Nerd Alert: Book Club Read

Recently, I started a book club, something I’ve longed to do. Our first book (my choice) was ‘Between the World and Me’ by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Best read in a long time. The books’ format is primarily Coates writing an open letter to his son, teaching the way of the world for a black man. I’m not going to do a book review. Instead, I will share what this book means to me. 

I paused between pages teary-eyed I held my 5-year-old nephew, praying (a comfort Coates never experienced) for his future. To be black in America is to be born with a wooden spoon. Black men in America face a different set of challenges than their white counterparts, this is not an opinion but a fact. But I won’t laden you with the black man’s woes. After reading, I researched discussion. One that stood out for me was this, “Why did Coates use manhood as an overlying theme? Would it have been less, equally, or more useful for him to incorporate the black female struggle as well into this text?” Surely Coates could’ve included the female perspective from the vantage point of his wife, but I don’t think it would’ve been as effective as coming from a woman. I believe it’s easier for a female to relate to the struggles of manhood than it is for a man to understand what it means to be a woman. 

‘Between the World and Me’ should be on the booklist of every senior in high school or on the forefront for reads in college. I’m sure I’ll reread this book again and again in the coming years with a new set of eyes each time, learning something new each time. 

Lessons From Living Single

I miss '90s black sitcoms. “Living Single” starred fictional Flava magazine publisher Khadijah James (Queen Latifah). James lived with her sweet and sometimes naive cousin Synclaire James-Jones (Kim Coles) and childhood friend sassy and classy Regine Hunter (Kim Fields) in Brooklyn, N.Y. Living in the same building were male counterparts handyman Overton ‘Obie’ Wakefield Jones (John Henton) and stockbroker Kyle Barker (Terrence ‘T.C.’ Carson). And who could forget James’ best friend who lived across the street unapologetic and feisty attorney Maxine ‘Max’ Felice Shaw (Erika Alexander). The show centered these six black friends as they navigated career success and maintaining a personal relationship.  

“Living Single” was outlawed in my house. Although my parents never explicitly forbid my sister and me from watching, it was an unwritten rule due to the show's content. Mentioning the word sex made my mother gasp. Truthfully, most topics discussed in "Living Single" I didn’t understand. Sleepovers at my aunt’s house allowed my sister and me to sneak and watch the show. I remember staying up just to listen to the theme song, "In a 90s kind of world I’m glad I’ve got my girls.”

Watching “Living Single” now as an adult has taught me a few lessons:

1. Friendship

My mother always told me it’s important to have one or two excellent friends. Through friendships, you learn about yourself. Khadija, Max, Regine, Synclaire, Kyle and Overton offered diversity in perspective. 

2. Compromise

Compromise but don’t sacrifice what makes you who you are. Be flexible, NOT malleable. 

3. Have fun

Work hard so you can play harder. Don’t take yourself so seriously! Loosen up and make time for playtime.

4. Hard work does pay off

Sometimes, at times the long work hours do pay off, and the blood, sweat, and tears you put into achieving your dreams are worth it!

5. Singlehood

A nurturing and loving relationship with a spouse is important. But knowing how to be just with you is even more so crucial. Find someone who will add value to your life not subtracts from your equation. Standing in your truth, sticking to your morals and principals are defining characteristics.

I Was Bamboozled

I saw Spike Lee’s Bamboozled for the first time last week at the BAMcinématek. It was a typical "Spike Lee Joint,” filled with humor and satire. The film centers Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans), a pretentious, self-loathing, Harvard University-educated black man works for CNS, a television network. The boss of Delacroix at the network is Thomas Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport), an insensitive, irritating, crude white man. Dunwitty considers himself “down” with black people and proclaims to have a better understanding of black culture than Delacroix. When Delacroix presents Dunwitty with a television script that captures black individuals in an uplifting, positive, nurturing, light, he's slapped with rejection. To be fired Delacroix creates a modern day minstrel show where black stars adorn in blackface. Surprisingly to Delacroix, the show becomes a hit, and there begins his mental bankruptcy.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to watch this film at my age now. I wouldn’t have appreciated nor understood the importance of Bamboozled when it first premiered back in the year 2000 (I was only 10-years-old). It's almost impossible to watch this film unscathed. Fifteen years after this film's debut blacks still face the same challenges, in a fraught contemporary climate where the mediation of the black image in American society is at a crucial juncture, Bamboozled’s trenchant commentary on the importance, complexity and lasting effects of media representation could hardly feel more urgent.   

I crave ‘90s television. I find myself always reverting to old sitcoms like 227, Living Single, A Different World, Family Matters because they fill a void. Black people, especially women need better media representation. Reality TV shows flooded television. If I could write a billet-doux to one show, it would be, Being Mary Jane. Lee is right we need more diversity. 

“I say, and I say it again, you've been had. You've been took. You've been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok.” 

-Malcolm X