SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Martin Luther King Jr. community center in Springfield held a discussion on black resistance to racial violence Tuesday night.

The conversation was based on information from the book, the confessions of Mathew Strong by Ousmane Power-Greene. Power-Greene is a published author and college professor who spent over 15 years researching data around racial violence and its effects on both societies at large and religion. 22news stopped by to speak with Power-Greene on what message he hopes is portrayed through the novel.

Ousmane Power-Greene, an Associate Professor in History and the Director of African Studies at Clark University said, “Hopefully people who read confessions of Mathew Strong will come away with a sense of this historic experience of African Americans, of coming together whenever there was some sort of crisis or some sort of issue around civil rights and racial justice.”

The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center hopes tonight’s conversation will help the community in resistance to racial violence.