Hey, it's Andrew Limbong. You know that there's nothing quite like discovering a great book,

you know, one that you see yourself in, or makes you think about the world a little differently,

or it just helps me make sense of it. Maybe this show has pointed you to a book you couldn't put down,

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Hi, it's NPR's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. In 1964, a 31-year-old salesman named Frank Stafford walked out into

the streets of Harlem and saw two policemen beating up a kid. He asked why, and the cops turned

their sights on him. James Baldwin wrote about this incident and what inspired it in a piece

titled A Report from Occupy Territory. He wrote, no one had, as yet, been charged with any crime,

but the nightmare had not yet really begun. The salesman had been so badly beaten around one eye

that it was found necessary to hospitalize him. Perhaps some sense of what it means to live

in Occupy Territory can be suggested by the fact that the police took him to Harlem Hospital

themselves nearly 19 hours after the beating.

That piece was a key bit of inspiration for today's author, Kwame Alexander, and his book of

poetry titled Light for the World to See.

It's a lyrical reaction to the murder of George Floyd and everything else surrounding it.

And he told NPR's Rachel Martin why he felt it was important to respond using poetry.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand

why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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