The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs

Peace’s story diverges from me almost immediately after you get past the Yale connection. You’re breathing it in, whether you know it or not. James Baldwin once wrote that it was a good thing there were so many churches in Harlem to act as behavioral monitors because, without the churches, the streets would run with the blood of foolish, cruel, white people.ĭelpit also quotes a scholar who has observed that racism is like smog in America. Instead, the “mainstream” must do the work to meet and understand minority children. Delpit also observes that it’s wrong to view minority children as in need of some kind of supplemental coaching to “enter the mainstream”. They are a response to oppression, an oppression that has resulted, in part, from the actions of the same paternalistic (and mostly white) people society which coined the term “culture of poverty”.

She observes that politicians who describe a “culture of poverty” are being crazily offensive.

Its author, Lisa Delpit, is a scholar who feels understandably enraged by the neglect many impoverished children endure when they should be receiving an education.ĭelpit makes a few eye-opening points right away. There’s a non-fiction book, Multiplication Is for White People, which talks about the experience of minorities in America’s schools (New Press, 2013). I had been reading a bit about race and education at the time. Naturally, when Jeff Hobbs’s book came out, it called to me. In 1998, he lived on the fourth floor of Lanman-Wright, in Yale’s Old Campus. Like Robert Peace, I attended Yale University. I’m going to talk about some upsetting things, and I may not do it in a consistently eloquent way. He is repped by CAA and Ziffren Brittenham.In the place where I work, there is a saying that goes with any discussion of diversity: “Be raggedy.” In other words, risk discomfort and irresolution.

Fuqua previously directed Olympus Has Fallen, and is on post on his next film, Southpaw, starring Rachel McAdams and Jake Gyllenhaal. The Equalizer, starring Denzel Washington, hit theaters in late September and had a strong performance at the box office, earning $34.1 million in its domestic debut. He and Rebecca Hobbs are represented by attorney Kimberly Stenton at Myman Greenspan. The latter is represented by David Black for publishing and manager Russell Hollander. The deal was negotiated by Ford and Deborah Zipseron behalf of IM Global, with CAA on behalf of Fuqua Film and Hobbs. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace will be the first project to come out of the recently announced production deal between IM Global and Fuqua Films. Sources say Hobbs’ book was creating a lot of buzz, with several producers eager to scoop up the film rights. He previously wrote the 2008 novel The Tourists.

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs