlantic records. Pickett pioneered the sort of hard soul singing that was strongly based in the black gospel in which he had grown up and first made his mark. Whereas James Brown was a screamer who could sometimes sing, Pickett was a singer who could and did scream in key. Brown might have been funkier but Pickett was soul. I thought the book was at its most interesting when it was detailing Pickett's early days on the Detroit music scene. People who would later become legendary were just kids trying to learn their craft while occasionally getting ripped off along the way. Some famous people went to my neighborhood school. There are also some uncomfortable facts which the book brings up. I knew that Reverend C.L. Franklin, Aretha Franklin's father and a civil rights activist and supporter, had a certain reputation as a ladies' man. I didn't really think less of him for that. Most musicians/celebrities have similar reps when you get right down to it. I didn't know that the good Reverend had fathered a child with a twelve-year old. Ugh. 

There's no evidence that Pickett knew about that sordid history. But it is a fact that the previously devout Pickett, who was a friend to Aretha and sang at the Franklin church, grew tired of singing to drunk people on Sunday mornings. As Pickett told friends, he might as well be performing secular music if that was going to be his audience. There are a few other unpleasant warts revealed but this is not a gossipy salacious tell all type of book. It doesn't dwell on the bad side. It just tells it like it was. 

Book Reviews: Juice

Juice
by Ishmael Reed

I usually like reading Reed's works. He calls it like he sees it. I don't always agree but he does make me think. One of the key themes in Reed's work (both fictional and non-fiction) is that American racism is particularly virulent and acts as a unifying force for people who are "white" or who can theoretically become white. A sub theme is that this racism is not something restricted to the right wing or politically conservative among us. Liberals can be just as racist; Reed famously (and correctly) referred to NPR " as about as integrated as a Georgia country club". Lastly Reed is particularly interested in how this racism impacts black men-especially the stereotype of the brute. In Reed's view many people make money off of this belief-even black people who ought to know better. In Reed's view feminists of all stripes often rush to criticize bad behavior among black men while studiously ignoring such behavior among their own ethnic groups. Because there are very few or no media outlets which are controlled by black men, the result has been a vicious scapegoating of black men for various sins, especially sexual ones. This obviously has parallels to the supposedly bygone days of lynching in which a black man could be murdered because of an actual rape, a fictitious rape, looking a white person in the eye, having consensual sex with a white woman, just for being "uppity", for getting on a white person's nerves or for no reason at all. As Reed points out in this book and sociologists have discussed, up until the mid forties/fifties lynching of blacks was considered normal enough such that whites sent postcards bearing lynching photos or took out ads in newspapers threatening or advertising upcoming lynchings. So if that people took their children to witness lynchings then how long will it really be before beliefs about essential black inferiority no longer hold? It might be a while, as comedian Michael Richards demonstrated. Although thankfully those things don't happen (as often?) any longer a cynic could make the argument that the key function of lynching -unpunished public violence designed to keep blacks in their place-has been outsourced to the police. 

Book Reviews: When The Thrill Is Gone, Assassin's Code

When The Thrill Is Gone
by Walter Mosley

When I call from work and the phone is busy/I never never never ask who was on the line
When I get home late she don't ask any questions/Cause she's got her thing going on and you know I got mine - One Big Unhappy Family Isaac Hayes
This Leonid McGill mystery novel reminded me of the above Isaac Hayes song about a married couple who stay together for some bad reasons. The book's title references the title of one of B.B. King's best known songs. That song tells the story of a man who informs his woman that her magic doesn't work on him any more. Although he's hurt by her infidelity and will be lonely without her he's leaving for good. In Mosley's book there's a great sense of weariness that the protagonist, a private eye trying with varying degrees of success to live a moral life, expresses. Leonid is thinking a lot about his deceased father. Leonid is constantly remembering things that his father told him and weighing them against how the world really works. Even though Leonid has stayed married to his beautiful blonde middle aged wife Katrina it's an open question as to why. Leonid tells himself that he stays with Katrina for the children but that's probably no longer true. The children, only one of whom is biologically Leonid's, are certainly old enough to realize that their mother and father don't have a happy marriage. Leonid knows that Katrina has taken up with a new man, someone who is only a few years older than her oldest son. Leonid even suspects that Katrina might be using some of the children to cover up her dalliances. Leonid might view his indulgence for Katrina's infidelity as well deserved punishment for his past evil acts. He might turn a blind eye to her running around because being old, short and stout he could struggle to find a woman of Katrina's beauty. Or most likely Leonid doesn't care about Katrina's cheating because Leonid has his own extra-marital interests, most notably his on-again off-again girlfriend/friend with benefits/muse Aura. Regardless of his disconnect with Katrina, who paradoxically is very friendly with Leonid now that another mule is kicking in her stall, Leonid still wants to protect his family. His biological son Dmitri is pining for a foreign femme fatale. Leonid's favorite son, Twill, is getting involved in less than legit activities. Leonid tries to keep an eye on him but Twill is elusive. Twill may not share any DNA with Leonid but Twill definitely has his "father's" ability to shade the truth, keep numerous plans in the air all at once, manipulate people to his advantage, play rough if need be and avoid direct answers whenever possible. If he didn't worry about Twill so doggone much Leonid might admire him more. 

But Leonid must put all of that domestic unpleasantness on the back burner when a beautiful brown skin woman named Chrystal Tyler enters his office and tells him that she believes her husband, an old money billionaire real estate recluse named Cyril Tyler, has lost interest in her and will have her murdered. Cyril's previous two wives died under very mysterious circumstances. Chrystal has heard on the street that Leonid is the kind of man who can make things happen..bad things. Leonid tells her that he's not that kind of man any more but that he will go talk to Cyril, just to get the lay of the land as it were. Leonid needs the money that Chrystal offers. And he knows she's lying about something. He's intrigued. Leonid also gets involved in another case. An old family "friend" who just so happens to be a major power in the Chicago Outfit is asking for a favor. Leonid would normally decline as he's all too aware of what sort of man "Uncle Harry" has become. But having burned a few too many political bridges lately Leonid could stand to have someone powerful owe him one. Uncle Harry swears that this favor won't involve the sort of work Leonid used to do. Out of respect for Leonid's deceased father Uncle Harry is asking nicely...this time.
Leonid goes off into the netherworld where crime, politics and romantic needs all dance together. Many people are lying to him, something  which is normal in his line of work. The police would still like to put him in prison, some for good reason, others just because. Leonid is something of a knight errant. Having been bullied himself in institutions he hates bullies. Leonid often takes risks for strangers. He's secretly helping people he framed. Hurt a woman or child in front of him and you will wish you hadn't. Leonid's age, short stature and less than svelte physique cause opponents to underestimate him. But not every challenge can be overcome by Leonid's impressive boxing/street fighting skills. I really enjoyed Mosley's prose. An example reads: "I believed the young assistant but still had the urge to grab him and hold him over the side of the building just to hear him yelp and beg. This desire caused me, not for the first time, to wonder at my own motivations of late." Wrath and Lust are not only deadly sins but they can also blind us to other people's legitimate needs, something which Leonid will discover repeatedly. 

Although Leonid is a force to be reckoned with I appreciated his (boxing-derived) awareness of his own vulnerabilities. Walking down a dark street with his friend Leonid makes a joke at his friend's expense. However this friend happens to be a semi-retired assassin and serial killer with almost no sense of humor. Leonid suddenly and fervently hopes that his lethal buddy can see the absurdity which Leonid was trying to illuminate. This was a good read. It's not overly violent or crass. It feels real. Sometimes Leonid just sits down and thinks about nothing in particular. I haven't been to New York City in decades but the city feels like a character in this book. Ultimately this is not just a detective story but an examination of how we repair the hurt in our own lives and the lives of those we love. That's not easy to do, especially if we are trying to live morally.



Assassin's Code
by Jonathan Maberry

This book is number four in a series. I reviewed book two here. I don't want to repeat what I already wrote. This story started a little slowly but once it picked up I didn't want to put this book down. I wouldn't call it formulaic because people see that as an insult. But you know what you're going to get when you read a book in this series: a good solid bio-thriller in which there's usually, however convoluted, a plausible scientific explanation for things which appear supernatural. Maberry tells the story in a mix of first and third person. The super secret executive branch agency known as the Department of Military Science or DMS is run by the icy man known only as Mr. Church and his second in command, the acerbic Aunt Sally. Both Mr. Church and Sally have secrets known only to each other. They each have many contacts throughout the world of intelligence and secret military operations. The first person portions of the book are told through the POV of Captain Joe Ledger, a relatively new recruit to the DMS and leader of the most effective strike team. To the extent that Mr. Church likes anyone, which isn't much, he seems to like Joe. Sally thinks Joe is a psychopath waiting to explode. Joe Ledger and his team have bloodlessly rescued some American hikers from Iran. Iran claimed the youngsters were spies. While Joe is preparing to leave Iran he's contacted by a leader in Iran's intelligence services and forcibly given information about a number of nuclear bombs hidden throughout the Middle East and elsewhere. Someone is trying to start a nuclear holocaust by inciting the world's nuclear powers to start warring against one another. Or maybe someone else is attempting to make a killing in the energy market. Either way the Iranian spymaster hopes that Joe can use this information to find and prevent the bombs from going off. This man avoids answering Joe's questions about why doesn't he just take this information to his own government instead of coming to Joe. Joe and especially Mr. Church and Sally don't take anything for granted. If you told them the sky is blue they'd want at least five different independent confirmations. And they'd want them five minutes ago.

Joe's suspicions prove to be well founded. The DMS discovers or stumbles across an interlocking web of coincidences and conspiracies that go back to the First Crusade. Someone is trying to play them, even at the possible cost of a nuclear winter. There are a number of suspects, including a rogue DMS member, rival intelligence agencies, various governments and some super secret religious organizations with disturbingly pragmatic moral guidelines. Joe and his team will be stretched to their physical limits. There's real danger here. Although Joe is a well trained martial artist and former Army Ranger with a leashed hidden berserker side, he's dismayed to barely emerge alive from a knockdown dragout fight with a strange red eyed man who's far stronger and quicker than any man should be. Joe only lived because of a beautiful woman's intervention. This woman, Violin, may or may not be on Joe's side. She has her own interests. And when Mr. Church advises orders Joe to disengage and run away from fights where any red-eyed men or "Red Knights" are involved Joe wants to know why. Because the Ledgers didn't raise their son to run from any fight. And Mr. Church, a surrogate father as much as a boss, has never told Joe to run before. Joe is in a worse mood than usual throughout the book because he's still processing the death of his great love, Grace. And people are even trying to kill his white German Shepherd, Ghost. Joe doesn't tolerate that. 

Once you get past the first few chapters and the early 11th-12th century flashbacks, this story moves quickly. It will appeal equally to action junkies, mystery and history buffs and conspiracy theorists. It is not necessary to have read the previous books to enjoy this one though I suppose it helps here or there. There are a few missteps and stereotypes but nothing overtly malicious.

Book Reviews: Chin, Party Music

Chin: The Life and Crimes of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante

by Larry McShane 

Mafia boss, clotheshorse and media junkie John Gotti sought and received attention during his rise and short stay as head of his organization, the Gambino Crime Family. But the Dapper Don was not as powerful or as wealthy as Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, secretive boss of a different New York based organization, the Genovese Crime Family. Unlike the flashy, vain and extroverted Gotti who was insistent that everyone in or outside of the Mafia know he was boss, Vincent Gigante or "The Chin" as he was known in some circles (the nickname was a shortened form of his Italian born mother's pronunciation of Vincenzo) shunned the spotlight. He rarely left the neighborhood in which he had lived for years. He did not like people knowing he was boss. In fact Gigante initially didn't even let many people in his own organization know when he became boss. He kept his advanced status a secret from other families for years. Gigante used cutouts and front bosses to misdirect law enforcement. Because Gigante was very worried about surveillance and betrayal he announced that anyone in his family who used his given name (and eventually even his nickname) in conversation was risking a death sentence. If a mobster needed to refer to Gigante that mobster was supposed to either touch his chin or say "this guy". Even mobsters in other families were advised to follow this edict. But Gigante was most infamous for perpetrating a decades long scam to fool law enforcement and the medical establishment. Gigante pretended to be crazy and possess diminished capacity. Sometimes luck can put a man on a different path. In the late fifties Gigante was a low level thug who got the assignment to murder Frank Costello, gentleman gangster and boss of the Family once led by Lucky Luciano. The man who gave Gigante this assignment, Vito Genovese, wanted to be boss. And the brutal Genovese had the backing of a sizable portion of the Family's roughest crews. Gigante dutifully shot Frank Costello but didn't finish the job. Costello survived. Unusually, for some reason Genovese didn't follow his normal procedure and have Gigante murdered both to set an example about the perils of failure and remove any link back to him. Genovese was notorious for this sort of devious maliciousness. According to mob turncoat Joe Valachi,  "If you went to Vito and told him about some guy doing wrong, he would have the guy whacked for doing wrong and then he'd have you whacked for snitching!". At the ensuing trial Costello claimed to have no idea who had shot him. Gigante was acquitted. 

Costello "retired". Genovese became boss. However via Costello's political machinations both Genovese and Gigante would be arrested and convicted on possibly fraudulent drug charges. Genovese would die in prison. Gigante was released in the mid sixties and returned to his Greenwich Village haunts. The former boxer gradually became a feared power in what became known as the Genovese Family. During a few encounters with his parole officer and other law enforcement officials Gigante started complaining of exhaustion or other unspecified sickness. He would voluntarily check himself into hospitals--often when some investigation or arrest warrant was occurring. Eventually he claimed to hear voices and talk to God. In his later years relatives or criminal subordinates would lead Gigante around the neighborhood. Gigante stopped showering or shaving every day. He would usually be seen in public in a ratty old cap and bathrobe. As a result for years after Gigante became boss law enforcement really did believe that he was too unstable to be the boss. Gigante avoided indictments and prosecutions where other men didn't. It's worth mentioning that as Gigante's public behavior became more eccentric other Mafia leaders in New York and beyond were assured that it was all an act. This was important because the Mafia's typical solution to dealing with an unstable, talkative or unreliable member is murder. In private Gigante was anything but crazy. He had made a reputation for himself as a violent enforcer, prized earner and stickler for the rules in the sixties and seventies. Upon becoming boss in 1981 Gigante continued to ensure that what he said went, in his family and even beyond. Gigante ordered at least one assassination attempt on John Gotti in revenge for Gotti breaking the Commission rules. Gigante was popular among the Genovese Family members at least in part because he wasn't greedy as bosses went, defended Genovese turf against interlopers and didn't require constant public displays of loyalty. Gigante avoided meetings, internal or otherwise, as much as possible. John Gotti, on the other hand, upon becoming boss required everyone in his family to check in with him regularly at his social clubs, despite law enforcement surveillance. Refusal to do so was an insult worthy of death. The FBI and Justice Department were thus able to identify Gambino mobsters they had no idea existed.

I was already familiar with this topic but still enjoyed the book. The book had a fair amount of detailed investigation about Gigante's relationship with violent mobbed up businessman, Morris Levy, who ran Roulette Records and was,willingly or not, a money launderer for several East Coast Mafia luminaries. Although Levy was a corrupt and physically dangerous hoodlum he was submissive to his Mafia overlords. Vincent had a Catholic priest brother who was, depending on the storyteller, a loving defender of Vincent or a cunning enabler. Ironically just as Gigante's rise came from an unusual act of mercy from the otherwise merciless Vito Genovese, Gigante's fall came from his atypical refusal to sanction the murder of one Peter Savino. Savino was a business partner with Gigante and other mafiosi in an extortion scam of NYC schools. Gigante's fellow mafia big shots warned him, correctly as it turned out, that Savino was an informer who needed to be handled. Gigante liked Savino, and did not give the order. Along with some others, Savino provided testimony that proved that Gigante wasn't crazy and was the boss. Gigante was finally convicted and ultimately died in prison just like his mentor Vito Genovese. There are discussions from other Mafia turncoats about their encounters with Gigante. All told this was a solid look at a criminal and a crime organization that did their best to stay out of the limelight.

Party Music: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music

by Ricky Vincent 

This title claims to offer a lot. But as the saying goes it ain't boasting if you can back it up. This book is quite enjoyable. I think it's less about the Black Panthers band or The Lumpen and more about that heady time from 1964-1975 where black music was overflowing with creativity and self-love. This book is best understood as a sequel and a more scholarly expansion on Vincent's previous excellent book Funk. It is just as much a history tome on social movements and political struggles as it is a look at an unknown band. The detailed information and history about the band and their ups and downs is pretty small portion of the book. As anyone who has tried to organize or educate people knows it's often not just enough to lecture people or harangue them. You have to entertain them and relax them, make them feel good about the message you're trying to get across. In the late sixties and early seventies the most effective way to do this in the Black community was to wrap your messages in the popular music of the time, funk and soul. The Black Panther hierarchy believed that the lumpen or lowest of the low, could, once properly educated and motivated, be the catalyst for revolutionary change. Certain leading members rejected the idea that all Panthers were humorless doctrinaire brothers and sisters who wouldn't be caught dead doing anything as frivolous as singing or dancing. Other leaders worried that the inherent apolitical nature of the music industry would corrupt any Panthers who became involved. They thought that a Panther needed to be learning his/her Fanon and Marx, not practicing music. Fortunately for The Lumpen, the Black Panther Minister of Culture, the famed Emory Douglas, believed in the idea of using art and music to educate and inspire. With Douglas as a patron the band became a fixture at events for Party faithful and for the larger community. Many of their songs were reinterpretations of current soul or funk hits or of pop standards. For example they reworked the show standard "Old Man River" into "Old Pig Nixon". The members of The Lumpen were well aware that not everyone in the Party was a fan of an official Black Panther band. Throughout the book the band members were keen to point out that music was decidedly secondary to their role as Panthers-teaching, setting up medical clinics and free breakfasts, providing security, selling newspapers, monitoring police, attending conferences and doing everything that any other Panther was expected to do. They did not seek or receive special status from other Panthers. They certainly didn't make a lot of money.

In the late sixties and early seventies some people really did feel that revolution was at hand. This sense of imminent change suffused the culture. Although the hook for this book is music this book discusses many topics, including but not limited to women's rights, gay rights, the reactionary backlash to the civil rights and black power movements, challenges of interracial coalitions, and all the various contradictions experienced by the various movement participants, musicians and otherwise. The Panthers saw themselves as socialist revolutionaries. Founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale had little interest in attempting to restore lost African mores, names or religion as they viewed much of that as problematic from a socialist and gender standpoint anyway. But black music at the time had a strong strain of cultural nationalism involved. Cultural nationalists tended to think that healing or in some cases creating an African-American culture with distinctive language, religion, worldview, folkways and clothing was a precursor to any sort of revolution or even economic development. The book delves into how these competing ideas tore some organizations apart and even (for example with Karenga's US) caused shooting wars to break out. You can see echoes of this today in spats between people who were excited about the social significance of having a black President and First Lady and those who were more concerned with policy than black faces in high places. Party Music gives a cursory look at how Stax Records was impacted by then current black nationalist and revolutionary rhetoric. The 1972 Wattstax festival was a example of music, business and social concerns all working together.

As people who were at least theoretically open to the idea of cross racial unity and progressive teamwork the Lumpen had no problem having white or other non-black musicians in their backing band. This would occasionally cause some issues with more culturally nationalist minded audiences or promoters. The Lumpen never backed down on this. The big problem with recruiting the lumpen section of society or as the Nation of Islam would have called them, the lost-and-found, is that without constant oversight, financial opportunity, discipline, purpose and re-education, people who have gotten used to chaotic, self-centered and self-destructive modes of behavior often bring those behavior patterns into the organization. This makes the organization more vulnerable to state repression and murder and also reduces the support and commitment of the organization's non-lumpen members. Bad behavior alienates the organization from the community. Left unaddressed, lumpen tendencies can even corrupt other organization members. Band members talked sadly of being out on the street trying to recruit people or serving breakfast to children only to hear that Panther Chairman Huey Newton got high on cocaine and assaulted someone or that another Panther was shaking down drug dealers or pimps. As a result of this sort of counterrevolutionary activity and unrelenting state violence by the mid seventies the Party and several related nationalist organizations were all but defunct. Perhaps not coincidentally the popular music changed from politically charged funk and soul to the apolitical and relatively speaking far less soulful disco. If you are just curious about the times and want to get an idea of what happened from the people who were there or if you are already familiar with Vincent's writing style you should read this book. It's a little over 300 pages. It's dense and very well researched. Many people do not know that future music stars Chaka Khan and Nile Rodgers started out as Panthers. Music for good or bad is always connected to the state of the community.

Book Reviews: I Would Die 4 U

I Would Die 4 U
by Toure

What makes someone become a creative talent? What makes a creative person become a star? And what makes a star become a generational icon? No one really knows. Most of this sort of thing is always discussed in hindsight when everyone is always right. It obviously helps someone's chances of success to be at the right place at the right time but as others have pointed out the harder they work the luckier they seem to become. Toure tries to answer these questions about Prince (this book was published three years before Prince's death). The questions are probably a little too big for Toure or for anyone. Prince was notoriously uncommunicative about his private or family life. He either gave deliberate misinformation or simply refused to answer those types of questions. There are only a few times that he discussed his parents or upbringing with the media. And the target audience would have no way of knowing what was fact, what was exaggeration and what was fiction cooked up for marketing purposes. On the other hand Prince lived for music. He may have, purposely or not shared the answers to those questions in some of his songs. That's where Toure, who did get his share of interviews with the late icon, looks for meaning. Toure also looks into Prince's childhood. Toure argues that Prince's dual rejections by his mother and father left him simultaneously craving a stable family situation and utterly unable to engage in any situation where he wasn't in absolute control. Because Prince shared a broken home with millions of Gen-X children, he became an icon of that generation, or so goes Toure's argument. Similarly Toure posits that Prince's skin tone and occasional androgyny and cross dressing (despite an apparently fierce heterosexuality) allowed him to position himself as a rock crossover icon in a way that wasn't as easy for darker skinned or more traditionalist black male musicians in a time before rap's explosion. Prince played this up by going out of his way to have backing bands that were mixed by gender and race, something that is quite unusual even today. Prince also used the Purple Rain movie to claim that he was biracial (he wasn't). Prince didn't attend either of his parent's funerals, something which at least hints at some unresolved family issues.

Book Reviews: Kill 'em and Leave, Lovecraft Country

Kill em and Leave
by James McBride

This was a short book. It wasn't a biography of the late James Brown as much as it was a series of stories about Brown and the impact he had, good or otherwise on the people he interacted with in his life. Brown likely never saw himself as a victim and would (and did) reject anyone who tried to view him through that perspective. But as McBride points out much of Brown's early life was heavily influenced by poverty, familial strife and of course Jim Crow in all of its forms. Some people who worked with Brown claim that his deepest emotion was fear of white racism. This could be expressed in a number of different ways, not all of which were positive. In some respects this is a sad book. Although Brown died a millionaire he didn't have as much wealth as he should have had. Brown's inability to trust very many people, dislike of banks and chaotic business dealings led him to hide cash all over the place. Some people stole this money. But the book's primary vitriol is resolved for the South Carolina good old boy political and legal network that used Brown's family strife to throw out a clear will and trust after Brown's death. This led to a decade long and ongoing court battle in which the money that Brown intended to be used for the benefit of impoverished children in South Carolina and Georgia instead flowed to the pockets of well connected attorneys, judges and accountants, all of whom were determined to prolong court proceedings until the very last penny was extracted from Brown's estate. Money can make even the best person greedy. Some of Brown's children sued him for royalties for songs he had ghostwritten in their names when they were children. At one point Brown became so reclusive and upset that he insisted his children and grandchildren make appointments if they wanted to see him. That may have been Brown's way of screening out people who just wanted money. This book is no hagiography. This book argues that Brown was at various times a distant father and husband, a tyrannical boss, and a horrible businessman. Brown also had substance abuse issues late in life. This is something which the workaholic and temperamentally conservative Brown always despised in others. But McBride also takes pains to point out and document all the ways in which the recent Mick Jagger produced film on James Brown (reviewed here) got things wrong, sometimes deliberately. McBride is also a musician. He provided some interesting insights into the differences and similarities between funk and jazz. Some very talented jazz musicians spoke of being unable to perform to Brown's expectations even though in some aspects jazz is more advanced music than funk.

McBride also put into context all of the ways that a musician can be ripped off. McBride interviewed many other musicians about Brown. Not all of these people had great love for Brown, either as a man or as a musician. But most conceded that Brown was, pardon the pun, instrumental in directing them to a higher level of musical performance. Brown's unchecked ego was a dangerous thing. There is a thin line between practicing a band until it is damn near perfect and calling grueling all night practices after a three hour concert because the second guitarist made a minor mistake on the intro to "Get on the Good Foot". Brown crossed that line too often. Despite his habit of referring to his employees and band members by their surnames he had no problem making it clear that he was the star, not them. He flew in a plane. His employees had to take the bus. If they didn't like his treatment they could leave. Over the years many of his bands did just that. It was very difficult to work for Brown and maintain your self-respect. Brown was obsessed with keeping his employees financially and professionally dependent upon him. He also wasn't above sabotaging opening acts if he thought they were getting too popular or taking too much time. Of course if you were a bandleader who must deal with musicians of varying talents and temperaments, crooked promoters and radio DJ's, dangerous criminals who want a "loan" from you, lawyers who will rob you blind with just a pen and paper, politicians who want to use your image, and IRS agents who just love making examples out of people like you, you also might put up a harsher front than normal. But for all of Brown's egomania and paranoia he could also be a kind man albeit a quite sensitive one. When Bill Cosby sent a plate of collard greens to Brown's room as a (presumably well meaning) joke about Brown's southern origins and funk exemplar status, Brown wasn't amused and had to be physically prevented from attacking Cosby. Brown took a fatherless Al Sharpton under his wing and taught him a great deal about show business. It was Brown who shamed Sharpton into helping Michael Jackson during the child abuse allegations. Brown was there with financial help for Isaac Hayes when Hayes was going through bankruptcy. McBride also investigates Brown's long term platonic relationship with one of his female employees, who over the years probably gave Brown more emotional support than most of his wives. Some of Brown's short fuse dealings with his bandmembers came from an inability/unwillingness to speak openly. Sometimes a Brown firing or fining was not to be taken seriously.

As mentioned this is a very short book (less than 200 pages). The title comes from a James Brown quote about leaving immediately after a show. The deeper meaning refers to Brown's refusal to share his true thoughts or his personal business. During his heyday and for most of his life Brown refused to be seen in public unless he was at his best. Brown considered the kind of salacious details or familial stories that sell magazines and books today to be private and none of your damn business. So although the book's subtitle is "searching for James Brown", most of the people who really knew Brown are either dead or reluctant to say too much to McBride. McBride details his distaste for the leeches and bottom feeders that surrounded Brown in life and death while struggling with the question of whether he isn't doing the same thing. McBride is adamant that as much praise as Brown received for his musical genius, he probably deserved more. I liked this book. And you will too if you want to know more about Brown and his influences on culture, music and performance. One interesting note about the book is that one of the people with whom I went to grade school is referenced within because of a news story he wrote about James Brown. I will have to reach out to this fellow on Facebook if he's there. Small world.




Lovecraft Country
by Matt Ruff

H.P. Lovecraft was one of the most influential horror writers of all time. He was also a racist of the most vile sort who always believed that black people were subhuman. Lovecraft's racism wasn't just incidental to his work. His work could not have existed without it. But sometimes flowers grow out of s***. Although ironically, Lovecraft wrote most of his best work during the Harlem Renaissance he seems to have been utterly unaware of that movement. The idea that blacks could actually create worthwhile literary or musical works would have been confounding and probably greatly amusing to Lovecraft. In his novels and short stories blacks were dumb savages for the most part. At best they might be submissive and silent servants. At worst, well never mind. There's not much you could reasonably expect on that front from a writer who was initially supportive of Hitler. Anyway this book imagines a Lovecraft setting except with black protagonists. This takes place in the early fifties. The supernatural elements of the story are less important than the everyday racism which impacts all of the characters. It's not discussed as often as it should be but although the South made a fetish of separating and subordinating blacks in exquisite legal detail the North often did so in less formal matter via housing discrimination, police harassment and of course Sundown towns: neighborhoods or cities in which blacks were legally or extra legally required to be out of town by Sunset. Or else. In order to know ahead of time which areas were safe, which hotels, motels or gas stations were black owned or at least black friendly and which areas should be avoided at all costs, black travelers before 1965 or so often relied on a travel guide which collected shared experiences. It was titled the Negro Motorist Green Book. It is fictionalized in this story as the Safe Negro Travelers Guide. The Green Book went out of business once desegregation became the law of the land but based on some ongoing incidents I imagine that the function of the Green Book if not its format will continue on in blogs and websites that cater to black travelers. There will be more on that in another post I think. Anyhow this story opens up with Black Korean war veteran Atticus Turner, who works for his uncle George as a researcher for the Safe Negro Travelers Guide, returning from his journeys across the South and lower Midwest to his uncle's home in Chicago. Turner has had the normal share of run-ins with racist and hostile police and other whites who don't like his looks or his seeming success. Turner's father, Montrose, who is open about his disdain for racist whites (and whites in general for that matter) has disappeared into New England, leaving behind strange clues as to what he's up to. Strangely enough, considering the elder Turner's views, he was last seen in the presence of a white man. Well there's nothing for it but for Atticus, George and Atticus' friend Letitia to take a road trip to New England to find and/or rescue Montrose Turner. It doesn't help matters that Montrose Turner and Atticus Turner aren't overly fond of each other.

This starts a multi-year adventure in which the Turners and their friends are manipulated by and battle against a shadowy cabal that has plans for the world that might not be all that wonderful for humanity. This group is linked to the Turners via America's original sin of slavery. The big bad of this group is not a fire-breathing bigot. He's rational and calm. He likes to position himself as a rational man as compared to some of his more traditionalist and irrational compatriots. All in all he would rather make deals and appeal to people's self-interest than to openly threaten people.Of course if he's pushed to extremes he might behave in a different manner. One of the more interesting ways that this man can seduce some of the black protagonists is to give them gifts which remove the stigma of their race. One woman finds it tempting to temporarily live life as a white woman. Another man finds that a car that deflects police attention is very useful. Thematically this book reads more like a collection of short stories than a novel. Each little adventure is complete in itself though the reader also knows there is more to come because smartly Ruff doesn't explain every little thing. I was reminded less of Lovecraft and more of Twilight Zone. I thought that Ruff did his research on how race was lived and experienced in 1950s America. From a thriller/horror perspective this is solid but not awe-inspiring work. There are a lot of the normal tropes and cliches employed: vicious dog packs, hostile small towns, teleportation to different universes, strange things locked in basements, haunted houses, crusty old wizards. It's not a overly or overtly violent book all things considered. There are some well drawn female characters who are arguably the book's centerpiece.

Book Reviews: The Caretaker, The Ballad of Black Tom

The Caretaker
by Thomas William Simpson

This is a mildly entertaining thriller that starts out with a lot of promise but loses it a bit about halfway through. It remains an ok read but I felt it was stretched out a little bit longer than it needed to be. The ending was hugely melodramatic but it wasn't like that wasn't telegraphed. In a book that is almost 600 pages I am going to expect something a little bit more epic than what The Caretaker turned out to be. That could be in part because of a decreasing patience or declining attention span on my part. I'm not sure. I can definitely say that if you are stuck somewhere for hours with no mental stimulation at hand this book could come in quite handy. You know the sorts of arenas of which I speak--places like auto dealerships, hospitals, corporate headquarters-- where all you can do is hurry up and wait. One thing which the author did which I wasn't too crazy about is to end sentences by alluding to the fate of major characters or letting you know who the bad guy is. If he did it once or twice that would be amusing or even exciting. It might make me curious. But there were constant references to wondering how a major character would be enjoying prison right now or explaining that it's too bad that another major character didn't know that he was dealing with a sociopath. Part of the joy in reading a book like this is in figuring out who the bad guy is, who the mark is, what the con is and what the motivations of the bad guy are. So much of that was given away so early that instead of being sucked in by the con, figuring it out and identifying with the so far clueless heroes and heroines, I felt a little separated from the protagonists and villains. Either they were too stupid or too obvious in their evil. The joy of being conned by stories like these is in figuring it out for yourself. Would you really enjoy a magician who instead of doing a trick for you explained in detail exactly how the trick worked even as he was doing it? Well some people would. Perhaps if while the magician was explaining the trick you were watching, he did another magic trick that you didn't even see until the end, then that might be ok? You could argue that that's what Simpson did here. Yes that might be the book's saving grace. But as I said I just thought it was a bit too long. Gunn Henderson Jr. is a tall stereotypical WASP Alpha Male salesman. He works for an unnamed shoe company (think Nike). 

Gunn is the kind of man who doesn't feel that his day is complete unless he has proven that he's better than you at something. Gunn's a sharp dressed ultra competitive man who doesn't take any s*** off of anybody. Anybody. That includes his marks clients, other salesmen, his bosses, women in general and especially his attractive wife Samantha or Sam. Sam is, if not quite a desperate housewife, getting pretty close to that status. 

Sam likes all the benefits and lifestyle that her successful husband provides. She likes that Gunn is tall, well built, handsome and dominant. Unfortunately, for Sam's tastes, Gunn's dominance too often slides over into bullying domineering behavior. Sam likes a man who leads. But she doesn't like Gunn's control freak tendencies. Gunn comes by his persona naturally. Gunn's father, a retired banker, is the same way. Both of the Henderson adult men view life as something where they win and everyone else loses. Gunn does provide materially, sexually and occasionally romantically, but he's self-absorbed. Even Sam must accept that it's Gunn's world. Sam's just living in it. When Sam gets a phone call from someone offering Gunn a new job she breaks her husband's rules and opens his mail containing the job offer. This new sales job, which Sam helps convince Gunn to take, offers a tremendous salary, bonus, incentives and the possibility to be in on the ground floor of something big. The Hendersons could become overnight multi-millionaires. The Hendersons and their two children sell their home and move into a mansion on an estate provided by their new employer. Their kids will attend a fancy private school. Gunn won't be able to enjoy too many of the benefits as he will be on the road at least 6 days a week trying to sell the new product. And even for a master salesman like Gunn, this product will be a tough sell. But never fear, the house comes complete with a housekeeper and cook, Mrs. Griner and a caretaker and handyman, Brady. Brady appears to be a patient, solicitous, careful, shy man, everything that Gunn isn't. While Gunn is off pounding the pavement, Sam finds herself growing more attracted to Brady. It probably helps that Brady, who is in even better shape than Gunn, likes to start off his day with a morning dive in the nude. Sam likes to watch that. Brady's a great listener and true gentleman. Sam slowly starts to confide in Brady.  There is an old quote which may or may not have been said by the actress Lana Turner which is "A gentleman is merely a patient wolf." I really liked the setup and early execution. I just thought it dragged in the middle. There is a certain Perils of Pauline aspect to this story. There's also an investigation of exactly how a marriage, or really any intimate relationship can come under deadly strain and either blow up or hold together against the odds. Gunn is an occasionally brutal jerk but he is a hard working one. I liked the examples of the stress a salesman is under. Sam may be the primary protagonist but she's not necessarily always sympathetic.






The Ballad of Black Tom
By Victor Lavalle

The writer H.P. Lovecraft (HPL) was a racist. HPL believed wholeheartedly in White Anglo-Saxon supremacy. He ignored any contrary evidence. He appears to have been completely unaware of the Harlem Renaissance which occurred during one of his most productive periods. In the rare cases where HPL conceded that white supremacy wasn't obvious he had no problem with others (he was something of a shrinking violet himself) employing violence to maintain white status. As late as 1936 HPL was praising Hitler. The groups HPL didn't like initially included just about everyone who wasn't Anglo-Saxon, Celtic or other Western-European descended American. HPL had special contempt for black people, whom he barely accepted as human. HPL wasn't crazy about Jews, despite briefly marrying a Jewish woman. During that short marriage, HPL moved to and lived in Brooklyn, NYC. HPL didn't enjoy his Gotham sojourn.  During his infrequent job searches HPL discovered that even his whiteness did not prevent would be employers from demanding experience and references, neither of which he had. HPL didn't like crowds. He certainly didn't like being around numerous non-whites, which by his reckoning, was a category that included Arabs, Turks, Persians, Central Asians, East Asians, South Asians, Italians, North Africans, Kurds, Blacks, -in short all the people who were moving to NYC at the time, often from overseas. HPL would actually step off the street to avoid being in close proximity to those he considered to be his lessers. His friends said that the sight of minorities or mixed crowds could drive HPL into a rage. HPL was also one of the greatest horror writers of the 20th century. HPL often placed his real life fears in his fiction. So it's unsurprising that all of HPL's then current New York City derived xenophobia, bias and racism was reflected in his short story "The Horror At Red Hook."  (THRH)
This story was a fever dream about non-white immigrants in NYC who are committed to some sort of devil worship. An Irish cop opposes them. A Dutch dilettante helps and directs them, though he may fall victim to the cultists or something they call up from Outside. THRH was not a very good story, even by pulp standards. The plot is weak. But plot is not where HPL made a name for himself. Where he excelled was atmosphere, mood and description, of which THRH had plenty. As stated, in THRH HPL let loose with some bile. These are typical passages:

The population is a hopeless tangle and enigma; Syrian, Spanish, Italian, and negro elements impinging upon one another, and fragments of Scandinavian and American belts lying not far distant. It is a babel of sound and filth, and sends out strange cries to answer the lapping of oily waves at its grimy piers and the monstrous organ litanies of the harbour whistles..
Hordes of prowlers reel shouting and singing along the lanes and thoroughfares, occasional furtive hands suddenly extinguish lights and pull down curtains, and swarthy, sin-pitted faces disappear from windows when visitors pick their way through. Indeed, it would not have been too much to say that the old scholar’s particular circle coincided almost perfectly with the worst of the organised cliques which smuggled ashore certain nameless and unclassified Asian dregs wisely turned back by Ellis Island...
Their squat figures and characteristic squinting physiognomies, grotesquely combined with flashy American clothing, appeared more and more numerously among the loafers and nomad gangsters of the Borough Hall section..
Suddenly the leader of the visiting mariners, an Arab with a hatefully negroid mouth, pulled forth a dirty, crumpled paper and handed it to the captain... 

Lavalle is a writer who counts HPL as an influence but was apparently troubled by HPL's racism and xenophobia. He writes that he dedicates The Ballad of Black Tom to HPL "with all of my conflicted feelings".
The Ballad of Black Tom is a retelling/reworking of THRH. It's mostly told from the point of view of the titular character Thomas Lester, a young black man who's not very good at either music or the art of the con. Lester mostly makes his living by playing music on the street for cash. However since he only knows three or four songs and can't even play those well he usually has to leave Harlem to make any money. Lester also earns a living by doing odd jobs for people, finding things which they can't find or can't reach. He lives with his sickly father. When the amateur anthropologist Robert Suydam runs across Lester on the street he invites Lester to play for him at a party Suydam's putting together. Despite Suydam's offer of employment Lester doesn't like Suydam, who can barely conceal his contempt. But a gig is a gig. The police officer Thomas Malone and the private detective Howard (a fictionalized stand-in for author Robert E. Howard) steal the money that Suydam gave to Lester as an upfront fee. Howard sees no reason a black man should have that kind of money. At the request of Suydam's family Howard and Malone are keeping a watch on Suydam. Suydam's family thinks he's mad. Intrigued and still needing money Lester has no choice but to attend the strange gathering at Suydam's house. He also needs to avoid Howard, Malone and other racist cops or white people who are quick to harass, insult or even assault him should they find him in the wrong neighborhood. There is some sort of supernatural power out there which Suydam, no matter how ineptly, may have tapped into. Lester will need to decide what to do about that. Lester, not Suydam or Malone, is the moral center of this story. Although he's not a good musician, Lester is much smarter than anyone realizes. Lester knows that people see what they want to see. Spiritual blindness is a recurring theme in the story.

This is a quick read at about 150 pages. It is not necessary to know of or have a liking for HPL to enjoy this story. The issues raised in the story are still vibrant today. I liked the story. I will look for more work by the author.