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The Silence of Our Friends

Mark Long,

Jim Demonakos (Goodreads Author),

Nate Powell (Illustrator)

3.86 · Rating details · 3,971 ratings · 461 reviews

In 1960s Texas, a white family from a notoriously racist neighborhood and a black family from its poorest ward cross Houston's color line, overcoming humiliation, degradation, and violence to win the freedom of five black college students unjustly charged with the murder of a policeman.

The Silence of Our Friends draws from the childhood of Mark Long, who, with co-author Ji ...more

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Paperback, 201 pages

Published January 17th 2012 by Holtzbrinck Roaring Book Press First Second

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· 3,971 ratings · 461 reviews

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Oct 13, 2018 Calista rated it really liked it

Shelves: bage-mature, comics-graphic-novel, 2012, diversity, genre-nonfiction, histiorical, i-first-second, bage-young-adult, genre-memoir-biography, genre-drama-tragedy

I'm reading this in conjunction with March Vol. 3. I realize that I don't know a whole lot of what happened in the 60s, but the more I learn about this struggle, the more I am amazed by the bravery of a people who stood up and claimed the right to vote. They put their life on the line.

There was a war going on in the south. People lost their lives and suffered horribly. People can be so vicious. That bothers me. Much of what I see and hear today reminds me of the hate and violence from these his I'm reading this in conjunction with March Vol. 3. I realize that I don't know a whole lot of what happened in the 60s, but the more I learn about this struggle, the more I am amazed by the bravery of a people who stood up and claimed the right to vote. They put their life on the line.

There was a war going on in the south. People lost their lives and suffered horribly. People can be so vicious. That bothers me. Much of what I see and hear today reminds me of the hate and violence from these historic days. I sure hope the violence doesn't come back. I can't imagine anyone wanting to return to these horrible days. Sometimes I feel much to fragile for this world. Yet, the most delicate flower can survive in some harsh places at times. So, I guess I can too.

This is a story set in Houston TX in the 60s. Again SNCC is involved. They were truly pushing for the right to vote and they got the word out. There is a huge riot and the cameraman gets some of it on tape. He and a leader in the SNCC become friends and their families meet, which is dangerous for both sides back in those days. They are in a bigger riot where 2 policemen die. They actually are shot by policeman and blame black men in the dorms at the time. The camera man sees this and has to give an eye witness account.

The title "silence of our friends" is from a Dr. King speech. The SNCC man and the camera man have a fragile friendship. The cards are down and the camera man is scared of getting involved. He and his family are being threatened too. He is summoned to court and he does do the right thing, but it took the court to force the truth out of him. He was not willing to give his life the way the freedom fighters were, at first.

This is a powerful story. I hope we have grown from this, but really, I don't know if we have. I don't know if this story is really over. These people we thought had changed, are still here and they are still voting. Only now do they speak up and we hear what they really think.

These little novels are powerful in filling in gaps of recent US history that many of us don't know, those of us after the 60s were over. It is a reminder of the possibility people have and what some of us are capable of stooping too. ...more

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Sep 27, 2013 juicy brained intellectual rated it did not like it

Shelves: do-not-own, comics-and-graphic-novels

just what i was waiting for, a graphic novel about the civil rights movement framed around the white experience

to be fair, i'm sure that it's a deeply personal story for mark long, considering it's about his father and his own experience growing up in 1968 TX. maybe it's a gross kneejerk reaction on my part that i just can't seem to get over, but i cannot fathom the necessity of a whole novel, albeit a graphic one which is obviously more condensed, about white people dealing with black racism. i ...more

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Jan 09, 2012 First Second Books rated it it was amazing

Shelves: first-second-publications

There are a few stories about the civil rights movement we all know, and this isn't one of them.

Yet.

One of the things that I found most interesting about this book (besides that Nate Powell's art is gorgeous -- as always!) is just how much of an unknown story this is. We all know about the civil rights movement -- that's what grade school was for -- but when you start reading about everything that was going on in the sixties, it turns out that Rosa Parks and sit-ins are only a part of the whole ...more

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Jul 26, 2018 Perri rated it really liked it

The title comes from Martin Luther King "In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends". Goosebumps. At the end Long explains that his book is based on his family's experience in Houston, Texas 1968-an explosive time in the civil rights movement. Certainly not a definitive book, but adds a slice of understanding for that part of our nation's ugly history, and the illustrations are terrific. ...more

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Jul 29, 2014 Malcolm rated it really liked it

Shelves: graphic-novel, history-north-america

The title draws on one of Martin Luther King’s more pointed but widely quoted comments: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” But it is a barbed comment – the silence of not using and perpetuating the language of oppression or the silence in the face of that language being used. In this wonderful (and fabulously drawn) tale of the civil rights movement in Houston, we get both kinds of silence, in a story where a local but new to town televisi The title draws on one of Martin Luther King’s more pointed but widely quoted comments: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” But it is a barbed comment – the silence of not using and perpetuating the language of oppression or the silence in the face of that language being used. In this wonderful (and fabulously drawn) tale of the civil rights movement in Houston, we get both kinds of silence, in a story where a local but new to town television reporter befriends an African-American college professor, community leader and significant player in the local SNCC. This is a very real and human friendship run through with tension and contradiction, on both side.

Wrapped up in the tale of protest in Houston’s Third Ward and police assault on a dormitory at the (historically Black) Texas Southern University the book explores the growing friendship between Long’s family (the journalist in question was his father) and Larry Thompson’s, the TSU professor. In both cases they need to confront the personal aspects of the ‘racial divide’ that have developed in their families, the costs within their local residential circles of the friendship and in Long’s case the potential professional costs and ethical issues when he is summonsed to testify and have his news film used as evidence in the trial related to the shooting of a police officer during the attack on the dormitory. The killing, it turned out, was one of ‘friendly fire’ – a police ricochet.

It is not, however, the major tale of the TSU events that makes this book so compelling and powerful (although this little told tale of civil rights struggle needs telling) but the small and mundane moments of the family and wider events that gives depth to the need for the civil rights struggle; the random acts of drivers who run down black kids on bikes, of redneck customers who queue jump and abuse blacks in ‘white’ stores, of kids who when they first meet touch each other’s hair because this is the first time they have played with white/black kids. To their credit, the authors also have the families doing things that are the mundane things of life – crabbing, watching the Saturn Five launch…. these are characters with depth (and I suspect there is a great and equally mundane set of tales of this kind that could be told; I’d like to know more about Long’s blind sister Julie in all of this – she seems to problematize/disrupt simplistic readings of many of the issues throughout the story).

The story is great, the art (all power to Nate Powell there) is superb; it is these kinds of things that remind me that comic books….. sorry, graphic novels, can be a powerful and important form and open up our past in ways that many ‘professional’ historians (mea culpa) struggle to do. ...more

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Aug 26, 2017 Eilonwy rated it liked it

Shelves: diverse-characters, graphic-novel, non-fiction

I'm not really sure what to make of this one. It's an earnest memoir about author Mark Long's childhood in Houston in the 60's, when his dad worked as a TV reporter covering race issues and befriended the one black man who was willing to talk to him.

On the one hand, the tensions between whites and blacks are starkly shown in sad and disturbing incidents, and the fact that these two men are able to bridge that gulf at all and introduce their families to each other is really touching and inspirin ...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Mike rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, moral-issues, graphic-novel, factual, real-life-character, race-civil-rights

I'd recommend this to readers who are looking for a factual/historical account of the Civil Rights movement, but I didn't think it had the emotional investment and power of books like Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry and To Kill a Mockingbird. However, the artwork did, at times, create powerful imagery which added to the story.

I did read it in one sitting, so that might have influenced my opinion. When I was done, I wished there would have been another 100 pages or so to delve into the families a bit ...more

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Aug 27, 2015 Mississippi Library Commission rated it really liked it

Shelves: comics-and-graphic-novels, fiction, diversity, history-historical, staff-reads

Graphic novel fan? Of course. Civil rights buff? Yes, indeed. The Silence of Our Friends is a strong offering from First Second Books. It tells an important and interesting story about the struggle for civil rights in Texas, made even more engaging by its obscurity. Pair this with John Lewis's March: Book One for a well-rounded look at the civil rights movement portrayed in graphic novel format.

...more

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May 21, 2018 Kevin Shepherd rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: race-social-justice, graphic-novel, own, fiction, short-reads, reviewed, young-adult, politics, crime, history

The Silence of Our Friends encapsulates a sympathetic white perspective of the American civil rights movement in Houston, Texas circa 1967. Taken as such, as a bystander's chronicle, it's incredibly well written and drawn. This isn't a definitive accounting of shameful American history, but rather an epilogue written by an eye witness. That's where this novel is successful. Where this novel falls short is in its attempt to portray a black point of view. At those points the story becomes cliché. ...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Edward Sullivan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: graphic-comic-narrative, civil-rights-movement

A powerful, semi-autobiographical story of racial tensions in late 1960's Dallas that raises tough question and offers no easy answers. ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Matt rated it it was amazing

Very interesting story in American History. So much of the ignorance of today could actually be solved if we address our history.

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Sep 11, 2011 Dani Shuping rated it it was amazing

Shelves: graphic-novel

Every so often a book will come along that will challenge you, that will make you think, and that will hopefully leave you a bit better after you’ve read it. And this is just one such book. And yes some people are probably thinking that’s high praise for a graphic novel, but the story will give you chills within the first three pages and suck you in and not let you go until the very end of the story.

It’s 1968 in Houston, Texas and the fight for civil rights is heating up. Young Mark Long’s fathe Every so often a book will come along that will challenge you, that will make you think, and that will hopefully leave you a bit better after you’ve read it. And this is just one such book. And yes some people are probably thinking that’s high praise for a graphic novel, but the story will give you chills within the first three pages and suck you in and not let you go until the very end of the story.

It’s 1968 in Houston, Texas and the fight for civil rights is heating up. Young Mark Long’s father, Jack Long, is the local TV station's race reporter and he’s embedded into the third ward, one of the poorest parts of the town. Jack is attempting to cover the events occurring in town, such as the expulsion of the the SNCC (student nonviolent coordinating committee) from Texas State University, and do justice to the people that he’s covering. He’s saved at one event by Larry Thompson, a local black leader, and the two become friends and their lives intertwine. One white family from a notoriously racist neighborhood in the burbs and one black family from the poorest ward in Houston, come together and find common ground in a conflict that threatens to tear the city apart. But before the end it may all come crashing down with the arrest of the TSU five. Which will be the loudest before the end, the words of hate or the silence of friends? This semi-autobiographical tale is based upon true events of Mark Long’s father.

One of the problem that I normally see with autobiographical stories, like this one, is that they often try to give the reader to much information about the story and invariably the reader gets lost or there are moment that leave us wondering why we’re supposed to care about the story. But this book...this book doesn’t have that issue. The authors have focused the story upon specific events of the race issues affecting the town in a given time period and give you enough information that you understand where the characters are coming from, but it never lets you wander away from what the focus of the story is. And more importantly you don’t ever feel like you’re missing out on something.

My favorite part of the storytelling though is how we get to see the story from two different perspectives--a white family from a racist neighborhood and a black family from one of poorest areas of Houston. Living in many ways on opposite sides of the world and yet we get to see the overlap and the differences between the two families clearly. And while that may sound like a cheesey way or stereotypical way of telling the story, Mark Long and Jim Demonakos tell the story in such a deft manner that you don’t really see it being told that way. You see the characters as real people. You get to understand a bit of what they went through, the troubles that each family faced for the actions they took and didn’t take, and that you want to know them in real life--just so that you could learn more from them. One last thought about the story--the title of the book comes from a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. "In the end, We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” And this book does justice to those words.

Nate Powell’s artwork is absolutely gorgeous. It’s done in his typical grace/style of capturing the human form oh so perfectly and it seems like this time he’s gone even further in his use of shading to give us the beauty of all different types of skin tones, each character’s is unqiue. His artwork is perfectly suited for this story capturing the range and intensity of emotions--the sorrow, the joy, and the fear that sends chills down your spine. That intensity, that feeling of life that he captures in their faces really makes them come alive. And the last pages of the books are some of the most powerful of the book. It seems like a rather basic layout of people walking in the street, with a closeup so that you can see the people’s skin tones--both black and white, and you can see their faces. But then he starts pulling back and all you can see are forms of people all different sizes, both genders, and all muted gray. No race and no color to divide them, just one people.

You can’t help but feel moved by this story and you can’t walk away unchanged. The combination of story and art works perfectly in capturing this event and this time period. I’m predicting this book will be one of the best graphic novels of the year, perhaps even one of the best books of the year.

A review copy of this book was provided by Gina at FirstSecond ...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Mark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: graphic-novels, coming-of-age, courtroom-drama, historical-fiction, crime-and-punishment, family, young-adult-literature, re-read

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

Set in a racially-divided and charged Houston, in 1968, this graphic novel follows two storylines: Jack Long, a white television news reporter, covering the the events around civil rights protests in the city, and Larry Thompson, an African-American teacher at Texas Southern University, who is an organizer of the protests. The two form an uneasy and unexpected friendship, and their paths intersect both in ...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Jen Bigheart rated it really liked it

Giving away 5 copies: http://tiny.cc/rra9o

Set in Houston, Texas, Silence of Our Friends takes place during a time where racial tensions are high and people's patience is at an all-time low - 1968. Jack is a local television newsman assigned to report on "racial news." After a police officer is shot and killed during a non-violent rally at Texas State University, the town is in an uproar and people start pointing fingers. Actually, all fingers are pointing to five innocent African-American men. J ...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Joella rated it liked it

Shelves: graphic-novel, yalsa-best-of-the-best-2013

This is a nonfiction graphic novel about a small period of time in Houston, Texas in 1968 when life was pretty tense due to the civil rights struggle. It is the story of two men–one who is white and one who is African-American–and how they came together to try to break the race barrier in their neighborhoods. Of course there is more to the story than that. Each family is also portrayed and readers learn a bit more about the dynamics of the family behind each man.

I enjoyed reading about these sto ...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Raina rated it really liked it

Shelves: biographical, historical, adult, graphicnovel, graphic-memoir

This is a very specific story.

For some reason, when I was reading about this book prior to reading it itself, I had the impression that this was a more comprehensive story about the civil rights struggle in one particular locale. Instead, it's a very personal story about a couple of families and one particular trial after one particular incident. Which doesn't make it a bad book, of course - it just wasn't what I'd expected.

I appreciated the depiction of what being a "race reporter" (I think I ...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Samantha Tai rated it liked it

Shelves: yalsa-2013-hub-reading-challenge, graphic-novel, 2013

This graphic novel is based on the author's father's experiences being a newscaster in Texas during the Civil Rights movement. Jack Long is the newscaster who films the sit-in by Texas Southern University African American students and civil right activists after the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was banned from campus. This non-violent protest became violent after an undercover policeman was shot and police stormed the men's dormitory. It was believed that the policeman was shot by s ...more

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Feb 21, 2017 Kirsten rated it it was amazing

Shelves: graphic-novels, fiction, from-library, race-and-racism, historical, memoir

This is an impressive graphic novel that tells the true story of the TSU Five and civil rights in Houston from the dual viewpoints of a black professor and a white television news man. The story a somewhat fictionalized account of real events in which Mark Long's father was involved. Police opened fire on the TSU dormitories, and one officer was killed; it was Long's father's testimony that demonstrated that the officer had been killed by friendly fire and helped acquit the black man who was arr ...more

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Mar 27, 2013 John rated it really liked it

This is (mostly) history done right, which doesn't happen often enough in graphic novels. This is an affecting portrait of the segregated south told from both sides of the divide. This is a quick read, though it is 200 pages long, in part because so much rides on the great Nate Powell who shows rather than tells much of the story. This is a little ironic given the title comes from MLK's "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Powell silently g ...more

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Dec 23, 2017 Sian Lile-Pastore rated it really liked it

Impossible not to compare this to the March graphic novels - it even has the same illustrator. This is told mainly from a white perspective, and while it is interesting and also a personal story from the authors own life, it doesn't have the power or gravitas of March. Great to read alongside each other. ...more

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Nov 25, 2013 Zoe's Human rated it it was ok

This came across as flat and unemotional. It felt more like a recap of the story than a fully developed story.

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Aug 09, 2016 Tatiana Malone rated it it was ok

I like story book about civil right.
That good long story happen to they.
I really love a story about happen. Rhys same happen before

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Mar 13, 2020 matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I had never heard of the TSU incident before this book. At times, the narrative seemed to get lost in an effective construction of setting and mood. I found myself having to re-read sections because of what I initially thought were unfinished or contradictory strands. The pace of the last 20 pages is especially quick and compelling. I love the detail of weaving important quotes and ideas into the dialogue of the characters: it's a subtle effect that I would have missed if not for the epilogue. I ...more

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Aug 07, 2017 Critterbee❇ rated it really liked it

Shelves: net-g, history-nonfiction, graphic-novel

This story is taken from events that ooccured in Houston, Texas, about 50 years ago.

quote from
The TSU Riot, 50 years later What really happened that night in 1967, and what does it mean for Houston?
Alex LaRotta, for the Houston Chronicle May 16, 2017 Updated: May 17, 2017 9:02am

"Local and national newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, labeled the incident a riot. Visit the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas History Online, and there, under "Riots," a brief description This story is taken from events that ooccured in Houston, Texas, about 50 years ago.

quote from
The TSU Riot, 50 years later What really happened that night in 1967, and what does it mean for Houston?
Alex LaRotta, for the Houston Chronicle May 16, 2017 Updated: May 17, 2017 9:02am

"Local and national newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, labeled the incident a riot. Visit the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas History Online, and there, under "Riots," a brief description reaffirms parts of the prevailing narrative: On the night of May 17, 1967, TSU students rioted. (They were black.) Police officers responded. (They were mostly white.) All of which resulted in thousands of shots fired, the arrest of nearly 500 students, traumatic injuries on both sides and the tragic death of a rookie police officer, Louis Kuba. (He was white. And young. And an expectant father.)

What was often left out of press coverage is that the students weren't actually rioting. There were no reports of looting, destruction of property or mass resistance of arrest, all essential hallmarks of a riot.

More accurately, this was a protest, followed by the alleged throwing of debris at a police car, followed by a police invasion of campus, followed by an isolated shooting of a police officer, which then escalated into an Alamo-scale shootout — all of which, while complex, does not constitute a riot.

Nor was there much discussion on how the so-called "TSU Five" — the five students charged with conspiracy and incitement to riot — were exonerated due to insufficient evidence.

Or that Officer Kuba was shot and killed with a .30 caliber bullet, which was not only incompatible with confiscated guns from the dormitory, but, in fact, indicated HPD ricochet fire, confirmed in ballistic and coroner reports.

Nevertheless, most reports confirm that HPD fired somewhere around 3,000 rounds into Lanier Dormitory. That was followed by a police raid which caused tens of thousands of dollars in property damage."

*eARC Netgalley ...more

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Mar 07, 2018 Mario Ulloa rated it really liked it

The book I read was “The Silence Of Our Friends” I would give it an 8.5/10 it is a very interesting book but I will say right now racism is touchy subject for you this is no the book for you, with that out of the way this book is about how in the 1960’s Texas was a racist place. I won't give up to much about this book you will have to read the book to find out what I’m talking about, The Silence Of Our Friends is about how in a place where blacks and whites hate each other one white family accep ...more

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Aug 28, 2017 Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: comics, read-in-2017, history-biography, historical-fiction

Before I start this review, I want to add a quick caveat: as far as I can tell, the creators of this comic are all white (and the main writer, Mark Long, is the son of the white news reporter depicted in this story). That being said, I was a bit dubious at the "white guy is not a dick to black people" story that makes up this comic's plot - those stories often feel like they're pandering to white readers and their feelings. I still gave this book a higher rating because I did enjoy reading it, b ...more

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Oct 16, 2013 Lauren added it

Shelves: graphic-sequential-art, us-history

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

4.5 stars - rounded up

A strong semi-autobiographical narrative surrounding events in Houston, 1968. The book is constructed around two families, one black and one white, in deeply divided Texas during the Civil Rights movement. Long relates the story of his father, a white news reporter, who befriends a professor at Texas Southern University and a civil rights activist, on ...more

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Apr 06, 2016 Raquel Castro rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Just another story about how white allies "suffered" for supporting the fight for POC's rights.
I'm tired of this extremly outrageous white-washing of oppresion that white people performed during history.
Also, the authors portray the families from very racist perspectives: while the white family is loving, caring, and supportive, the black family is shown as rude and even violent. For example, they fight a lot, the father hits his son, etc.
Basically, the portray the white family as the good one, ...more

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Jul 29, 2017 Abriana rated it it was ok

This was just okay. I was expecting a lot out of it, and it didn't really deliver for me. I think the sketchy style of the art was hard to follow sometimes. The scrawled lettering that was supposed to represent distant voices I think threw me off a lot of the time. I'm from Houston, so I liked reading about events that took place in an area I'm familiar with. Also, the "they shot King" page was great. All in all, just okay though. ...more

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Nov 06, 2018 Paul rated it really liked it

This is a powerful graphic novel drawn by Nate Powell, the same illustrator who did the three March books. I appreciated the musical references and the key scenes that flesh out each of family members.

Highly recommended.

Full review here: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/11/06/th...

All my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog ...more

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Madison Mega-Mara...: #23 The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long	1	3	Mar 16, 2015 08:11PM
2013 Hub Reading ...: The Silence of our Friends	1	6	Mar 21, 2013 11:46AM