Kayin’s life comes to a complete standstill and spirals down while giving his cousin a ride.  Kayin is stopped by 'Oklahoma's finest', and dragged from his car.  Drugs are found, not his of course, but the police only see four young Black men and drugs.  They are profiled and arrested for possession of crack cocaine.  Kayin is the only innocent party in the group, but the others, his cousin included, roll over on him.  Kayin becomes the statistic; he is shipped to one of the most dangerous prisons in the country and exposed to horrendous human behavior.  Kayin starts having nightmares.  

Bowens' creative style gives a vivid account of past and present, but it swings from  historical documents on the struggle of African-Americans, to Kayin's emotional existence, to descriptions of his extensive sexual musings, to the impossibility, before the civil rights movement of the 1960's, for African Americans to mingle with, or join white America's social groups.  Even with the many outlets, readers will get an education about Black history, the impact of slavery and segregation, the injustice of the penal system, and a positive dose of retribution.

THE EDUCATION OF BLACK DICKEY is a powerfully insightful work of historical faction - (facts with a fictional twist).   Kayin survives by hiding in a series of nightmares and hallucinations, that mysteriously  transport him to actual historical events: The Trail Of Tears, The Fugitive Slave Law, The end of reconstruction, Oklahoma land runs, 50 all-black towns, illegal castrations and hangings, Jim Crow segregation laws, attitudes & laws against marriage between blacks & whites, and The 1921 Tulsa race riot.  Bowens offers insight to the question, how do we learn to love each other?  The story is an acute history of a racially torn Oklahoma and the subsequent growth of an unsuspecting young man.  Kayin’s visits to the past have a major impact on the story and the title does come to life as Kayin struggles to survive.

Reviewed by aNN Brown
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers