Lawrence Hill: Pure Class

So I'm sure some of you are aware of the controversy brewing around the Dutch edition of Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes. A group in the Netherlands has announced they will burn the book on June 22 (aka tomorrow). The point of contention is the title, which the group (a collective that lobbies for reparations for the descendants of slaves) interprets as racist and offensive.

Obviously this group of people are well-intentioned, or have been in previous activities. But the moment you decide to make your point with intimidation and censorship, you lose your credibility and do a disservice to your own message. Targeting Hill, a writer whose work (both fiction and non-fiction) has been universally praised for opening valuable dialogues around race identities and relations, seems frankly bizarre. They do have Google in the Netherlands, right?

Hill responded to the group via a balanced and thoughtful piece in the Toronto Star. I appreciate that Hill was so measured in his response but also assertive.

Also, just to clarify, the title of the book is taken from a real historical document. It's not meant to represent the actual book. But then, you'd have to read the book to know that, and that's a bit difficult if the only copy you have is, say for example, on fire.