Pride: The Seven Deadly Sins Michael Eric Dyson OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (cid:0)(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) (cid:0)(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) Michael Eric Dyson (cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8) Joseph Epstein (cid:9)(cid:6)(cid:10)(cid:4)(cid:1) Robert A. F. Thurman (cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:15) Wendy Wasserstein (cid:16)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:4)(cid:3) Phyllis A. Tickle (cid:16)(cid:12)(cid:17)(cid:14)(cid:14)(cid:13)(cid:6)(cid:8) Francine Prose (cid:18)(cid:17)(cid:19)(cid:14) Simon Blackburn F or over a decade, The New York Public Library and Oxford University Press have annually invited a prominent figure in the arts and letters to give a series of lectures on a topic of his or her choice. Subsequently these lectures become the basis of a book jointly published by the Library and the Press. For 2002 and 2003 the two institutions asked seven noted writers, scholars, and critics to offer their own “meditation on tempta- tion” on one of the seven deadly sins. Pride by Michael Eric Dyson is the seventh and last book from this lecture series. Previous books from The New York Public Library/Oxford Univer- sity Press Lectures are: The Old World’s New World by C. Vann Woodward Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America by Robert Hughes Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare’s Macbeth by Gary Wills Visions of the Future: The Distant Past, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow by Robert Heilbroner Doing Documentary Work by Robert Coles The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet by Freeman J. Dyson The Look of Architecture by Witold Rybczynski Visions of Utopia by Edward Rothstein, Herbert Muschamp, and Martin E. Marty. (cid:0)(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:4)(cid:15)(cid:6)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:16) Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster (2006) Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? (2005) Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye (2004) The Michael Eric Dyson Reader (2004) Why I Love Black Women (2003) Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion (2003) Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur (2001) I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. (2000) Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line (1996) Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture (1996) Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X (1995) Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism (1993) P r i d e The Seven Deadly Sins Michael Eric Dyson The New York Public Library 2006 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2006 by Michael Eric Dyson Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dyson, Michael Eric. Pride : the seven deadly sins / Michael Eric Dyson. p. cm. — (The seven deadly sins) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-516092-5 ISBN-10: 0-19-516092-4 1. Pride and vanity. 2. Deadly sins. I. Title. II. Seven deadly sins (Oxford University Press) BV4627.P7D97 2006 241'.3—dc22 2005021049 Interior illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith / www.marlinaagency.com 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To a Quartet of Dear Friends Who have taught me and the world so much about pride The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Great Leader and Oratorical Genius Who taught me and millions that “I am somebody . . . I am . . . proud. I must be respected.” Ms. Aretha Franklin The Queen of Soul and Spiritual Genius Who taught me and millions to demand “Respect” and to sing “I’ve got a strong will to survive / I’ve got a deeper love . . . / Deeper love inside and I call it / Pride.” Mr. Stevie Wonder Protean Wordsmith and Performing Genius Who taught me and millions that “This world was made for all men . . . All people / All babies / All children / All colors / All races.” Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. (1937–2005) Legendary Lawyer and Rhetorical Genius Who taught me and millions how to reclaim “the pride that was robbed by the institution of slavery.” And to Mr. John H. Johnson (1918–2005) Media Titan and Entrepreneurial Genius Who taught me and millions on the pages of Ebony and Jet to take “pride in themselves by presenting their past and present achievements to America and the world.” This page intentionally left blank