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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?

Dope Boys and Libertarians

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I had two law school best friends.

One was a Muslim lady, from Staten Island, whose family was from Pakistan.

The other was a white dude, DJ, from Memphis,? a Libertarian who stayed wanting to sue the government. His name is Jake Bear (JB).

I got on with the libertarians because we were intellectual minorities in our academic environment. They had a critique of the government, and they tended to be really bright. And the liked me because I listened to their arguments rather than simply dissing them outright.

I fell out with JB at the end of my second year because he didn’t believe in Negro programs, which have been dismantled by the Olin Foundation and Ward Connerly over the last 10 years on the grounds that they are unconstitutional. By negro programs I mean the ones? that I have been participating in since I was 11 years old. Programs intended to expose low income high achieving and/or underrepresented youth to prep school, college, summer enrichment programs, careers, etc.

I got along with JB because of his stance on the Drug War and other policies that had materially adverse affects on people of color. He was also cute like in a Wolverine kinda way and he knew Dilla beats.

A central tenet of Libertarian thinking is that the government has no say so in the policies of private business. Libertarians are also exTREMELY deferential to states rights. EXTREMELY.

Absurd, right. Well.

Which is what Rand Paul was getting at on the Rachel Maddow show @2:00.

Much of the fear around Rand is his open association and identification with the Tea Party Movement. Which I get. However my read of that is that these folks can elect members to senate and the congress than those of us who are more radical on the left may want to consider doing the same.

LUKE, use the force. #luls.

You ask, Renina, how is this connected to dope boys? Well.

Boom.

I was talking to my brother, dig dug, reformed dope boy, married father of several little bears, who enjoys going to PTA meetings and school events in his cement and paint stained work clothes, gold fronts and corn rows. #yerp.

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Here is the rub.

Dig dug was willing to do the jail time, and NOT snitch.

This was absurd to me. Why would I want to do a stint because someone else jacked someone. I thought it was idiotic.

Dig dug’s explanation was that, he could not snitch, because he had to go back and LIVE in the hood in East Oakland, where known snitches disappear.

It is irrational and absurd, yet it is true.

While his rationale was obscured to ME, it made sense, when he put it like that.

Every social system has its rules, including dope boys, street cats and Libertarians.

While they may seem absurd on its face, when we think about the social contexts and rules, things may begin to make sense.

Peace to Gramsci and Common Sense. #ummhmm.

More on Rand Paul, President Obama, the free Market and political economy, here. Via @rafikam. Its worth your time.

Why is it so hard to accept the rules the govern other peoples worlds?

What does it mean that tea partiers are electing folks now?

Is it particularly significant?

Do you buy my dope boys and libertarians connection?

Twenty Questions Tuesday 5.18.10

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This is? Betty Davis.? I think have rocked this outfit before. Creepy.

1. Why is it so hard for some Black men to understand that they have POWER/ PRIVILEGES? as Black men? It reminds me of how some White folks don’t see racism. #Ummhmm.

2. Why it be more bills than money?

3. You heard that new Kev Brown and LMNO?

4. Why is May so cold?

5. Does anyone keep a tally of the Black children who die horrendous public murders?

6. Should I post my crack proposal on the blog?

7.When will I stop procrastinating and pitch this story on race, bodegas and health?

8. Have you realized that you don’t have control over people,? places and things?

9. Why does sleep when it be raining feel so much more restful than regular sleep?

10. When will they make cell phones that only have data + text, no phone?

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12.? Are you Familiar with Alexis Gumbs?? If you Love Black women, I recommend you learn up.

13.? If you are an artist and you don’t follow @Pierre, you fail blood.

14. This AWESOME trailer for a film, Strange Things, about Haiti gave me chills.

15. Did you know that a million women and children are trafficked as prostitutes every year?

16. Which summer concerts are you looking forward to?

17. Did you tell someone you Loved them today?

18. Whats for dinner?

19. Why the lines in Chipotle be long, no matter what time of day you go?

20. Latifah and Common?

I got questions, you got answers. #Ummhmm.

@Rafikam on “OkayPlayer x Advertising x Community”

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Rafi is one of the smartest y snarkiest people I know.
So I when I saw his comments on the Musictank blog about blogs, community and the long tail I knew that I when I had some time I would want to blog about it.

The post titled Barking up the Wrong Chart on Musicthinktank.com is about the changes in the music industry, low album sales, artist websites vs. media channel sites.

The author, Bruce Warila’s main contentions are that,

Artist sites just fall flat when it comes to delivering the value that makes a website popular.

A limited selection of songs, a few videos, a pile of images, a schedule and some blog posts are not going to cut the mustard.

To begin with, ten major artists, thirty to forty mid-level artists, and fifty up-and-coming artists on the same site can deliver additional and expanded value that standalone artist sites cannot.

A multi-artist site can go far beyond the this-site-informs-me and the this-site-entertains-me-for-more-than-ten-minutes value propositions. As someone that has been working in software for twenty years and tracking this industry for the last five, this seems like one of the best places to begin.

Rafi’s left comments in the comments section which stated that:

I think it’s a mistake to think artist online initiatives are failing if they’re not putting up the numbers of the most popular websites. Let’s face it… traffic and page views are flawed metrics that don’t tell a story of mindshare captured or potential revenue. If you can use your website/facebook page/mailing list to speak to those inclined to support/fund/evangelize your efforts, that is a success.

Also, although I love that ?uestlove quote about the power of being part of a movement, i think it’s basically just as unlikely for a collection of artists functioning as a single website to become a trafficked destination as it is for a single artist.

Immediately as I heard him talk, in the comments section about blogs, community and site traffic as being a poor indicator of blog “value” I knew that he was on to something.

I also realized that Rafi, Mark Zuckerberg (of Facebook) and I understand something that Bruce may not, which is that the “value” in a site is not the content perse but in the community that comes there, and the information that they share.

Facebook is useful to advertisers because of the information that WE share is sold to advertisers for the purposes of marketing to us.

An independent music artist can cultivate his or her fan base using the information that fans share on an artist blog.

Kev Brown and LMNO are on tour right now promoting Selective Hearing 2 , and I stay checking Kev’s blog for new tracks because I have wanted that album since February. #ummhmm. Fans check sites because they want to support and DO support.

When Rafi says, “traffic and page views are flawed metrics that don’t tell a story of mindshare captured or potential revenue. If you can use your website/facebook page/mailing list to speak to those inclined to support/fund/evangelize your efforts, that is a success” my antenna went up.

In many ways I think Rafi is right about the tension between page views and building community. Blogging for me is about building community for my ideas, having a space to work out scholarly thoughts, and having a space to discuss issues with people who are interested in similar things.

Three weeks ago I was at a conference on Black Feminism and a big time Feminist, Cheryl Clarke, shouted my blog out.? I was honored, but now people (colleagues) are asking me about the blog and its a little bugged because this has been a space that has grown organically.? I don’t tell people I just met that I blog. Its my space. Pepe also pointed out that most people are taught to “brand” themselves so that they are constantly talking about what they are doing, communities they are apart of. I don’t. And learning how to claim my writing voice has been a process and a challenge. However, later on that night at our post conference dinner, I spoke with the editor of the Feminist Press about blogging, about how I don’t have ad’s on my blog, and what it means to cultivate such a space. I see my blog as playing a role in facilitating these kinds of conversations.

I don’t write ONLY to be affirmed. MANY folks do NOT agree with me. AND THEY TELL ME. ON A REGULAR BASIS.

MANY.
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But they take the time to comment and that means a lot, because it allows for a much richer discussion. It also shows me that I have written something compelling enough to get someone to take 15 minutes out of their day to read and respond to, and this is meaningful.

I also pride myself on having a blog that serves as a safe space for men and women, to talk about race, gender, sexuality and patriarchy.

Furthermore, in the end, when I do publish a book of blog posts and essays, the people first group of people that I would market this work to ARE blog readers and folks on twitter who have said that they have enjoyed my writing.

Ultimately, the issue is whether you want to have slow money and take the time to build a community, OR if you want have the greatest number of page hits possible, for the purposes of having ad dough, because you want to be acquired by a corporation.

Rafi nails this when he says,

And I don’t only think of ad models. Quite the opposite. You’re the one judging sites based on if they generate a ton of traffic. If you’re chasing all the traffic you can get on your site, that means you’re probably aiming to please advertisers more so than your audience.

He then goes on to discuss the success of Okay Player and the importance of community when he says,

What drove OkayPlayer’s success was the community. And to quote the above post it’s “not the content silly” OKP filled a major void for people who were looking for a site that reflected their identity – a hugely popular genre / culture that wasn’t being repped online.

Sure, it’s creation was brilliant. And sure we can learn from it. But to think that anything close to that level of success can be achieved without similarly fortuitous circumstances (timing, gaping market void, fame) is nuts.

When talking about the purpose of artist blogs vs. aggregators he says,

When traffic is the game, the aggregator always wins. Ask the myriad of passer-throughs if OkayPlayer did so much for them and I think you will find different answers. How much did Pharoahe Monch or deadprez benefit from being part of the OkayPlayer collective?

And in many ways the crux of the contradiction lies at the pursuit of ad dough and the pursuit of community.

This notion of upping page views can be inversely related to building community became clear on my blog when people complained about not having a scroll bar that allowed them to scroll between new posts quickly. I was reminded that readers need to have control over how and when the access the post. And if they don’t they may not read, and definitely will not comment.

Adding the scroll mechanism has correlated to comments from people who recently stumbled upon the blog and have stated they they were really moved by what they read. Today, that it a measure of success for moi.

Questions for @rafikam and the rest of us who care about independent artists online and their careers, as well.

What happens to music blogs when bloggers are more concerned with pleasing advertisers then their blog community?

Isn’t this the same thing that happened to music magazines?

Will the fact that “suits” are beholden to the bottom line, and don’t get building community, perpetually marry them to page views as a metric?

Where is the music blog for alternative (rock + Boombap + hip hop) cats that HAS community, new material daily, and is more beholden to artists + their fans than a corporation and ain’t misogynistic as shit?

Do you go to Okayplayer? If so why?

Rafi has also written about page views not being the best metric in the post “Whats that Blog Post Worth” about hip hop blogs and blog post “value.”

Black Women x The Streets x Harassment

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This “Black men walking on the outside of Black women on
the street” business touched a cord here on my blog, and
opened up a really interesting discussion on race, gender
roles, Black men and women, and patriarchy. I plan on doing
a some follow up posts to address some of the issues that
came up. This post is one of them.

The issue that I want to address is how a woman’s ability
TO BE IN THE STREET is connected to her ability to participate
in public life, in Democracy.

Tonight I reread Cynthia Grant Bowman’s paper, “Street
Harassment and the Informal Ghettoization of Women”
which was published in the Harvard Law Review. I am going
to provide some quotes from the paper then offer some
comments.

Street Harassment and Liberty for Women

The liberty of women, in this most fundamental sense of freedom from restraint, is substantially limited by street harassment, which reduces their physical and geographical mobility and often prevents them from appearing alone in public places. In this sense, street harassment accomplishes an informal ghettoization of women — a ghettoization to the private sphere of hearth and home.

If we can’t be on the street, we can’t feel comfortable in public, if we can’t feel comfortbable in public how will we participate in a democracy?

Working Definition of Street Harassment

Street harassment occurs when one or more strange men accost one or more women . . . in a public place which is not the woman’s/women’s worksite. Through looks, words, or gestures the man asserts his right to intrude on the woman’s attention, defining her as a sexual object, and forcing her to interact with him.

So, if I am on the street, and you are saying something to me, you are trying to FORCE me to interact with you. Patriarchy says that men, by virtue of simply being born biologically men have the right to dominate over women and children, in the home and the street. This street shit is patriarchy in action.

The Purpose of Harassment: “Know your place, Celie.”

The first function of public harassment is to reinforce spatial boundaries that drastically limit women’s “sphere.” It clearly stakes out public space as male space. Women who want to be outside their homes must do so at their own risk and with the full knowledge that at any time they can be publicly humiliated or “complimented.” Women are at all times subject to public scrutiny.

The purpose of men saying shit is to let me know that I am always on display and subjected to something popping off? Shit is tiring. It must be how Black men feel in terms of dealing with the police.

I Guess I am Suppose to “Play My Position”

Unlike men, women passing through public areas are subject to “markers of passage” that imply either that women are acting out of role simply by their presence in public or that a part of their role is in fact to be open to the public. These “markers” emphasize that women, unlike men, belong in the private sphere, the sphere of domestic rather than public responsibility. Ironically, men convey this message by intruding upon a woman’s privacy as she enters the public sphere.

I never tripped off of me not being allowed in the street as being connected to me needing to remain at home, as it is my “proper” place. But this makes sense.
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Freedom, The Streets and Autonomy

Central to the freedom to be at ease in public spaces is the capacity to pass through them while retaining a certain zone of privacy and autonomy — a zone of interpersonal distance that is crossed only by mutual consent. If, by contrast, women are subject to violation of that zone of personal privacy when they enter public areas, that very invasion of privacy effectively drives women back into the private sphere, where they may avoid such violations. Thus, by turning women into objects of public attention when they are in public, harassers drive home the message that women belong only in the world of the private.

“… zone of interpersonal distance that is crossed only by mutual consent.”

Its bugged how I immediately notice how men treat me on the street when I am walking with another man. I also use to notice how they treated me substantially different when I was on the street a White man. And lets not start with being on the street with a woman.

Street Harassment and the Rape Test

Furthermore, rapists often harass women on the street and violate their personal space in order to determine which women are likely to be easy targets — a practice called “rape-testing.” Because potential rapists frequently select their victims by looking for women who appear vulnerable to assault, they may approach a potential victim and “test” her by a variety of means, including making lewd or insinuating remarks, to see if she can be intimidated. If the target reacts in a passive fashion to the harassment, the rapist may assume that she will probably not fight back, and he is more likely to rape her. Thus, the connection between rape and harassment is not just in the mind of the woman.

This rape test + harassment connection is real. Who knew that the ways in which we responded to a comment sent a signal to would be rapist?

From Friendly to Hostile to Bitch in 10 Seconds

“Hey, why so serious, honey? Give us a little smile.” My sense of humor, he didn’t know, was temporarily out of service, so of course I didn’t give him a little smile. But in not smiling, I had again violated the code, provoking another seizure of silent suffering that became verbal. As I passed the sleeve on the street, it hissed a word at me, with the edge of anger to it, with a sharp rebuke in it: “Bitch.”

This account describes a common pattern, in which the target’s failure to response results in escalation and a superficially friendly interaction is transformed into one that is transparently hostile.

I realized that one of the reasons why I was so insistent about my gentlemen friend’s insistence at walking on the outside is that I am already subjected to hella patriarchal social relations, in the streets, with men that I don’t know. My tolerance for taking that shit off of someone that I choose to be around was reasonable.

In some ways, I realize that I saw what he was doing as a further extension of what I have to navigate all the time. Because I be in the streets and I believe that women and men have a right to do so autonomously.

Am I saying that his wanting to walk on the outside is the same as street harassment? Of course not. Am I saying that both are patriarchal in that they are rooted in the idea that men, by virtue of being biological males have the right to protect and dominate women? Yes.

I think one of my favorite lines from this paper is: Central to the freedom to be at ease in public spaces is the capacity to pass through them while retaining a certain zone of privacy and autonomy — a zone of interpersonal distance that is crossed only by mutual consent.

Do you feel autonomous on the street? Why or why not?

Do women have the right to be autonomous on the street?

Why is it so much of a challenge for some Black men and women to accept that the way in which women are treated in the street has implications for all of us?

Racial Sexism?

Any thoughts on Street Harassment?