My People is the Enemy - Paperback

by William Stringfellow (Author)

It was to Harlem that I came from the Harvard Law School. I came to Harlem to live, to work there as a lawyer, to take some part in the politics of the neighborhood, to be a layman in the Church there. It is now seven years later. In what I now relate about Harlem, I do not wish to indulge in horror stories, though that would be easy enough to do."" In this extraordinary and passionate book, William Stringfellow relates his deep concern with the ugly reality of being black and being poor. As a white Anglo-Saxon, Mr. Stringfellow does not try to speak for African Americans and Puerto Ricans in the Harlem ghetto, but, as a lawyer, he graphically underlines the failure of the American legal system to provide equal justice for the poor. And, as a Christian who lived for seven years on what the New York Times called the worst block in New York City, he challenges the reluctance of the churches to be involved in the racial crisis beyond the point of pontification.""

Author Biography

William Stringfellow was a practicing attorney and a prominent Episcopalian layman who frequently contributed to legal and theological journals. After his graduation from Harvard Law School, he practiced some years in the East Harlem neighborhood in New York City. He was a visiting lecturer at several law schools and lectured at theological seminaries across the country. Stringfellow authored more than a dozen books, including 'A Private and Public Faith', 'An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land', 'Conscience and Obedience', 'Count it All Joy', and 'Instead of Death'.