Mercer Island author tackles NFL, false arrests of black men

Rev. Wayne Perryman publishes new book, ‘Is Black Anger Justified? Inspired by NFL Protests.’

Rev. Wayne Perryman has been watching the recent NFL protests to end racial injustice. However, as the protests have evolved, he noticed many of the athletes were unprepared to really address the subject other than saying they wanted to protest the injustices.

“I saw that many of them were at a loss for words when they were pressed a little bit more about what they wanted to do, what they wanted to accomplish or what is the problem and why take that posture of protesting,” Perryman said.

It was this that inspired Perryman to write his new book, “Is Black Anger Justified? Inspired by NFL Protests.”

Perryman, an Island native of 40 years, is a minister who serves on the Diversity Committee for the school district and is a race relations trainer to various Eastside police agencies.

Perryman is also the author of several books, including, “Unfounded Loyalty: An In-Depth Look Into the Love Affair Between Blacks and Democrats,” “Whites, Blacks, and Racist Democrats: The Untold Story of Race and Politics Within the Democratic Party,” and “Teens & Young People Who Impacted the World.”

The 80-page book gives a historical overview of racial injustices to provide a clearer understanding of current issues.

“I use the term, ‘Is Black Anger Justified?’ based upon the things we’ve gone through and things we’re currently going through and people question why African Americans are upset over things,” he said. “I thought if I give an overview then maybe it could bring it into perspective because many of the things that I cover in the book are not covered in schools, sports or [news.]”

Throughout the book, Perryman discusses the NFL, Donald Trump and NFL players kneeling during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” false arrests and investigations of young black men, the importance of embracing white allies, the need for blacks to start doing things for themselves and more.

On the topic of police relations with African American men, Perryman included a personal case — his son, Sean Perryman. In April 2015, honor student Sean was charged with third-degree assault outside Capitol Hill’s Rhino Room bar. The surveillance footage shows his only involvement was that of a mediator and the prosecutors dropped charges, but still has the charges on his record. Sean filed a civil lawsuit to clear his name scheduled for July 2, 2018.

“I wanted to show what happened to him didn’t happen to what the stereotypical person would think of people with criminal records or people who don’t cooperate with police and high school dropouts…I wanted to show that what is happening in terms of police relationships and African Americans across the board regardless of background,” he said.

Perryman self-publishes his books so he donates them to youth organizations, schools, libraries and to young adults. Since many young people don’t learn about black history in schools, Perryman wants the upcoming generation to be informed to create a more unified society.

While black anger is justifiable, it doesn’t mean that anger should be acted upon. One of Perryman’s solutions to creating a more unified society is for African Americans to be responsible for building up their own communities.

“Beautiful, peaceful communities are built, not legislated. They’re built by the people of that community. There’s just no way white people can build an ideal community for black people. Black people have to build them,” he said. “That’s where we need to channel our energy. I put that in [the book] to show the history of blacks doing things for themselves to achieve the lifestyle that they wanted. I listed a lot of different people, what they did and the sacrifices they made to help their own people. They turned that anger into doing positive things like starting up their own businesses and schools. That message needs to be brought about again.”

The book can be found at Barnes and Noble and on Amazon.