Workin’ on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History

Acclaimed novelist Walter Mosley spins a different yarn in Workin’ on the Chain Gang, imploring citizens to solve the social, economic, racial, and political crimes of late-20th-century civilization. Mosley takes aim at the average American’s feelings of disempowerment and–while he is quick to point out the role race plays–he also states: “The problem facing Americans today does not originate from racial conflict. The problem is the enslavement of a whole nation to the rather small and insignificant goals of the few who own (or control) almost everything.” Mosley covers a lot of ground–from Plato’s Republic to his own bid for the presidency–but through it all, his faith rests in the individual to change the world through changing his or her own world; he cites as an example his creative powers as a writer to turn fiction into reality. Mosley calls for us to “recognize some of the restraints placed on us by the organization of labor and popular culture, then to see, from a calm place, that there might be a world in our hearts that we would like to realize, first by speaking out, then by shouting out, and finally by action.” –Eugene Holley Jr.