THE WHITE PERIL | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

In THE WHITE PERIL, Omo Moses deftly interweaves his own life story with excerpts from both his great-grandfather's sermons and the writings of his father, the civil rights activist Bob Moses.The result is a powerful chorus of voices that spans 3 generations of an African American family, all shining a light on the Black experience, all calling fiercely for racial justice.

Omo was born in 1972 in Tanzania, where his parents had fled to escape targeted harassment by the US government. He did not encounter white supremacy until the family moved back to America when he was 4. Here, he learned what it meant to be Black. He came of age in a Black enclave of Cambridge, Massachusetts, became a passionate basketball player, lived in the shadow of his father's Civil Rights work but did not feel like a part of it until his college basketball career came to an unceremonious end. Unsure what to do next, he took up his father's offer to go with him to Mississippi and teach math to Algebra Project students. Omo didn't know it yet, but it was among those young people that he would find his purpose.

This book is at once a coming-of-age story, a multigenerational family memoir, an epic father-son road trip, a searing account of the Black male experience, and a work that powerfully revives Rev. Moses's demand for liberation.

In collaboration with Teaching for Change and SNCC Legacy Project, Omo Moses is joining us on the Busboys stage alongside chairman of the SNCC Legacy Project Courtland Cox to share more about Omo’s family history and “what it is like to live a life dedicated to the uplift of the powerless” (Pedro Noguera). Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Moses will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of THE WHITE PERIL will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed. 

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Omo Moses is an activist, educator, and mediamaker. He is the Founder/CEO of MathTalk, an education technology company that creates products that inspire adults and kids everywhere, particularly those in economically distressed communities, to enjoy math. Omo is a member of the MSNBC Grio 100, a Huffington Post Person of the Day, and a Barr Foundation Fellow.

Courtland Cox became a member of NAG and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while he was a Howard University student. 

In 1963 he served as the SNCC representative on the Steering Committee for the March on Washington. In 1964, he was a SNCC organizer of the 1964 Freedom Summer Project in the Mississippi Delta. Later that year he served as Program Secretary of SNCC. In 1965, Mr. Cox traveled to Lowndes County, Alabama to work with the Lowndes County Freedom Party. In 1966, Cox was the SNCC representative to the Vietnam War Crimes Tribunal, organized by Bertram Russell. In 1968, Courtland organized, with other SNCC veterans, the Drum & Spear Bookstore and Drum & Spear Press. In 1973 Mr. Cox served as the Secretary General of the Sixth Pan-African Congress and international meeting of African people in Tanzania. In 1978, Mr. Cox joined the Marion Barry Administration in Washington, DC, and served as the Director of the Minority Business Opportunity Commission. While a member of the Barry Administration, Courtland also served as the Director of the Office of International Affairs. In that capacity, Mr. Cox negotiated and supervised the construction of the Chinese style archway in Washington, DC. Mr. Cox joined the Clinton Administration as a presidential appointee and served as Director of the Minority Business Development Agency at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 2008, Mr. Cox founded CCAP Consulting, LLC.

Teaching for Change provides educators with tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world.

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Legacy Project (SLP) was begun to preserve and extend SNCC's legacy.

Host or Publisher Busboys and Poets