Clark Atlanta University President Ronald A. Johnson will host a public discussion on campus Monday with journalist Marc Lamont Hill and African-American Studies professor Daniel Omotosho Black on Black's latest novel, "The Coming."

The book tells the story of the Middle Passage, through the eyes of people who endured and survived it.

“These brave souls reside deep in my spirit.  They have a righteous claim on that space,” Black said. “I am simply a vessel through which their voices cry out to our young men and women, exhorting them toward strength and courage, summoning the depths of their still-developing character in the midst of great peril—black men being killed by police, black women dying in jail, black youth invoking violence upon one another.  The wisdom required to overcome such extreme pain and chaos was produced and modeled for us centuries ago…in the coming.”

The free public discussion will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Clark Atlanta University’s Davage Auditorium.

“The Coming,” said Johnson “is a timely, clarion call from the darkest chapters of our past to our youth in a time when racial injustices and the rampant onslaught of violence against African-American youth continue to accelerate despite compelling evidence that has been captured through the use of new technologies. This book is quintessentially an idea that matters and our obligation is to embrace and apply it—with urgency and intentionality--toward solutions than will heal and build up our communities and our nation.”

A book signing will follow.

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