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The Hyper Marginalization of Black Fiction

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Publishers Weekly cover from Dec 2009

The other day I was reading an interview with Ishmael Reed and he said some things about Black fiction that got me to thinking.? The interview was with Jill Nelson for his new book, “Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media: Return of the Nigger Breakers.” Tell me how you REALLY feel Mr. Reed.

There is one part of the interview about Black art that stood out to me:

Jill Nelson: Why were you unable to get this book published in the United States?

Ishmael Reed: This is attributable to the state of black letters. Serious fiction and non fiction by blacks are becoming extinct, except for that which upholds the current line coming from the media owners and the corporations that all of the problems of Africans and African Americans are due to their behavior. This is true not only for literature but for black theater, film, art galleries and opinion columns as well. I saw a show of Kara Walker?s work at the Brooklyn Museum. I feel that this young brilliant artist?s growth is being stunted by museum curators, and big money capitalists. Even some white intellectuals support her most mediocre work and pit her against the great Betye Saar who uses a variety of materials and subject matter and whose work contains more depth.

This gave me something to think about, in terms of the serious, capital F fiction vs. hood lit conversation.

A little about my book background. I am a long time book list keeper. My? book list weighs a ton. And I don’t really get to read fiction often, so quirky fiction is special to me both because of my lack of time for it and its scarcity.

In fact, looking at my book list I realize that I have always had the eye and mind of an archivist (I have been working on a database of Black women artists which will be a link page on NMM then a site in its own right eventually.)

@Blacksnob Tweeted about Paul Beatty. Then @janie_crawford saw it, and I tweeted her a link to my post on Paul Beatty’s Slumberland.

Then @janie_crawford and I had a conversation about the fact that Paul Beatty needs to be on Twitter. Say? Word. I was beginning to think about where are these Quirky Black Fiction writers who have published in the last ten or so years, as newcomers?

There is a range of “Black experiences.” We are heterogeneous as shit, even if mainstream media would have folks think we are either the Cosby Show or The Wire, I know better and I would imagine that you do too.

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There is some shit that we are subjected to because of how whiteness as a social system dominates, but yes, Virgina, we are all different.
Truth be told our lives are a mixture? and we need to have a range of art that captures the variety.
The hood lit vs. official lit argument is binary, doesn’t serve our interests
and is hyper counter productive.
However, I know that certain niggafied images of Black people serves the interest of maintaining White Supremacist Patriarchal Capitalism.
More that that here, here and here.
So. It is in that spirit that I make a list of Quirky Black Fiction Writers.
Here are ten. Please add more in the comments, if you got ’em.
Danyel Smith– More Like Wrestling
Carl Hancock Rux– Pagan Operetta
Ernesto Quinonez -Bodega Dreams
Junot Diaz –Drown
Matt Johnson- Hunting in Harlem
Nichelle Tramble– The Dying Ground
Paul Beatty – Slumberland
Percival Everett – A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid (A Novel)
Victor Lavalle – Slap Boxing with Jesus
ZZ Packer– Reading Coffee Elsewhere
Zadie Smith– White Teeth

Looking forward to your comments.
Read anything good lately in general?
You have names for the list?

Juicy Butt

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I have a pair of indigo Levi’s 518’s. They are about
6 years old and I dry clean them only. They don’t
even make these anymore.

My favorite pair of jeans. Casual, dressy and snug.

By the middle of my first year of law school I lost a lot of weight.

Living off of coffee and boiled eggs can do that.

The jeans became less snug and saggy booty.

I told one of my current mentors when I started grad school,that if she saw me on the light side, then that meant that I am not doing well, and to pull me aside and check in.

I am a #petitesnack as it is, so losing or gaining anything is noticeable. But ‘chall also KNOW THAT I STAY eating. #nomnomnom.

Losing that weight allowed me to have REAL appreciation for the trauma that both people in general, and women in particular experience about NOT being able to fit into their clothes any longer, be it from gaining or losing weight.

I remember being out with my then partner, wearing saggy booty jeans, and seeing him look at my homies ass and I remember how awful that made me feel. That experience and others like it with him took a toll on my self esteem.
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Never again.

Looking back, I guess I had to go through that to know that I will not
take that shit off of anyone. Only jawns that appreciate consistently,
who say it and DO IT are on my radar.

As I have gotten older, I made a commitment to Love my body, imperfections, perfections and all. Dressing in ways that accentuate the attributes and walking like a gazelle, as Bacon Grits calls it. #weintheair

I realized that doing this is both healthy, and also really attractive to others.

The body is always changing. The first year was eggs and coffee. The second year was carbs and running. I needed to do something active so I could sit in the library for 5 hours each night.? So I began to run, up to 6 -9 miles a week, which showed me other things that the body can do.

I am happy to say, that I put on those six year old indigo Levi’s jeans on Thursday, they tyyyyyyyyyyyyyyght.? I’m eating. Its the end of the semester. I survived.

Thank you to everyone who helped me to get this far.

WoOTer.

~Love #allcityreneens

“Your Man is Lucky”

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On the train tonight, I doubled backed to go and look for an earring that I lost.

If you know me, you know my earring game is serious.

I like them. They are little artistic pieces that I can wear everyday.

So. I was on a mission.
I’m exciting the train station and a man, who was cute in a rough around the edges,? chocolate Taye Diggs kinda way says:

Taye Diggs Cousin: Your man is really lucky.

Me: I chuckled to myself and kept walking. (He has no idea I have been immersed in gender and sexual relations in Early Philadelphia this afternoon. So my mind is brimming with ideas about sexuality and race.)

We are now at the turnstile, and he is ahead of me, so he has my attention. I am trying to get out to look for my earring.

Taye😕 Why you laughing?

I hesitate, and wonder if this is a moment to push back on presumptive patriarchy. In Oakland, being snarky with a man on the street while dressed provocatively IS reason (or not) , in some men’s eyes to slap a woman in the face.? But I decided to push him a bit.

Me: Oh, I find it funny that you presume it was a man.

He stopped and thought about it.

Taye: (He didn’t flinch nor blink) Either way. It could be a woman. I mean, she lucky too.

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Taye: (Looked me dead in my face) It would be worth it, and then shuddered like he just swallowed an uncoated aspirin that gave him goosebumps.

I walk out the station. He stays behind, as his card had issues. I’m walking away and he requests to ask me one more question. I turn around and listen.

Taye: So do you?

Me: Yes, my hands are full.

Taye: You are…… Wow?!?!!?! (Looking @ me like imma? deluxe chicken snack,#desire).

Me: (I looked him dead in the grill and said) Everything that we have are gifts. None of this is “me.”

Taye: It’s not wait you have, its what you do with it.

He was right.

Me: Yessir. And? pivoted and walked away.

Ain’t that something. Here I am making assumptions about him, and he rolled right with it. #ummhmmm. Go head Black men, which ‘cho no flinching selves.

Have you addressed patriarchy with men or women in public or private lately?

If yes, how did? it go?

If you chose not to, what stopped you?

What Ha’ Happen Was…..

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Saturday I went to a function, even though I was tired. JJ Bear invited me and because she is all Love and because my outfit was hella cute. I went.

I told her girl, I ain’t hollern’ at nobody, I ain’t tripping, I just want to get out here some boombap and go home at a decent hour so I can wake up and finish reading this John Sweet and work on my Oakland proposal.

I ain’t in the house good, putting our beers in the hosts refrigerator when I ran up on this one. I ain’t seen this negro since January.

He was like, Wooow, you look like wow, you hair is out, and you ain’t wearing leggings.

JJ Bear gave me the side eye like, “umm hmmm, negro.” And I’m like naaah, I ain’t seent or spoke to him since January, really I am being honest.

I thought to myself, wow, leggings and a hat really use to be my uniform I guess.

As we were talking, the function was cool. House full of pretty Black people.

It was bugged because he remembered mad stuff about me. How I don’t believe that folks should not be touched without consent, my statement that everyone has a right to be who they are, my really progressive views about negro children and violence.

So, he invited me to dinner the next day and we went a couple days later.

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He is flirting with the idea of going to seminary and just ran a half marathon. I was struck by the way his life is full of stuff, keeping busy, being spiritually centered.

I encouraged him to go. His face lit up when he talked about studying Christian scholarship and philosophy. He is a muckety muck government bear now. The antithesis of religion and philosophy.

I encourage folks to, if it is within their means, do the work that makes their faces light up.

I personally think that a person who is moved spiritually like that, who has a leadership roles at church, is going to have to follow it or have it scratch at him for the rest of his life.

Hanging out with him reminded me of the different kind’s of chemistry that we have with people. It reminded me? haven’t ran into or spoke to SD in a hot minute. You know how you turn a corner and you think you gone run into somebody. #ummhmm. We both been busy and we had beef over a photo online. Reconciling that was awkward for us, in some ways.? I would be lying if ain’t say that I missed him.

In many ways I feel like I ran into an old friend. It was cool because he reminded how much I have changed but also stayed the same over the last 4 months.

At one point last night, I was talking about the Nightline meme on Black women. And I said that me and my crew, don’t have those issues. We date, make art,? grind to pay the mortgage/rent, read, and Love. He responded, “These women out here aren’t like you.They concerned with hair, nails and a job.”? (It thought to myself, I am concerned with boujay lotion, food and more food, luls.)

I simply responded saying saying, we here, you just have to look for us.

Funny that I enjoyed myself with this person, four months later.

Totally confirms that I don’t control outcomes.

Having My Ass Handed to Me

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Three weeks ago I sat in a professors office, as she went over my usageof comma’s, apostrophe’s, and I also had misspellings and other typos in midterm paper. Plus, I spelled an authors name wrong,? albeit consistently. Ouch!

Having been trained to write as a law student,? I learned to use comma’s differently than what she expected me to.? However,? my usage of possessives and plurals is unacceptable, and I am going to have to master this skill by this weekend. #prayforme

After about thirty minutes of sitting with her, I was like, well, how was the paper substantivily? I mean, I synthesized seven books, thematiclly and analyzed them.

She responded oh, it was fine. You just need to proofread more, hire an editor or both. She went on to say that provinding good content is just one half of it, the other is making sure that the paper is sound technically.

I had never synthesized such a large volume of information in my life.

This was a hard meeting to sit through.? However,? I am grateful for two reasons. The first is that getting feedback on your writing is priceless. It is the only way you can improve. I have homies who have waited months to get feed back from professors, so I feel really grateful. The other side of it is that the professor didn’t humiliate me when I said that I didn’t know how to do possesives.

People will not learn from you if you humiliate them.

I told her that I was lightweight embarrassed and? I wouldn’t hand in something with the same mistakes in May.

We believe in making NEW mistakes.

If you read my blog, you know I have very SPECIFIC gender and racial politics. If a person comments and I know that crazy out they mind, I don’t shut them down, I engage them. The ONLY way I will shut a jawn down is if they jump in a convo with having read. THAT is a no no.

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1. First, I need to be more careful with my language. In the paper I was talking about the future of the global city and I made a statement about the third world model being brought to the US, but in reality, I was talking about the Brazilian model. When she asked me what I meant, I said Brazilian, but in my paper I said third world. She went on to say that when Chomsky says the Brazilian model, he is talking about something very specific and that I can’t just be equivocating the two.

2. Second she told me that I can’t make sweeping conclusions or sweeping speculations like “The New York City may implode in the next 20 years.” I then mentioned that a New York City that builds working class housing for social workers, firefighters and cities is different than the one that just privatized the very same housing. She responded saying, Renina, you just went from speculation to something very concrete. Stay in the concrete. Luls.

3. Third, I need to write better transitions. Which I already knew. They are hard for me. And endings.

4.Fourth she commented on my usage of possessives.<<<ARRG.

5. She said I need to define my terms and concepts. I told her, thats the same thing the historians say! I told her that I use to write with way more assumptions, and I have gotten better at laying out my assumptions explicity, but there is work to be done in that area.

All in all, I know where both my strengths and my weaknesses are.

Its also nice to see how some areas have improved in the last four months and which areas I need to be a little BIT more careful.

Having your ass handed to you isn’t comfortable, but I am learning to deal with it. Its the only way I am going to get better.

When was the last time you had to sit through a review of your work?

How did you handle it?