With I See Black People, author Kristal Brent Zook presents a history of the politics of black television and radio.  Zook ‘s research includes interviews with broadcasting pioneers such as Percy and Pierre Sutton founders of New York City’s Inner City Broadcasting and owner of WLIB-AM, the first black-owned radio station in Harlem, New York City and Catherine Hughes owner of Radio One and TV One.

The interviews are candid and thought-provoking. Ms. Hughs’ take on BET is interesting and revealing as she says of owner former owner, Bob Johnson “All of us, including myself, beat up on Bob so badly because we wanted BET to be everything to everybody.”

If you want to know who is in control of your television and radio dial, take some time with I See Black People.

The Destruction of Black Civilization is one of the most important books in the canon of African historical works for Africans in the diaspora. Contemporary white scholars take issue with the writings of Dr. Chancellor, which is to be expected.  We are to believe what is written by Europeans, but not by people of color.

For sixteen years Dr. Williams traveled through Africa compiling research and taking personal accounts of history and testimony from indigenous Africans.  He introduces us to notable figures like Queen Nzinga of the Congo, who fought the Portuguese invaders, leading her own army and Hannibal Barca who led his army on the backs of elephants.

Dr. Williams answers the question “How did Blacks who built great civiliations become the race we are today.” Once you read this book you will see the systematic, organized and deliberate destruction of a great race.

Random House celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe was my introduction to African writers. This is one story of how Europeans came to Africa and intruded into the cultural, spiritual and economic lives of black Africans. Things Fall Apart is a fictional work based in history.

Through Achebe’s writing, you see the oppression, manipulation and dominance of the Europeans over the Africans.  For this dominance to take hold, there had to be Africans who were ready to betray their own people for financial and political gains. A lot of this was done through white Christian missionaries and British military.

European education was held out like a carrot, to entice African families to turn their sons over to the Europeans for “education.” This caused many great divides between fathers and sons, weakening the strong family unit.

First published in England in 1958, Things Fall Apart tells the story of a Igbo (EE_BO) village in Nigeria and of the tragic figure Okonkwo, a man of great wealth and popularity, yet fearful of appearing weak. This is a story of a clash of cultures, where old customs are replaced with new and unfamiliar customs and things only get worse.

This is the story of colonialism through the eyes of a son of Africa.  Through Okonkwo we step back in time to the arrival of Europeans on African shores.  And things do not only fall apart, they get progressively worse. If you want to understand modern day Africa, this is where you begin.

In honor of the year-long centennial celebration of Richard Wright’s birthday in 1908, Harper Collins has just released his previously unpublished final work A Father’s Law. The draft of this manuscript was discovered by his daughter Julia when collecting his personal effects at the time of his death in 1960.

A Father’s Law is a radical departure for Wright. It is a who-dunnit, with CSI overtones. Surprisingly, Wright shows a knack for writing psyschological studies of human behavior. Written in the six weeks before his death, the writing is not as tight and precise as his previously published novels.

Wright set his story in the suburbs of Chicago with the promotion of black police officer Ruddy Turner to Chief of Police of the affluent suburb of Brentwood Park. Turner is an upright defender of the law, a Republican and a Catholic, a different sort of black man than Wright’s usual characters. He is married with a son Tommy, with whom he has a strained relationship.

A series of murders in Brentwood Park and the psychological tension between Ruddy and Tommy make for interesting insights into the lives of middle class parents who give their children material comforts, but fail to make human connections.

Ruddy feels inadequate when his son, who is studying sociology, offers scientific techniques in crime-solving.  He begins to wonder if his own son is a criminal genius and has committed the murders in Brentwood Park. Wright thoroughly explores the divide between working-class parents and their more educated children.  Ruddy has “made it,” but the rewards are fragile and vulnerable.  He has to juggle his blackness with just-the-right amount of humility and adherence to the white norms that surround him.

This is by no means a psychological thriller and it reflects the absence of Wright’s final attention. It is however a celebration of a great American writer whose contribution to the literary canon is priceless and eduring.

2007 was a hectic and exciting year for me and I’m looking forward to a slower-paced, yet exciting 2008. I didn’t write many book reviews this year, but I read a lot of books; saw a lot of films; and listened to a lot of music.  This year I also went back to books that I have read and enjoyed. I want to share some of my 2007 past-times with you.

My Favorite Books in 2007

My #1: The Wizard of the Crow, by Ngugl wa Thiong’o

Exiled Kenyan writer, Ngugl wa Thiong’o spins a darkly comic tale of Africa and her dictators. The Wizard of the Crow takes place in Abruria, a fictional country that could be anywhere in Africa, with characters drawn so exquisitely and completely, that the Ruler could be any dictator in Africa.  There are about 765 pages to this book and the reader is advised to take his/her time and get to know the Abruria characters as they appear because all of them are important to the story. 

This is parody at it’s highest level.  Abruria is a country where down is up and the newest government project is “Marching to Heaven,” erecting the tallest building in the world.  There are fantastic stories within stories, mistaken identities; torture in jail cells; love gone bad; love finding two lovers; and all sorts of hilarious, non-sensical happenings. Do yourself a favor.

Stolen from Gypsies, by Nobel Smith:

Generally, the myths speak of babies stolen by gypsies. Stolen from Gypsies is a madcap tale told by a hypochondriacal English nobleman named Ambrogio Smith is like Monty Phython, The Black Adder and Mel Brooks on crack.  Ambrogio, the narrator, lies in bed in attendance by his slavish manservant, Antonio.  The laughs never stop coming.  This is the story of a child stolen from gypsies, replete with antiquated slang, bawdy English, beet-juice enemas and a glossary to boot.

The Death of Vishnu, by Manil Suri:

With The Death of Vishnu, Manil Suri, takes on themes of religion, lost love, classism and spiritual emptiness. While Vishnu lies unconscious on the landing of an apartment building in Bombay, the lives of the residents spiral out of control all around him. Vishnu becomes an inconvenience, where he once was a playmate to the children of the building and later, a handyman. His alcoholism has stolen away his life and now he drifts in and out of consciousness.  His story is as riveting as the other stories in the building.  This is Bollywood on paper with music, laughter, sorrow and tears.

The Village of the Water Spirits: The Dreams of African American, by Michael Ortiz Hill with Mandaza Augustine Kandemwa and
Twin from Another Tribe, by Michael Ortiz Hill and Mandaza Augustine Kandemwa.

Michael Ortiz Hill is an Nganga--a South African healer, born in North America.  In The Village of the Water Spirits, Ortiz Hill begins to collect the dreams of African Americans about white people. His initiator is Mandaza Augustine Kandemwa, a Shona and an Ndebele Nganga.  They met when Ortiz Hill brought the dreams of African Americans to Kandemwa for interpretation.  In his work with the ‘water spirits”, Kandemwa is often involved in dream-telling and interpretation.  In his work as a collector of dreams, Ortiz Hill learned that Africa is at the very core of African American dreaming.

In Twin from Another Tribe, Ortiz Hill and Kandemwa recount their separate journeys towards initiation and their inevitable twinning.  Kandemwa is from the Shona people who were sworn enemies of the Ndebele people.  All attempts to find a Shona initiator were futile until his spirits led him to an Ndebele Nganga.  Across the world in Los Angeles, Ortiz Hill was reeling from the Rodney King verdicts and riots. He began to prepare himself to go to Africa and to be initiated.  He was initiated by Kandemwa, who in a dream saw Michael, his “brother.” Eventually, Ortiz Hill initiated Kandemwa, freeing his spirits in a trance possession.  They had become twins.

Aminata Diallo struggles and perseveres in her attempts to not relinquish her identity as an African in the New World.  Her struggles are legion.  Aminata watched both of her parents die at the hands of Africans and Europeans, who regarded them as property and chattel in the commerce of human lives.

Her ultimate salvation lies in the skills her parents passed along to her.  Her father taught her to write in Arabic and to read parts of the Quaran. Her mother taught her the science of midwifery and natural plant medicine.  A mixed-race overseer taught her to read and write English. These skills kept Aminata away from beatings and death at the hands of slave traders and plantation owners.

Hills characters are deeply human and multi-dimensional.  The Africans are portrayed as greedy and skilled negotiators--not innocent, naive by-standers in the slave trade.  The Europeans are arrogant, brutish and classless.  Aminata determines to free herself. After escaping her Jewish “master,” she hides among the poor blacks in New York City.  This provides her with an opportunity to use her skills as a midwife to eek out a meager living.

Hill does not make Aminata a pitiable character through the loss of ther wo children, Mustafa and May and her devoted husband Chekura.  Her son is sold away from her; her daughter abducted by white “friends”; and her husband drowned on a capsized ship bound for Nova Scotia.  For a brief period of time, Aminata wishes for her life to end, but her love for her people and her compassion for seeing new life enter the world, renews her will to live.

Through Aminata, we see the abolitionists in their fervor and single-mindedness.  Although they need Aminata to tell her story to a parliamentary committee on abolition in London, and to his royal highness himself, King George III, they want to control her autobiography to suit their needs.  Aminata does not relinquish her right to tell her own story her own way.

Prominent in this novel, is the history of the The Book of Negroes.  It is a real document of the free blacks who left New York City to settle in various British colonies. Aminata Dialla, in the telling of this tale, wrote the names and descriptions of three thousand black men, women and children. It is said to be “The largest single document about black people in North America, up until the end of the eighteenth century.”

Retailers often bambozzle shoppers into standing in lines as early as 4am--fighting shoulder-to-shoulder crowds for a limited number of big ticket items like video game systems, computers, audio-equipment and such.  This is retail manipulation at its highest level. 

Tempers flare, fights break out over who grabbed it first and shoppers can be reduced to tears upon hearing that the store has run out of that special prized item.  Why put yourself through that kind of hassle?

This would be the time that black folks can excercise some financial clout.  Why not withold our precious dollars on a day that is aptly named to suit our goals?  Why not show the retailers how much they need our dollars and how important our millions of dollars are to the U.S. economy? 

Why not go for it in 2008?  We have a whole year to save up and find bargains for our holiday gift-giving.  We don’t have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving.  The day could be better spent working off that big meal at the gym, or just vegging out in front of the DVD player, if you are lucky enough to have the day off.  Retailers routinely run sales all through the year and the internet and E-Bay are great places to find bargains on coveted items.

Pass the word along and see if we can come together on an issue that won’t cost us a dime, but might save us a boatload of money in the long-run.  I’ll be reminding you from time to time.

I’ve been a fan of Aaron McGruder ever since his strip appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2001.  I looked forward to what McGruder could do with animation.  Season one wasn’t a walk in the park for me, but season two is much harder to to watch.  I was uncomfortable with his liberal sprinklings of the word “nigger” throughout the first season, but this season, I’m inundated and overwhelmed.

Aaron McGruder gets kudos for being a master of political satire. His frequent and rampant use of the word “nigger” is thought to be calculated and deliberate. Six years after his comic strip debut, I’m really disappointed. I don’t think McGruder is so “smart."--at least not smarter than all the people in the world who find the word “nigger” highly offensive and find its use as a racial epithet cause for a liberal dose of ass kicking.

In the final analysis, I think McGruder is lazy. Why capitalize on a never-ending controversy? Why pander to the immaturity of those who don’t see anything wrong with the word? Why not stretch the imagination to find other ways to entertain and get paid for it?

Here are the ”Official “Nigger” Usage Rules”, excerpted from a 2005 column by Vincent Williams.  Maybe McGruder needs a refresher course in “What Black People Have Had to Overcome.”

• Rule No. 1: White people can not use the word under any circumstances.
• Rule No. 2: The word should never be used as a synonym for black people.
• Rule No. 3: “Nigga” is still the word “nigger,” and all other rules apply to it.
• Rule No. 4: If you must use the term “the N-word,” understand you sound ridiculous.
• Rule No. 5: Use of the word for satirical, ironic, or commentary purposes is acceptable if it doesn’t break one of the previous rules. But you better have a point.

3 Years, 5 Days and 2 Months in the Life is a tough act to follow, but Arrested Development gives their best shot with their new CD Since the Last Time

With Speech still at the helm, AD is still doing their thing, although without co-founder Headliner and the vocal stylings of songstress Aerle Taree, the original six are now four, with eight band members total.

Track 1, “Since the Last Time” is AD on hopped up on pride, with Speech tellin’ it like it is “we got the labels kissin’ our hind parts/ We desired art and never sold out for the high chart positions”.  A little braggadocious, but the grooves behind it are memorable.

• Since The Last Time
• Miracles
• Heaven
• Sao Paulo
• Sunshine
• Stand
• It’s Time
• Inner City
• I Know I’m Bad
• Down & Dirty
• Caught Me
• Nobody Believes Me Anyway

This is not AD at their 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days level, but it’s a good start after a decade of absence from the scene.

According to Speech, “"It’s been ten years since we blessed stages together, we covered bases together and whether we all agreed or not 20/20 vision is hindsight and now we got that so we done got back”.

Particularly impressive is their cover of “Heaven” by Los Lonely Boys with Eshe on vocals and a delightful Latin-inspired groove “Sao Paulo.” For those who remember the beat and fun of AD’s “Mr. Wendell,” “Sunshine” is your best dance track.

AD is back and will have to find their place again amidst the hoot and holler of big-money grips and rappers.  But their track “Stand” is a testament to their belief in their music. ‘’It’s better to write for ourselves and have no public,’’ Speech raps, ‘’than write for the public and have no self.’’

How about Black American Gangster? Why is it when Denzel Washington plays a decent hard-working black man, the Oscar goes to someone else? You can bet there’s Oscar talk for his role as Frank Lucas, notorious drug pusher.  In fact, some are hoping for a run-off between Washington and Crowe, who plays cop-turned-lawyer, Richie Roberts.

Recently, Hollywood has begun to mine the black criminal history archives for a new look at some old stereotypes. Harlem was the stomping ground for drug users and drug pushers during it’s declining years.  Always pre-occupied with guns and violence, America needed some new meat, hence Mr. Untouchable the story of the 70’s flamboyant heroin dealer Nicky Barnes.

And then theres Harlem bad man Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, who makes a brief appearance, played by none other than Clarence Williams III.  “Bumpy” Johnson has been portrayed in at least three other Harlem drug movies since the seventies (Shaft, The Cotton Club and Hoodlum) and will probably continue to show up in future films.

The real Frank Lucas story is incredible, a man who would smuggle heroin into the country in the coffins of dead soldiers. It takes a special sort of calculating, souless person to do that, while at the same time, escorting his mother to church every Sunday morning.  American Gangster is visually satisfying, but not brilliantly so. The film footage adds a dose of reality to the film--soldiers nodding out on dope; dancers and young American soldiers in Taiwanese night clubs; cargo planes carrying coffins of dead soldiers and heroin--all lend to the seediness of the Lucas era.

The soundtrack is adequate, most notable is Track 1 ”Do You Feel Me?” sung by Anthony Hamilton in a cameo appearance. For more on the music of American Gangster

American Gangster is mostly flat and not very exciting. Washington transforms Frank Lucas into an intense and brooding Denzel Washington. The swagger is all Denzel; the compressed lip action is all Denzel; and there is nothing at all that says Frank Lucas.  This is Denzel in Training Day 2.  Scott trotted out some of the most notable names in black cinema, only to assign them cameo appearances.

Chiwetel Ejiofor’s acting skill is wasted as Lucas’ brother slash assistant, Huey. Most of the characters are one-dimensional and paper thin.  Why cast Ruby Dee as the mother, who only has a scene or two along the way.  Cuba Gooding, Jr. is an afterthought as Nicky Barnes and who knows what Armand Assante’s character Dominic is talking about?

So now we have The Rza on the big screen as Moses Jones. And let’s not forget Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts, the guy who nabs Frank Lucas.  Crowe has no fire and or physical presence.  His character was benign, not entirely likable, nor disagreeable.  With Lucas’ help, he takes down the dirty cops and becomes Lucas’ defense attorney.  How bizzare is that?

It feels like that ‘ole blaxploitation is on the rise.  They could have saved some money by re-releasing Serpico.

Weeks before his death, reknown literary critic Anatole Broyard revealed to his children that he was a black man. While reading One Drop I wondered how many people are “passing” for one ethnicity or another in these times?

In Broyard’s case, her father chose to live without reference to ethnicity.  Of the many issues brought to the forefront of Bliss Broyard’s life, once his secret was revealed, the most challenging of them all was whether or not her father rejected his blackness.

Did he abandon his family and roots in favor of passing as white?  The next most challenging issue was whether or not she herself could truly accomodate her newly discovered “blackness.”

Her father had his own way of seeing himself in the world, he thought that blacks could best “authenticate themselves” by proving that they were “fundamentally different only in appearance.” Anatole Broyard knew, what most blacks know, that darker skin color is a liability for blacks.

Because he was perceived as white, he made use of the priviledges of whiteness for himself and his family. However, his rejection of his blackness is evident in the fact that not even his children knew he was black.  Bliss Broyard was 24 when she was told the family secret.

After seeking out her father’s family and researching the history of New Orleans Creoles, Bliss Broyard painstakingly consumes, but does not assimilate the information she gathers.  She has not really brought herself any closer to answering her own questions of race and identity.

She takes the easy way out.  “I may never be able to answer the question What am I? yet the fault lies not in me, but in the question itself.  And with that realization, that letting go, I can finally say goodbye.”

One Drop: A True Story of Family, Race and Secrets by Bliss Broyard.

Two months before he died of cancer, Bliss Broyard’s father, literary critic Anatole Broyard revealed to his son and daughter that he was black.

Now Bliss Broyard is forced to face her own beliefs and thoughts on racial identity.

The Door of No Return: The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade by William St Clair

A fascinating look into the castle on the Ghana coastline that served as the slave-trading headquarters for the British empire for 150 years.

Cion by Zakes Mda

The South African author of The Madonna of Excelsior, The Heart of Redness, among others, brings one of his most memorable characters Toloki, from his novel Ways of Dying to Athens, Ohio. Toloki is a professional mourner. He has tired of the sameness of death in his own country. This is Mda’s first novel set in America.