Walter Mosley's Search for Context

By Maria Luisa Tucker, AlterNet. Posted March 24, 2006.

Walter Mosley's latest monograph, "Life Out of Context," is a cognitive journey that tackles the big questions many of us have furtively attempted to answer. How can we make a difference in a topsy-turvy world where average citizens seem so powerless? What can be done to help the masses of people suffering in poor nations? Is there an effective way for us to individually fight for global justice in a corporatized, corrupted world?

Mosley invites readers into his thought process as he attempts to answer these questions over a series of sleepless nights. He wonders how he, or anyone, can respond to the forces of globalization, exploitation and racism. In taking on such a large task, he thankfully starts from a perspective that many can relate to. He is not part of a movement; his life, he writes, is "filled with contradictions and seemingly nonsensical juxtapositions," just like the rest of us. And that's exactly why Mosley's words resonate.

As the title suggests, Mosley searches for a political context, beginning within his own professional life and moving on to the tragedies of the African continent. Ruminating on the idea of context, Mosley writes: "I am living in a time that has no driving social framework for a greater good. There are many, many disparate notions about how to make a better world, but these are just so many voices singing a thousand songs in different keys, registers and styles -- a choir of bedlam."

He argues that it's irresponsible and dangerous to leave the fate of the world up to political leaders because they "are just as likely to mislead as they are to lead." He rightly points out that our political experts "are not interested in the truth. Their only goal is to prove a point of view."

As for Mosley, he focuses on asking questions, imagining change and prompting others to use what they have -- their vote, their voices, their profession, their talents and ability to protest -- to challenge the forces of economic globalism and exploitation. Among his suggestions are the formation of a Black Party and a House of Representatives comprised of elected officials representing identity groups -- gay people, blacks, angry white men, the elderly, etc. -- rather than geographical areas.

In essence, he asks that we all re-envision ourselves and our own political context -- and he begins with himself:

MARIA LUISA TUCKER: One of the first reactions to your essay is surprise that you have written something outside the context that most readers know you in, which is fiction. How have you responded to that?

WALTER MOSLEY: Well, I know that many people see me as a fiction writer (many others see me as only a writer of crime fiction). I tell people who say this with surprise (or disappointment) that I've written a good deal of nonfictional political work. There are essays here and there in various periodicals, the collections of essays that I edited, "Black Genius," my political monographs -- "What Next," "Workin' on the Chain Gang" and now "Life Out of Context" -- and then there's the political aspect of almost all of my fiction.

MLT: What kind of responses have you gotten to your suggestion that black people create their own political party?

WM: To begin with I do not feel that African-Americans should form a political party but that we should form an interest group that hones in on the few issues that are most important to us on racial, economic and moral grounds. Many people are excited to hear someone saying something that has been on their minds too -- specifically that the two-party system is corrupt, undemocratic and exclusionary to peoples of color. There are those who claim that my stance is divisive. I understand this response, but I believe that the division is older than this nation and that the only way to come together is to come to our political senses by defining what it is we believe and then concretizing those beliefs.

MLT: The idea of creating a separate black party is not new. The Black Panthers were a political party and now there are groups like the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, which advocate the takeover of the South, and many hip-hop political organizations, which share the same demands you suggest in your essay (universal health care, revamping of the penal system, etc.). How is your idea of a black party different? Or is it different, perhaps, because it is more palatable coming from someone who is not considered a radical or a separatist?

Maria Luisa Tucker is an AlterNet staff writer.

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