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摘要
摘要
On April 29, 1992, Baywatch actor GregAlan Williams walked into the midst of the South Los Angeles riot and rescued a nearly lifeless Japanese motorist amidst a shower of verbal abuse and debris. An African American, Williams reflects on the obligation we bear when confronted with the mindless face of violence. Illus.
评论 (3)
出版社周刊评论
Alan-Williams is an African American TV actor, who, at the height of the Los Angeles riots nearly two years ago, deliberately set out for the epicenter of the violence, determined to try to restrain his fellow blacks' anger and, if necessary, to save victims of it. As he did so, he was mindful of the many violences done to him as a young black man growing up in largely white Iowa--and of a time, in the Marine Corps, when he had willingly participated in the beating of a fellow recruit that led to the man's suicide attempt. At the heart of the book is a searing eyewitness account of the frightful brutality and lawlessness of that day in Los Angeles. Alan-Williams saved two people: a young light-skinned black whose attackers, whom Alan-Williams drove off, mistook for white, and a terribly injured Japanese man he rescued from his smashed car. Alan-Williams's description of the actions and emotions of the occasion is gripping; his analysis of his own motives and of the senseless brutality of the attackers lacks any trace of the maudlin or the vengeful. Alan-Williams thinks clearly, standing outside the vagaries of racial politics as a man of hard-won conscience--though he ruefully admits that his own anger and resentment sometimes betray him. His small but intense book is inspirational in the best sense of that much-abused word. Photos not seen by PW . (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
The media called them Good Samaritans, those brave souls who rescued drivers trapped at the Florence and Normandie intersection- -ground zero of the '92 L.A. riots. Alan-Williams, an African- American actor, was one of them. Here, his short but impassioned report dovetails his role at the intersection with reflections on black rage, mob violence, individual responsibility, and the dangers of stereotyping. Alan-Williams hears the Rodney King beating verdict on his car radio. After his aerobics class, he drives purposefully to the already notorious intersection, his large hope being to save the victims from their aggressors and the aggressors from themselves. The actor was no saint. He had been badly bruised by racism during his Iowa childhood and understood the self-destructive rage that ensues, but he had also--as an aspiring Marine eager to show he was ``one of the fellas''--participated in a despicable group attack on a fellow-recruit. At the intersection, he plunges into the mob to rescue an Asian truck-driver, beaten to a pulp. He drags him away, drawing for support on the ``gathering of heroes'' inside his head, those who had taught him compassion (like the Mayan woman in Mexico caring for her disfigured child) and those who had taught him steadfastness (his Marine drill instructors). Perception is everything. Where Alan-Williams sees in the driver his battered childhood self, a furious teenager sees a justly punished ``Korean motherfucker.'' (The victim is, in fact, Japanese-American.) Minutes later, an LAPD squad car approaches the blood-soaked Samaritan and his charge, sees human refuse, and speeds away. But there is a happy ending. Overcoming his prejudice, Alan-Williams entrusts Takao Hirata to a ``brother'' wearing a shoulder-length ``doo'' rag, who delivers him safely to the hospital. A moving illumination of the meaning of brotherhood. It deserves to sell and sell and sell. (Eleven photographs--not seen)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
If you're a person who believed Rodney King got what he deserved, these books are not for you. In Lying Eyes, private detective Owens, who worked on King's case and kept him out of trouble before the trial, is very sympathetic toward King while still acknowledging the rigors and pressures on police officers. Owens, a former L.A. cop himself, does a terrific job of describing in detail all the evidence gathered by himself and his staff; and, astonishingly, very little of that evidence was used in the trial of the officers in Simi Valley. In the meantime, Owens depicts what he calls skulduggery by the LAPD to nail King on various other charges and discredit him going into the trials. Lying Eyes is an interesting look at the characters behind the scenes in the case, including King himself, not a hardened criminal or a role model but a man like everyone else--somewhere in between. On the other hand, Alan-Williams, an actor and playwright, finds himself at Florence and Normandie Streets at the height of the riots after the four police officers were found innocent of beating King. He saved the life of brutally beaten Takea Hiraka, a Japanese American. Alan-Williams describes the harrowing journey through the streets before finally finding another African American willing to take Hiraka to the hospital. While this was all happening, Alan-Williams flashed back in his mind to the personality-shaping incidents of his life, including his first youthful encounter with prejudice and a hazing experience in the Marines. Alan-Williams' artful book is an educational look at the emotions present in a riot situation and what real heroism is all about. ~--Joe Collins