Whitney Brown Brown 1

Let The Church Say Aman

Christina Sharpe’s In The Wake: On Blackness and Being takes apart the aftermath of

slavery in the concept of the actual meaning of a “wake”. A wake is literally defined as the

waves that a boat leaves behind as it slices through the water. Within this definition she takes

other figurative meanings and aspects of the wake and defines them in her own words. The

notion that in our present day there are the effects of slavery that are echoed through art,

current events, and the movements that we currently pursue as a race all are connected to the

environment in which we experience our wake. Through each chapter, from “The Wake” to the

“The Ship” that causes said wake, there is conversation between Sharpe and herself as she

reflects on her life experiences as a closely connected product of the era that the transatlantic

slavery began. She goes on to present the case of Black life being ignored and worked against.

We also find that this “law” that controls and aligns our way of being is a part of the wake. The

world that we feel obliged to be present in is just an product of what has happened in the past.

This law was not made for us, furthermore there a many tactics and underlying themes within

this law that were built to submerge us. This is “The Weather” Sharpe talks about, these

outside elements that play a role in the wake.

In my book review, after summarizing and analyzing the popular concepts of Sharpe’s In

the Wake: On Being and Blackness, I will now go on to reflect and evaluate on how Sharpe’s

ideals come into conversation about “The Weather” and the correlation of “wake work”.

Through events seen in the black experience, I will inform the reader of the significant role the

black church has always played “The Wake” and “The Weather” in today’s reality. Growing up
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in Southern Baptist, the church has always been my refuge, source to knowledge, and knowing

my state of being. There are underlying themes and historical content that feed into the black

church that I will shed light on.

Water in Sacred Places: Rebuilding New Orleans Black Churches as Sites of Community

Empowerment1 is an article written by Donald DeVore, who is a retired professor from the

University of South Alabama known for his study and written works pertaining to the way

African Americans seek to reverse the trends of oppression by prioritizing our pursuits. Be it

through what we finance, how we run our communities, and the monetary value we hold that

stays amongst us as a race that needs to be used to empower each other. DeVore and Sharpe

would agree on the mission of wake work. The active and intentional care and call to action

that must be dispersed throughout our community. Sharpe presents examples of what is left

after the wake in chapter 4. She portrays the many efforts made to push blacks into an

insignificant space. The multitude of police brutality cases the expected injustice that follows

because it is measured by a justice system that was made against us, furthermore, it is a system

that did not acknowledge us as a people. When ignored, when gone against, there is work that

must be done. DeVore presents a resolution that I whole-heartedly agree with. In reference to

Hurricane Katrina, the trials and obstacles that many residents and the largely effected

population never found much relief from government or independent insurance providers. It is

said that “faith-based organizations and churches have been a godsend for the metro area”,

1
DeVore, Donald E., Rebuilding New Orleans Black Churches as Sites of Community Empowerment,(Oxford
University Press, 2007)
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this is an example of wake work (763). 2 Wake work within the black church is a practice that

we have created as a people and should continue because, as Sharpe has taught us, there are

movements and forces that have left us in a state of being behind. We are literally past our

past. The black church is constant. There is a sense of value provided after being devalued. The

black church provides something to hold on to when all is lost. To reconnect ourselves to, not

only resources that are not always given, but to connect ourselves to anything, is to hold a

divine purpose.

I conclude this review influenced by Sharpe. I have found personal connection to the

way our past connects to our future. The many cases of the weather before the work better

defines the wake for me. To understand the consciousness and the understanding behind

being. To actively use our past to uplift our present through the efforts of the black church is

shown through the many sources I have shown. The collective sea history that we learn within

our lectures has lead me to further my studies in our world history and its place in modernity.

2
DeVore, Rebuilding New Orleans. 763