Dispatches from the Diaspora by Gary Younge

Published by Faber Price -£14.99 Gary Younge has been one of the outstanding journalists and commentators of the past 25 years. In this book, he pulls together reportage, comment and reflection to present a fascinating journey from the election of Nelson Mandela as the first black president of South Africa to the advent of Black Lives Matter. Also, along the way Barack Obama is elected the first black President of America, though as Younge insightfully reveals that was his greatest achievement. The lot of black people in America did not materially change for the better over the Obama years. Younge chronicles the 12 years he spent living in America reporting for the Guardian. The book is made up of Guardian pieces together with other contributions to the Nation, New Statesman and other publications. Younge skillfully weaves together his reportage of events like Hurricane Katrina and the shooting of black people in America with his own experience as a black person, with a young family, living in the US. The ability of the good journalist to get under the skin and dig out interesting slants is never better illustrated than in the piece on Rosa Parks - the black woman, who refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Younge reveals how another younger woman Claudette Colvin had done the same action months earlier. Colvin, though was a pregnant, unmarried teenager. Parks was a much better fit for the story, as far as the civil rights movements was concerned - married, middle class and church going. So it was Parks story that became prominent. Colvin went on to have a hard life with little respite or recognition. The hypocrisy of Britain with its empire legacy and imperialist pretensions also features. The book splits into four sections - looking at hope for change with the likes of Mandela, then how many of those hopes were unfulfilled. Then, how different interpretations can be applied to situations and how individual actions of witness can make a difference A favourite in this section was the piece on John Carlos, who made the iconic black power salute, when receiving his gold medal at the 1968 Olympics. A man, who subsequently suffered for his action but who remains unbowed. There are some excellent profile type interviews with the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Andrea Levy. Maya Angelou and Angela Davis. Younge's authenticity comes out throughout but particularly in the latter chapters of the book when he recalls his own experiences of racism in Britain and America. In an interview with racing driver, Lewis Hamilton, there is great empathy, as both grew up in Stevenage, so experienced similar racism. Younge manages to produce an authentic body of work that chronicles class and race over the past 25 years. Never sentimental but always prescient and aware as to how far society has to go in order to create a better more equal world. An excellent book from one of the best journalist and commentators of recent years.