Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger
By Lama Rod Owens
North Atlantic Books 2020; 256 pp., $17.95 (paper)
“Anger is full of wisdom,” writes Lama Rod Owens, “and with the appropriate practice, anger can actually transform into wisdom, and that wisdom is deeply liberating.” Part lived experience of a queer black man, part teaching, part call to action, Owens’s Love and Rage explores the anger that comes from hundreds of years of systemic oppression—and what it means to hold that anger in love. Owens’s voice is relevant, honest, and powerful; his work explores personal and collective trauma, and also offers a path to healing by recognizing skillful ways to work with emotion, and thus take appropriate action. He writes, “My expression of blackness is a recognition that we are all indoctrinated into systems of dominance and oppression, yet it is up to people to do the work of undoing their role in maintaining dominance. Moreover, my expression of blackness is a demand that this work be done.”
