Eyes to My Soul: The Rise or Decline of a Black FBI Agent

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Summary: Tyronne brings light to our darkness
Review: I am a 55 year old white male who lives in Maine.I hold a Masters Degree in Criminology.For the last ten years I have organized a conference at Bates College in Lewiston Maine,that looks at Crimes committed by the F.B.I..After reading EYES TO MY SOUL we decided to bring Mr. Powers to speak about the book and his experiences at the F.B.I. .He along with Dr. Frederick Whitehurst,the F.B.I. lab whistleblower,spoke at Bates in the spring of 1998.For people interested in follow up reading about crimes committed by the F.B.I. I want to suggest the following books.AGENTS OF REPRESSION by Professor Ward Churchill;TAINTING EVIDENCE by John Kelly;TAPS AND GAVELS BY ALEC CHAIRNS;THE FRANKLIN CONSPIRACY by John de Camp;ORDERS TO KILL by William Pepper;BREAK INS DEATH THREATS AND THE F.B.I. by Pulitzer prize winning journalist Ross Gelbspan.Educate yourself about an American Death Squad.

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Summary: Required reading for African-Americans and others in empathy
Review: I have been an avid reader for about two years. I always enjoyed reading but not as much as I have since I started reading mostly books from Oprah's list or the literature of African and African American authors. I bought this book shortly after my son-in-law expressed a long held desire to become an FBI agent. Since he is from Haiti and is not very knowledgeable about the opression faced by American blacks. I thought that this would be a big mistake. Eyes To MY Soul not only confirmed by belief, but gave me quite an enlightening experience. It gives a powerful reminder of what our ghetto brothers and sisters face each and every day. Even more importantly, it is an autobiography so it does not give you alot of trumped up horror stories just for shock value. Mr. Powers LIVED THIS LIFE, and was able to rise up from his childhood circumstances and uplift others of his race with him. I admire and respect this man highly and consider it a privilege to have read his book. I have been telling everyone about how great this book is and especially my son-in-law. At present he is pursuing a masters degree in Informational Technology so he hardly has time to read anything else. However, I intend to keep after him until he has read this excellent story of a Black man's struggle to rise above racial confines.

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Summary: Thought provoking and excellent reading material for all.
Review: I heard about "Eyes To My Soul" from a friend. My friend told me how well the book had been written and she encouraged me to read and purchase the book. I am glad that I accepted her advice. Reading the book was very thought provoking. I decided to add this book to my son's required reading list. Tyrone Powers is an excellent and very intelligent writer. It is obvious that he is very well read. Tyrone's style of writing made me feel as though I was encountering an out of body experience. I was able to visiualize each scene as though it was really happening. This book will make you laugh, cry, happy and sad. Eyes To My Soul should be required reading in all schools and homes! To those who have not read the book, "You are missing something that is good for your SOUL."

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Summary: Read it, and read others
Review: Such a shame. What a force for progress this man and his book could have been.
There is so much good in him and in this work. His deep love and respect for his mother and for motherhood. His urgings that education is the bedrock of progress. His hatred of drugs. His disgust for the senseless, conspicuous consumption of material goods as a false display of success. His gut-wrenching guided tour through the streets and minds of the ghetto and its subculture of drugs, violence, death, and mourning. His accounts of racism within the FBI. His disgust with the failure of inner city schools. His passion for his family. These are the bedrock values that can lead any person or people to true success.

Yet there is so much here that is harmful to our society and African Americans in particular. His incessant message that whites are responsible at a causal level for virtually every malady suffered by Black America, including his father's rape of his own daughter and his brother's decision to use and sell drugs, and to kill people. His claim that an ultra secret, anti-African American conspiracy exists, which he does not define but which is apparently both international yet American at its heart. But most of all by his condemnation of African Americans who choose a lifestyle or who hold opinions that differ from his view of what a Black should do or be. These are the messages of a failure mentality, and they lead to further wasted lives.

The many polarizing lectures he delivers in this book are comprised 95% by passionate statements of his beliefs, and 5% by assertions for which he provides some factual support. This mixture is similar to the writings and speeches of other zealots from white racists to Marxist revolutionaries. The technique is very effective. You start with a fact, ideally one that fires the emotions of the audience, and then follow with a string of loosely connected points that steadily and imperceptively diverges and departs from reality. The original and occasional fact lends an air of legitimacy to the unsupported major part of the work which nonetheless appeals emotionally to the target audience.

His overview of the drug problem is one example. He asks why we don't strike it where it's grown, in the same way that we have attacked nuclear weapons facilities and ammunition depots. He concludes that the reason is someone very powerful wants the drug business to remain, because they are profiting from it. He further claims that this power also wants drugs to flow, because stopping it would free the inner city from its drug-induced stupor. The inhabitants, "no longer anesthetized and miseducated", would then realize that they are being "targeted for drugs and alcohol, cigarettes and pork, and heart attacks, strokes, and AIDS." This book is filled with his fixation on conspiracy and devoid of other explanations. He does not mention that there may be an awful lot of people who would have reasonable objections to our bombing coca fields in Bolivia and Peru. He has no room for the many, many other views on this complex, international issue.

In fact, Mr. Powers's intolerance for other views may be his most destructive trait. He insists that all Blacks who differ fundamentally with him are "sellouts". He cites the "unity" of the Jews as the reason for their success in defending themselves against prejudice, and says that African Americans must adopt the same strategy. He fails to acknowledge that the success of any group has been, more than anything else the result of its work ethic, especially in pursuit of education. And that this is manifested by the choices that individual people have made throughout their lives to defer pleasure and amusement for study and work, until they have earned a secure place. But closely following work ethic has been a respect for each person's right to pursue his/her own values and beliefs. To follow his example of the Jews one has only to observe the heated debates occurring in Israel, and the difficulty they have in even maintaining a majority government, because of the variety of passionately-held positions. The Jews do not practice Mr. Powers's version of unity, and neither does any other successful group. Freedom of thought and expression are central to advancement The author's caustic criticisms and name-calling of African Americans who disagree with him hurts the people whom he seems to honestly want to help.

Still, I recommend that this book be read, but followed with works of other Black authors, including one which Mr. Powers repeatedly vilifies, Tom Sowell. Do this, think for yourself, and then compare.