By TaRessa Stovall:

In the late 1960s, my teenaged mind was “blown,” as we used to say, by two books that validated my thoughts and feelings, provided a larger context in which to consider my observations and experiences, and gave me invaluable tools with which to make sense of the collision of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements; the rise of hippie flower power; and the demonstrations against the Vietnam War.

The first book to take my brain to new levels of insight and inquiry remains well-known: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, which I discovered in 1968, three years after Malcolm was murdered. Not so the second mind-altering book, which I discovered a year or so later, the urban novel, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, by Sam Greenlee.

I had never heard of Greenlee, an author out of Chicago, and my only experience with the term ‘spook,’ back in those nascent Black Power days, was hearing my father and his friends use it to describe themselves and each other in a manner that conveyed an ironic acceptance of their place in society and their disdain at accepting that place without at least a jovial sneer of protest.

I was in my urban fiction phase and hanging out with the newly-formed Black Panther Party in my hometown. Having read several issues of The Black Panther Paper and devoured all the street life-glorifying tales by Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines, I was curious about this slim book with the tagline, “The weapon–a united Black America. This is the story of what could happen when the weapon strikes…It could happen before you finish the book!” While that claim may seem quaint today, it resonated deeply when it was first published in 1969, back when many of my black peers and I not only believed in revolution, but were convinced we were the ones who would make it happen.

The story in Spook functions beautifully as a parable, conveying a significant part of the dual nature of the Black Americans response to the 1960s, especially the late 1960s when the book was published. Greenlee, an eloquent Chicago South Side griot, explained the enduring power and appeal of Spook as parable in a recent telephone interview with TheDefendersOnline. More than anything, the story is “A Brer Rabbit tale,” Greenlee said, referring to the famed trickster character, of both African and Cherokee folklore, who relies upon his wits to overcome adversity and get back at his oppressors.

The main character, Dan Freeman, “is Brer Rabbit,” Greenlee explained. “He gets over by cunning and guile. He’s not going to confront superior forces. He’s going to laugh at them. “I think people relate to [Freeman]. He’s not a superhero. He’s not flawless. He doesn’t like what he’s doing; he’s doing what he’s doing because he doesn’t see an option. He hates it. He’d just like to be laying back with his lady, listening to jazz if he could, but his attitude is ‘I can do this and I can’t take this and I’ve got to fight back I don’t like what I have to do, but I have to do it.’”

As a tenth-grader, I found Spook so intriguing that I read it three times in a row, more slowly and carefully each time. Greenlee’s spare, elegant story of urban unrest resonated on so many levels I longed for it to be taught as a course in the school that I was integrating. Hi s writing intrigued me, challenged me and in the manner of all truly educational literature, brought up new questions for every one it seemed to answer.

Freeman mastered elitist espionage tactics as the token black hired to make a statement in the CIA, hence the title, The Spook Who Sat by the Door. Freeman (pun intended) is a man with a plan: he drops out of the Agency, reinvents himself in the guise of an urban social worker, and uses his military intelligence training to transform young Chicago gang members into “Freedom Fighters.”

The book is still in print and selling on Amazon.com, where most readers gave it a five-star rating, and dozens of glowing reviews. These excerpts from some of the readers’ reviews hint at the power of Spook:

“Most important book of this young black male thinker’s life”
“I must have read this great book 35 years ago and it still pops up in my
memory…”
“Now I can see why this book has been banned by the FBI…”
“…should be required reading for any man of color…”
“This book is a must-read for any and everyone of African descent…”

I agree with that last comment, and want to take the recommendation one step further. Here are my top five reasons that The Spook Who Sat by the Door should be required reading for all African Americans, age 13 and above, every year:

5. It reminds us of the need for positive, proactive change in the African-American community. Even – or especially – in the wake of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency and all of the progress that his ascent symbolizes, there is still much work to be done and we are the only ones who can do it. Yes, the government has a role to play and yes, people who are not black in American can do much to make things better as well, but we can and should be leading the movement in a focused and proactive manner, just as Dan Freeman did.

4. Spook is a great example of how to achieve success in the “mainstream” while retaining a strong sense of self and of communal purpose. The “double consciousness” of which W.E.B. Du Bois so famously wrote in the 1903 The Souls of Black Folk, is still being explored in such recent books as Working While Black: The Black Person’s Guide to Success in the White Workplace, by Michelle T. Johnson, 2004; Children of the Dream: The Psychology of Black Success, 1993; and Cracking the Corporate Code: The Revealing Success Stories of 31 African-American Executives, by Price M. Cobbs and Judith L. Turnock, 2003.

“We’ve got to wear the mask; duality is part of our existence,” Greenlee said. In telling the story of Freeman and his mission, Greenlee illustrates a way to give the duality a sense of purpose beyond individual accomplishment and success. He also suggests a context in which to stay grounded while climbing the ladder of societal achievement. This was especially relevant in that era, when growing numbers of blacks were gaining access to the opportunities they had formerly been denied. The dramatic metaphor of Spook provides an example of how one can psychologically bridge the chasm between the white and black worlds without becoming confused or unbalanced.

3. Pretty Willie. The Black-is-Beautiful pride of the late 1960s was a sweeping celebration of the physical features that had long been deemed undesirable in a society driven by notions of white superiority and desirability. Sometimes, those black and/or biracial people whose hair wouldn’t grow into a regal Afro, whose skin was light enough to elicit questions of ancestry and whose features straddled racial categories, didn’t quite know what their place might be in this new paradigm. Enter Greenlee with Pretty Willie, the light, bright, damn-near-white gang member who struggled to find his identity and role in the revolution. Freeman gave Pretty Willie and those who looked like him a distinctive role that enabled them to use their white-looking exteriors to contribute in a unique way. Being of the light-skinned persuasion, I was delighted when a college professor/mentor reminded me of what Pretty Willie symbolized and how I could figure out how to navigate the seeming contradiction of the way I looked and the way I felt so that I, too, could make a constructive contribution to the cause.

2. Investing in the next generation. Spook is evergreen, in large part because of the central theme of taking the knowledge and expertise we acquire in the “larger” world and pouring it into our young people for a common cause. While we do not literally need to create a violent revolution as Freeman does in the story, there are countless opportunities for those who have access to educational and professional resources and experiences to “reach back” and invest in developing our young people in ways that help them to realize their potential. The wisdom of creating institutions that endure for generations seems to have been largely missed by many of the civil rights leaders and organizations, as few of them appear to be growing or grooming their successors. In Spook, Freeman pours his entire self into the gang members, recognizing that the future is theirs, not his, to claim.
As a people and as a nation, we cannot have too many reminders or examples of this simple, yet profound, wisdom.

1. As the tagline says, “The weapon: a united black America.” For all of the progress we have made, all of the challenges we have wrestled and all of the obstacles we have and continue to overcome as blacks in America, this is an area in which we still have room for improvement. Though some 96% of blacks were united in voting for Obama, and for four decades, between 85% and 96% of blacks have typically voted Democratic, there are other areas in which we would benefit from becoming more unified, particularly on the everyday, grassroots level. Spook’s notion of “a united black America” is rooted in violent revolution, but the spirit of unification is one that has kind of fallen by the wayside since we fought together against legalized segregation. This is a complex issue and a simplistic response will not do. But even in the Age of Obama, we must confront and wrestle with those attitudes and behaviors that keep us from acting in our collective self-interest much of the time.

While Greenlee doesn’t paint a candy-coated, fairy-tale version of black unity in Spook, perhaps my favorite thing about the book is that he shows black grassroots leaders giving their lives to unify their communities for what they believe are the greater good. There are many real-life examples of such commitment in neighborhoods everywhere, but as a people, our grade in this area is still “needs improvement.” The power that President-Elect Obama showed in uniting his base of support to win the highest office in the land shows what can be achieved when people come together for a common cause. Be it a small group of black urban warriors or a multi-racial, multi-generational coalition of voters-turned-activists, the ancient wisdom of “United we stand, divided we fall,” is still relevant, still necessary and as far as black America goes, still in the category of “unfinished business.” Perhaps reading The Spook Who Sat by the Door every year will rouse us to address this issue, set aside our differences and move forward together for the common good.

A few years after the book was published, a wonderful film version of The Spook Who Sat by the Door was released, and quickly yanked from, theaters around the country. Fortunately, it is available today on DVD, and serves as a wonderful complement to the book.

TaRessa Stovall is Managing Editor of TheDefendersOnline.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door is available in both book and DVD, at Amazon.com. The DVD is available through samgreenlee@sbcglobal.net.