Cleaver passed away several years ago. He made some apologies about certain things..or tried to explain where he was coming from concerning what he wrote about in "Soul On Ice". I do not have all facts...

By Cb_burns (198.109.219.254) on Monday, May 21, 2001 - 05:20 pm:

Yes, & it is an amazing book, very strong. My dad actually suggested it to me after I started a new relationship with a guy (who happens to be black).
He said I might find it intersting, especially Cleaver's perspective on ww/bm.

If anyone has an opportunity to read this book, I HIGHLY suggest it.

By Kansascity (209.242.125.84) on Tuesday, April 24, 2001 - 01:01 am:

I've still got that book: Soul On Ice....and believe that it did more harm than good.

By Roberto (152.163.205.82) on Monday, April 23, 2001 - 11:20 pm:

Mad Scientist:

You are a young man with a very inquisitive mind like another intellectual here, Hector. I read small portions of this book back in the early 1970's ( I never finish reading it). A late friend of mine suggested that I read the book to better understand the America's war against the black man. At the time I was more interested in the writings and thinking of Malcolm X and W.E.B. Dubois. Cleaver turned me off, because he along with Huey Newton and Bobby Seals talked the talk, but were unwilling to put themselves on the frontline like King, Medger Evers, A Phillip Randolph, and others. Cleaver's justification for the rape of a white woman went against my beliefs at that time, stating that the black man's enslavement and past injustices were tied to the symbolism of white women. This was just one more reason I left the "political left" of the time and "joined the system" by volunteering for a tour of duty in Vietnam (1972) with the United States Air Force. I saw enough killing on the streets of Baltimore, so what difference if I saw or killed people in the service of my country.

Cleaver and the other black revolutionaries of the time were not inclined to the thinking of cooperation across the races (although in later years he would become a converted man against violence), but the seeds of his thinking and philosophy permeates the black underclass black male thinking to this day. The unwillingness for cooperation with others, lack of focus to see themselves as the problem in their own communities, the sway away from more progressive thinkers in the black struggle, and the character assassination of Martin Luther King, Jesse Owens, and Jackie Robinson as Uncle Tom Niggers". Yes, Cleaver left his mark alright, just like Stokely Carmicheal and H.Rap Brown. They gave us regression, not progression in the evolution of black self help development and community growth. It was "they" and others like them that incited the destructive riots of the 1960's, and set back black progress to this day. Just look at our cities. ~ Roberto

By Anon2000 (207.218.73.78) on Monday, April 23, 2001 - 10:43 pm:

yes, a looooong time ago...it's a STRONG book.

By Mad_scientist (134.124.212.217) on Monday, April 23, 2001 - 03:35 pm:

Has any of you read this book? If so, please post opinions or comments.