Thursday, March 21, 2013

Booker's Place

Photo credit: blogs.suntimes.com
 
"Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story", is a 2012 follow up documentary to an NBC special that aired in 1965 entitled, "Mississippi: A Self-Portrait". The man who directed the 1965 documentary, Frank De Felitta is the father of the man who directed the follow up, Raymond De Felitta. The original film focused on interviews with White and Black residents of Mississippi, who talked about how they view relations with their counterparts of another color. While the Whites made comments like, "the negroes love living here", a Black man named Booker, a waiter at a Whites-only restaurant by day, and an entrepreneur who owned his own resturant (Booker's Place) by night, honestly shared his experience. His assessment seemed fair: some of his White customers were nice, some weren't, but he confessed that he took it all in with a smile, because this was something he had to endure in order to make money to pay for his daughters' education (I honestly got emotional when he said this. He shared that he basically had to sing and laugh and overlook insult in order to keep his job, all to make sure that his children had a bright future.  I guess alot of our grandparents had to do this). It was also notable how Booker put on his act when the camera man asked him to do his typical routine in which he sang the menu to customers. Essentially, he had to put on the mask of the stereotypical jolly Black man for his customers, but when he spoke in a regular tone to the interviewer, the viewer can tell that he was quite intelligent, with goals and aspirations like any other human being (clearly, since he was a business owner, himself). Other Blacks who took part in the film withheld their opinions on life in Mississippi, which was probably wise.

Imagine the uproar when the special aired on television, and the Whites in Greenwood, Mississippi saw good ole Booker complaining about the way some of his customers treated him.  It seems that they felt that he was making the town look bad, and so he became a target. He was attacked and his restaurant was ransacked. He survived all of the above until several years later, a Black man shot him. Did the town's powers that be pay this man to shoot Booker? Was it all a conspiracy? Or was it pure coicidence that someone had finally "taken care" of him?

While this is just one man's story, it definitely represents the experiences of many people during this era. What bothered me most is that this is a reminder that this kind of blatant racism and mistreatment occurred in a time not so long ago. What I liked best, though, was to see that his dream came true, post-mortem, in that both of his
daughters grew up to be educated and successful.

Photo Credit: blogs.indiewire.com

Are you interested in documentaries that take place in the civil rights era? Did you even know about the original documentary about Mississippi that aired in the 1960s?

Peace,
Nic

The Book of the Night Women


                                                                 Photo Credit: Notevenpast.org
"And if she [the negro] just come from the ship, more so be the difference. If the negro is a Igbo, sooner or later, she goin' kill herself. If she come from or born to an Angolan, then she goin' be lazy till her dying day. If she come come from or born to a Popo or Ibibio, then she goin' work hard and laugh and merry and thank God for massa. If she be Akan, her hand working as hard as her mind plotting. But the Lord help you if you get an Ashanti, what the White people call Coromantee. Not even massa whip can tame she."

The Book of the Night Women takes place in late 18th century, early 19th century Jamaica on a plantation, and centers on the story of a young, mulatto slave with blazing green eyes named Lilith. As Lilith's mother dies shortly after giving birth, Lilith is raised by an unrelated, uncaring slave woman ("Massa" is Lilith's father, so he's obviously not stepping in to care for her) until the head house slave, Homer, steps in and takes the girl under her wing. Lilith, hot-tempered and extremely stubborn (she has Ashanti blood running through her veins, after all), constantly clashes with Homer, but Homer doesn't give up on her.

While the book follows Lilith through her ups and downs on the plantation (her smart mouth and hard head get her in trouble more than a few times), the reader is also privy to a plan that Homer is leading for a slave revolt against their White oppressors. Homer, and the other women spear-heading the movement, are very powerful, as each of them dabble in Myal and Obeah (black magic), and even though Lilith is a thorn in their sides, they try to include her, because they recognize that same power within her. Lilith is torn about whether she wants to participate, as she knows what it feels like to murder others (I told you she's hot tempered). It also doesn't help that she's been carrying on a (somewhat) secret, romantic relationship with the plantation's Irish over-seer.

Kingston-born Marlon James, a literature and creative writing professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, is the book's author.

Photo Credit: slaverysite.com
 
While this book is not a quick read at 417 pages, it did paint a very clear picture of slavery in the Caribbean. The rapes, the murders, the maroons, the British plantation owners, the division between the fair skinned house slaves and dark skinned field slaves are all made real in this novel. It's also a bit dark, as black magic plays a huge role in the story. Given the fact that I love history, and my family is from Jamaica, I had to read this book. I think you should read it to.

Are you interested in slavery-era novels? Do you know of other good books that focus on slavery in the Caribbean?

Peace,

Nic

For Anyone Who Had a Crush on the Popular Kid in High School

I wasn't the popular kid in school back in the day (do the popular kids grow up and start blogs about good novels and documentaries?), but Davie Jones, the protagonist in the novel 32 Candles brings unpopularity to a new level. The story takes place in small town, Mississippi, in the era of 1984's hit movie, 16 Candles. Davie, born to a negligent, violent and unloving single mother (it was quite disturbing when the author finally revealed information about her birth father), has such low self-esteem, that although she's borderline brilliant, she ceases to talk.  From her unkempt hair to her second-hand clothing, she has little chance of standing out (in a good way) in the typically fashion-conscious high school environment. Her mom's less-than-respectable reputation around town also doesn't help matters.

Suddenly, Davie has a reason to look forward to going to school when a wealthy (and beautiful by stereotypical standards- they're described as being a light-skinned, light-eyed African American family, although light doesn't equal beautiful) family moves to town, and the three children enroll at her school.  Davie quietly (obviously if she doesn't talk) develops an obsessive, engrossing crush on the brother, who, of course, is tall, handsome, kind, and the captain of the football team. Somehow, Davie gets an invite to the family's VIP, invite-only party, and after a completely mortifying experience there, she logically arrives at the conclusion that there is no way she can return to school, so her best bet is to leave town. She literally catches a ride with a random truck driver (which forces her to finally open her mouth and communicate) and heads to LA.


Photo credit: fierceandnerdy.com

Fast forward several years, and Davie has reinvented herself. And this novel wouldn't exist if she didn't, by chance, run into her high school crush, who has also relocated to LA, and doesn't recognize her. And she's not trying to reveal her true identity, either, but he's adamant about getting to know her. Davie jumps through hoops trying to conceal her identity, but as the saying goes, the truth always comes to light. It also helps if you hire a private investigator, which is what her crush's sister did. The information the PI reveals about Davie makes the reader somewhat second-guess her dedication to "Team Davie- The Underdog" as she sees a sneaky, under-handed, untrustworthy side of Davie that she didn't even know existed.  But by the end, Davie manages to win us over again.

Author Ernessa Carter, blogger at fierceandnerdy.com, wrote 32 Candles. Given the domain name, one must wonder how much she borrowed from real life in writing this novel, as I would probably use those exact words to describe the new, improved LA Davie. This is Ms. Carter's first book (she has also recently co-authored on a book called Better Than Good Hair), but since I couldn't put 32 Candles down, I eagerly anticipate her next novel!

As you can probably guess, I highly recommend this book. Given that I'm a grad student with lots of homework, and I still managed to devour this book in a couple of days, says alot!

Were you the nerd or cool kid in high school? How has that influenced the person you are today?

Have you read this book?

Peace,
Nic