[PW] ? Quotations from Bowdoin Alumni (Quotation Query #650)

[John Henderson]

How about quotations from Geoffrey Canada, Bowdoin class of '74, and  
author of "Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in  
America," Beacon Press, 1995. Might add some multicultural mix.

I have seen the phrase "waking nightmare of sudden death around every  
corner" quoted from page 89 of "Fist Stick Knife Gun." The larger  
context is:
"While violence has been a factor in our slums and ghettos for  
decades, never has it been so deadly. Today children face the almost  
impossible task of making life or death decisions all alone, in a  
matter of minutes, sometimes seconds. Even those of us who have been  
lucky enough to survive enough violent encounters to have gained an  
amount of expertise in dealing with violence find the current codes  
of conduct to be so harsh, capricious, and variable that it makes it  
almost impossible to help young people cope with the everyday  
violence they face on the streets and in schools. Today many children  
grow up in a waking nightmare of sudden death around every corner."  
-- p. 89

And I've seen another phrase quoted from his second book, "Reaching  
Up for Manhood," Beacon Press, 1997:
"There are five words that have gotten more boys into trouble than  
anything else I know: "What's the matter—you scared?" -- p. 17

The Current Biography Feb. 2005 article on him began with this  
quotation:
“We are in a state of war in the inner cities,” the educator, author,  
and public advocate Geoffrey Canada told David Holmstrom for the  
Christian Science Monitor (June 5, 1995). “I call it American’s  
secret war against itself, . . . and the war’s chief victims are  
children.”

John Henderson
Ithaca College Library
jhenderson at ithaca.edu