Black Lives Rising (PB) (2021)

In 33 intertwined/separate flash fiction stories, Chiatulah Ameke accomplishes the rare feat of extending the conversations of racial inequity, inequality, and their horror of a not-so-distant cousin, racism itself. Set in the backdrop of a seemingly too-close reality, some in the present and some in the near or far future, Ameke portrays a world in which houses people who do not turn a blind eye to race issues but take action, even violence, to confront a society so deeply rooted in racism.

We are shown brief yet climactic clips of these lives, black lives, who can no longer hold in their deep resentment and abhorrence of being pushed into the background, as if to ask the question of not so much why but when, at what point, will the world as a whole take its own serious action against racial issues?

Even though these stories are masked under the guise of satire, they still hit the mark of demanding action by showing a world where glossed-over voices can no longer be ignored. Take a trip with us and see stories unfold of the first black pope, the second black US president, a group of activists who demand reparations for families of former slaves, letters to police officers and children, and even children themselves fighting for the necessary change that must still be fought for today.

Do not ignore this book. Open it up and be changed by it.