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No secrets, No lies: How Black Families Can Heal From Sexual Abuse
by Robin D. Stone Broadway Books, April 2004 $23.95, ISBN 0-767-91344-2
Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins Routledge, February 2004 $26.00, ISBN 0-415-93099-5
The theme that binds two new nonfiction works is silence: the silence that shrouds the topic of childhood sexual abuse in the black community, leaving many of its victims to suffer alone; and the deadly quiet that belies the existence and debilitating effects of gender bias and heterosexism among African Americans people.
In an era when many self-help books offer road maps for attaining professional success and finding a husband, it is commendable that No secrets, No lies by Robin D. Stone deals with an issue as violent, ugly and hidden as childhood sexual abuse.
Stone, a journalism professor at New York University and a former editor for Essence and The New York Times, eases the journey of those in need of her book by writing in plain yet powerful prose. Stone tells those who have suffered such assaults that they must face their experiences in order to heal. She takes the reader by the hand, interspersing "fast facts" about sexual abuse in our community...