Reviews
"The Condemnation of Little B won't make her many friends -- it is
unapologetic, one of the few recent books about the black experience that
doesn't just repeat a litany of statistics about how well middle-class
blacks are doing. The Condemnation of Little B recalls W.E.B. Du Bois’ The
Souls of Black Folk. In 1903, Du Bois mused eloquently on the end of
Reconstruction and the agricultural age. Brown's book arrives in 2002, just
as the embers of the civil rights movement have gone out and the powerful
industrial age has given way to a high-tech economy with global tentacles.
The similarity between these books and the conservative and apathetic times
in which they appear is striking. Though the tale of Little B is what will
pull in many readers, the most interesting portion of the book is Brown's
criticism of African Americans who have become co-conspirators in the
destruction and condemnation of him and other, similar young men"
The Washington Post
The Los
Angeles Times
"The
Condemnation of Little B is not your run-of-the-genre, gritty biographical
tear-jerker. Multi-faceted author Brown (a classically trained pianist…and
lecturer) has set herself a considerable challenge: to trace the historical
and political arc connecting bigotry in America from pre-Revolutionary times
to present…to show how the legacy of [Thomas] Jefferson has improvised the
chances of Little B, along with his brothers in all the Bluffs of our
abandoned inner cities. This is no scattershot diatribe. Brown’s approach is
reasoned, statistically documented and scrupulously footnoted…She is
witheringly good at exposing the myths that allow power groups, both black
and white to exploit and crush the weak with a comparatively untroubled
conscience"
The London
Observer
"Brown suggest that Lewis is a victim of ‘New Age Racism’ which seeks to
portray young black people as ‘super-predators’ while violent young white
men, such as teenagers who killed their fellow students in Columbine are
described only as ‘alienated’"
Booklist
February 15, 2002 "Little B. is the legal alias for a 13-year-old black
youth charged with, and subsequently convicted of, killing another black
youth in front of two children. The killing occurred in Atlanta just prior
to that city’s hosting the Olympics. The time and place of the killing set
in motion a high-profile trial, pressed by the prominent and politically
well-connected and a media frenzy regarding “super predators.” Brown, former
chair of the Black Panther Party, analyzes the broader social and political
context for the murder and the trial. She explores the local motivations of
the black political elite to satisfy the Atlanta corporate elite and keep
gentrification on track, and the broader tendency of the legal system to put
a black face on crime. Among the broader issues, Brown explores the
disparate sentencing for drug crimes involving crack versus powdered
cocaine, the New Age thinking of neoliberals such as former President Bill
Clinton with little differentiation from the right-wing ideology of Newt
Gingrich and others. Brown sharply contrasts Little B.’s treatment with that
of the white youths involved in the Columbine shootings, “alienated white
youths” in need of psychological treatment versus “black predators” in need
of incarceration. This is an absorbing analysis that will appeal to readers
interested in contemporary social issues". —Vernon Ford
Africana.com
"Meticulously researched and impeccably written…Brown, questioning [Lewis’]
conviction and treatment, leads readers on a complicated odyssey through one
of Atlanta’s worst neighborhoods in order to solve the mystery about who
actually committed the murder…With keen insight, Brown outlines the events
not only as the press reported them but also provides a context wholly
absent from mainstream media coverage."
Publisher’s Weekly
"In this damning, often excruciating account of racism in contemporary
American society…Brown with the eyes and ears of an investigative
reporter…spins a narrative that crackles with tension and enormous empathy.
Packed with detail, strong arguments and flashes of brilliance, Brown’s book
is extraordinarily powerful."
Essence
Magazine
"May
2002 Elaine Brown's 1994 memoir, A Taste of Power--which chronicles her rise
in the Black Panther Party--is a perennial bestseller. Her latest nonfiction
book, The Condemnation of Little B (Beacon Press, $24), takes on the
American judicial system and the Black middle class as she analyzes the
tragic case of Little B, a 12-year-old man-child on death row in Atlanta for
murder. She not only makes a convincing case for the boy's innocence but
sheds light on the corrupt billion-dollar prison industry.."
Black
Issues Book Review
"The Condemnation of Little B…issues a terrifying wake call to all who write
off increasingly demonized, underrated youth. Don’t ignore this one! (named
among the 'Best of 2002' )"
Creative
Loafing Atlanta
"As if the injustice of this process were not shameful enough, says
Brown, Michael Lewis is innocent. And she makes a compelling case toward
that end, both by the force of Lewis’ own denials and by hammering at issues
and questions that the Fulton County DA’s office fought to deflect and
obscure…the case Brown makes in The Condemnation of Little B forces one to
ask just what kind deals are we striking in Georgia. On these issues, Elaine
Brown’s voice is clear, deliberate and a timely one. Can we afford not to
listen?"
Booklists
Magazine
"Brown
sharply contrast Little B’s treatment with that of white youth involved in
the Columbine shootings, as “alienated youth” in need of psychological
treatment versus “black predators” in need of incarceration. This is an
absorbing analysis that will appeal to readers interested in contemporary
social issues."
Beacon
Press
"Brown adeptly builds a convincing case that the prosecution railroaded
Michael, looking for a quick symbolic conviction. His innocence is almost
incidental to the overwhelming evidence that the case was unfit for trial.
Little B was convicted long before he came to court…Brown cites studies and
cases from all over America that reveal how much more likely youth of
color are to be convicted…and how deeply the new black middle class is
implicated in this devastating reality"
