#645 Black Angel- Walidah Imarisha
This is another great selection from Octavia’s Brood. A. is a fallen angel, sent to earth as punishment for questioning God letting genocide occur. She has been left with only one wing and she walks the streets of Harlem rarely getting involved in the world around her. She is afraid of more pain, the pain of helping, of associating with a race with so much anger.
“One of the many reasons she avoided interacting with humans when at all possible. She’d already suffered enough pain for them.”
She cant always ignore the violence around her however. She came across a Palestinian man being nearly beaten to death and she intervened. Tamee was the man she saved, and in doing so she used her powerful “voice” that helped rid the perpetrators of their anger and will to so evil. Not wanting to represent the angel that she used to be, she was cold and brusque toward Tamee. That made her all the more real.
“Tamee was taken back by her callousness. She didn’t sound mush like an angel. For one thing, he had not imagined that an angel would curse. He thought there would be more love and compassion. She wasn’t really at all how he imagined an angel. She was a million times better.”
This scene set about a realization in her that maybe she should get involved. Her responsibility was to help. She was in fact an Angel of Mercy, but she could also be an Angel of Vengeance. The world doesn’t need angels it needs courage and strength. If you can help, it is your responsibility to do so.
“A. had seen so many horrific scenes since she had been cast out, so mush violence and hatred and ugliness. She had almost forgotten what else she saw when she gazed down from Heaven; self-sacrifice, immense acts of love. Bravery beyond words.”
Notable Passage: "The only way I’m like Lucifer is we were both cast out. Him into hell. Me into Harlem…same difference.”
I like this book
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