Free Black Space

Kibwe

2011-10-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

"Some people live long, destructive, unproductive lives. My life may be short, but I've done a lot, I haven't hurt anyone and it's been good."

Kibwe Ayinde Dorman
June 2, 1987-September 29,2011

Many years ago, maybe in the Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin, I remember Baldwin speaking about the death of a child. For the young a funeral simply doesn't seem right. The mourning there has a thickness to it which smells like the injustice too many of us are forced to witness everywhere we go. But to call a death injustice is to bring death under the power of humans; we know the absurdity of this. It is truly a question of fate, an action of the crossroads. This is the truth but doesn't make things any easier.

My youth fades and the funerals nourish me now in a way I could never imagine possible. Now, in middle age, I know something of loss. I have lived not long, but long enough to began to ride time instead of attempt to drive and control it. I think this is the place where resistance ends and wisdom begins. One can cry without trying to hold back the tears. One can see the coming and going. One can be sad without shame and know loss is loss.

It is fall and things have just become cool. Today I wore a turtleneck with an African printed shirt pulled overtop. This October day belongs to Kibwe, born in America with an African name, traveled to Senegal and the Carribean, loved and known by many. This morning made me think winter was approaching, but by midday the sun had risen high above and The Good Lord had turned the heat up. By the time I walked into the pack churched with my tears my heart began to grow bigger and heavier.

My wife and I interacted with Kibwe and his mother for many years through an African Dance Company and the New Genesis Baptist Church. Both organizations have changed or disintegrated; but members and former members filled the church today. The children were grown and hard to recognize. The mother's and fathers sported their gray and the awesome beauty of age.

Kibwe died of cancer at the age of twenty three.

On the program there is a picture of him with his leg crossed, most likely taken in Senegal, with dark black shades on looking half like the boy I remember and the man I had little interaction with. The packed church offered testimony of his many acts of kindness, his intellect and his confidence which was well beyond his years. In the picture there is the stare and seriousness which is all his own. The beauty of his face so much like his mother's.

When the quoir began to sing I was suddenly in the South. When the Kono Youth Ensemble danced I was in Africa. When the bassist played "Motherless Child" I was somewhere between New York's jazz clubs and the Underground Railroad looking out into the sea. When the jazz singer sang "Here's To Life" I thought of Shirley Horn and the elegance, the superiority and the weight of her song.

This was more than a going home ceremony. Kibwe was the unifying point and spirit that brought us together. I thought of his mother and father and their wisdom to raise such a child. I thought of the community that is African Diaspora in America-How big we are. How diverse. How impossible. How beautiful. How grand.

I am sure Kibwe watched today as we found ourselves mourning, remembering and witnessing his beauty which is ours.

God Bless you Kibwe. We Love and will remember you.

Free Black Space 2011 Dr. Prince's Notes on the Salon

2011-04-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

I launched the Free Black Space Blog a few years ago as a clearing house for Black Thought. For in essence, African American Consciousness is Black Thought. As a community African Americans experience the world from a particular perspective. This perspective of course informs our actions.

Although Free Black Space refers to Black Thought, the concept also refers to space or location. The spots which are most easily identified are the barber shop, the salon, the club, the Church, the corner and the bookstore. For those of you who know me(and my history with Karibu Books) the last location comes from my experience as a bookseller for over 15 years. These locations are important because within them African Americans can "speak freely" and the diversity of the members of our community is often represented. Most importantly,the language used to articulate our experience and exchange ideas is not dominated or controlled by the commercial, the academic or the street. Within Free Black Space the exchange of opinions is as important as the particulars of the ideas.

Below is a post from a good friend of mine, Dr. Valerie Prince, on her experiences with the salon. The idea for the post came out of a discussion about her natural hair and memories about getting her hair done. I thought immediately about the smell of pressed hair in my house as a child and the intimacy shared between my mother and sister during those times.

Dr.Prince is an scholar and Professor at Bowie State University with a resume much to long to include here. However, if you are interested in reading more of her work, her book, Burning Down the House, is available published by Columbia University Press in 2005.

Enjoy

Free Black Space

Dr. Valerie Prince

A little more than a year ago, I cut my hair off. I made a shift from permed, past shoulder length soft curls to natural, barely-there close cropped hair, which meant trading bi-weekly $65 trips to the salon for tri-weekly $20 visits to the barber. When I look at “before” pictures of myself, I laugh because it appears like I must have been wearing a weave—hair cascading down my back and over my shoulders. And the effort to keep that much hair styled was intense. It needed to be washed and conditioned, then set on large grey rollers before I spent two hours under the dryer. After years of the hair ritual, it was a dramatic change, but the only thing I miss about going to the salon every other week are the people. Salons are teeming with life.

I didn’t have friends at the salon. And I engaged in only casual conversation with my hair dresser and other clients. But unlike church or the mall or work or any number of the other places I go, which have ways of selecting a fairly homogenized population from a broad pool of humanity, the salon is the place where I could go to feel a part of a marvelously diverse society.

Generations of women representing many economic backgrounds come to have their hair fixed: slathered with straightening chemicals, dyed red, brown, black, burgundy, locked into ropes, weaved into tresses, cut into angles, curled into folds, ironed into submission and pressed into compliance. They wax their brows, affix longer, more luxurious finger nails and paint their toe nails. Sure, it might look like a capitalist’s dream: women brainwashed into spending their hard earned dollars in a futile quest for beauty (futile since beauty always involves products which must be bought and consumed rather than that which is in-born and naturally occurring). But look more closely. Women come to the salon and are noticed, examined, and cared for. And despite all the changing and fixing of things, women at the salon are affirmed.

Look around any salon and see how really beautiful women are. Round mounds of voluptuous woman-ness in every direction. Hips curving like the horn of Africa and bending like South America set atop plump thighs. Angular women who might be two-thirds elbows, knees and legs, with pointed toes and sharp eyes. Tomboys leaning like the Tower of Pisa. While others are all sweetness, reclining like tea and cake. Sometimes laughter spills like water over Victoria Falls from weighty breasts. And there are times when thespians captivate the room, all drama and stage. A salon is full of natural wonders.

One of the stylists kicks off her shoes and walks barefoot (in the winter she wears footies). Her feet are short and wide, like the rest of her body. The bottom of her creamy arm giggles as she bends over the bowl washing her client’s hair. While her own hair has been lit into a blaze of color and curl. When I see her feet so close to the earth, I know that she isn’t thinking about punching time-clocks or rush hour or any of the other artificial devices that govern so much of our metropolitan lives. She might be thinking about anything because her hands are the only part of her working. And her fingertips are expertly practiced at just the right amount of pressure to apply to the scalp to scratch, scratch, scratch—like Celie scratched that song right out of Shug Avery’s head. Humm doo la la la__ shooo weee____

That’s what I miss about the salon.

Valerie Sweeney Prince, PhD
Silver Spring, MD
3 April 2011

Jay-Z's Misogynist Lyrics

2010-10-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

Jay-Z's comments about his misogynist lyrics in the past seems to be the kind of reflection one would expect from anyone entering and accepting the middle age years of the life. Whether or not they are profound is a question of one's own view of life and how it works. Life changes people-this is to be expected. Life has changed Jay-Z-this too is to be expected.

The rappers success and financial savy are legendary. He is an extremely smart man who has managed to become a demi-god in the world of hip-hop. It is also safe to say that influence has extended outside the world of hip-hop.

His new book Decoded is bound to be a best-seller like many of his albums. The fascination with the Rapper is distinctly an American phenomena(though one must acknowledge his influence is international). We like Jay-Z and listen to him because the rhythms of his music (plus or minus the lyrics) make us feel good. He has been the background to our dance at the club, our cookouts, our morning drive to work. We know he is a star because he is larger than life. What else really matters in America these days. As an African American star, in the almost leaderless landscape of the first decade of the 21st century he is one of the few things we have that holds us together. To be clear, we do not own him-America does; but we made him. The lyrics, the bravado, and gangster speak are all rooted in our experience in these United States.

Our concerns with his thoughts is guarenteed to sell books to many African Americans who would buy few other books. In actuality the rapper's story is a clever mix of African American culture mixed with Rags to Riches, in essence the best the country has to offer. We listen because success is the precusor for valuing opinions these days.

The real question is who else would we listen too, besides Obama. Ronald Reagan was an actor before he became President. Familiarity is so powerful a tool. Our fascination with the inner workings of Jay-Z's mind will continue to center him in the media that is a part of our everyday life. He will continue to dominate the mainstream and dramatically increase his success. In a society were so few athletes and entertainers are able to make the long distance run-I wish him well.

From Iraq

2010-10-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about this post for quite some time. There is much talk about supporting the troops and many of us have folks who are serving or have served time in Afghanistan or Iraq or both. The following is a short journal entry from a friend and writer during his time spent in Iraq. Free Black Space

The Words of Chris Pearson
6 NOV 2007
0025
Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq

Today can be seen by some as particularly disheartening. The mortar attack, or “rain” as I like to call it, made for a rough morning. It’s a wild feeling to be so close to death; to hear those agents of an untimely demise whistle in and hit like a train wreck; to know that your very survival depends on nothing more than if the enemy sets that mortar a few degrees up, down, left, or right. That in itself is a harsh reality only made disheartening when coupled with the fact that there is nothing on earth you can do to defend yourself. Your rifle or sidearm mean nothing. The sharpest knife is a paperweight. Your gear and all the hand-to-hand training in the world don’t mean shit when it comes down to a direct hit. These are trying times and sadly I’m not even the worst off out here. My prayers go out to those front-line troops who are guaranteed to take a closer look at death every time they step outside the wire. I wish I could give them all a piece of my faith if it would secure a safe deployment for them.
I thank God for sparing the life of SSG Walker and others who were hurt in today’s attack, and keeping everyone else out of that danger. I detest those who search for glory in it.

God in America

2010-10-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

I attended a fundamentalist school for most of my early childhood in Prince George's County, MD. Oddly enough, I rarely discuss most of my memories from that period in my life. The scene is rather chaotic. Whatever happened there has never been properly sorted out. Most amazing was the inner workings of fundamentalism. The constant rants against the communist, the attacking of public schools for the absence of prayer, the joys of the Ronald Reagan presidency. It was a strange world.
We studied the Bible everyday, and I have to admit-I loved it. It was the power of the stories and also the passion of those who spoke them. At a later date, we began to deconstruct the different elements of the school and it's teachings which was of course a national progression or synthesis between the world of my house and the world of my school. I continued to be amazed by the fervor of our teachers. It was belief and conviction in ideas which today seem to be ridiculous to say the least. As a child, the conviction matched that of my mother when she told me what to do and how to do it. It was the literal interpretation of the Bible which stuck with me most. The battle against the scientist who believed in evolution or the need to preach the gospel to people deep in the darkness of the African Continent were sweating matters, crying matters, money matters. The power the school possessed to teach was fully employed in the interest of their beliefs.

The recent WETA special God in America has helped shed some light on these experiences as a child. This country of immigrants has constantly employed God and conviction as the propelling force behind their entrance to and subsequent conquering of this continent. What I find so amazing are the inconsistencies in the narrative. Christopher Columbus, slavery, the genocide and almost complete destruction of Native American Culture exist as some of the most obvious examples. However, as a fellow professor told me yesterday, it has been effective. In spite of the inconsistencies the country has continued to thrive and become the most powerful country in the world.

In that world of sin and righteousness painted for me as a child there are only two possible explanations. One that righteousness enabled them to do this, and second the sin of the conquered was literally a sign from God which caused so many people to fall under the weight of the steamrolling colonialism. To be honest, America functions now as a great riddle for me.

I am truly uncertain of what the country means. Much time has been spent studying the horrors of this colonialism and democracy, many of which continue today. Yet, the country is still held together. My studies have been fueled by a need to understand what was it in their conviction which gave them such great certainty.

I can only say at this time in my life, I am leary of this religious certainty, this talk of God, this sweat, this conviction. The long speeches, the mandates, the idea that God has blessed us and washed away the blood on our hands.

Yet, this view of God forms the foundation of America. So many of us, African Americans included, arrived here in the face of a destruction of whatever world or country we arrived from. In many respects, God represents not just the fundamental force behind everything for Americans; but the construction of the view of the fundamental force. The new country allowed us many freedoms; and perhaps the greatest was an ability to construct God in our own image. This is not unique to America, however the prize or captured land here has fueled this conquering conviction in a way that has dominated at least the last century of the world's development.
As an African American whose ancestors where enslaved and member of a population which continues to suffer under the weight of many social evils, I am leary of those who get glossy eyed and speak of God. For in it, I see the steel of the prisons and the coarseness of the lynch rope. I do not mind God, however, it seems this country at its worst has oppressed in his/her name.
As a final note, I am reading the Fire Next Time with one of my classes. Baldwin's essay navigates much of this space between God, conviction and the construction of America. He also adds the element of the Nation of Islam to the mix. Our attraction to the mythology of the Nation of Islam, specifically the white man is the devil, is connected to this idea of constructing God in our own image.

If you get a chance, Check out God in America on WETA and the Fire Next Time.

Free Black Space

Back From China

2010-08-11T17:28:00.002-07:00

I just spent about 35 days in China. China is a country larger than the U.S. with a population of over 1.4 billion people. The numbers are astounding.

The Chinese people I met were often times resevered and very cultured.

I saw only about three African Americans on my trip-most of them in the airport.

Free Black Space promotes an international perspective. We should investigate and learn about the country. The land mass, economic system, economic success and rich history demand this.

Free Black Space

2010-08-11T17:28:00.001-07:00

Guru of Gangstarr, Rest in Piece

2010-04-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

Guru had the best name. Hindu for teacher, spiritual mentor-one who brings consciousness.

We were already Black Power folks wearing kufis and the Malcolm X caps had not yet found their way to the bottom of the closet. There was money changing hands, people were blowing up. Hip-hop was energized by commercialism; but had not yet become a commercial. Guru emerged. Part of his distinction was the famous monotone style which in the world of hip-hop was like Monk is to Jazz.

Spike Lee's Mo Better Blues helped push Gangstarr into the public arena. The cut Jazz Thing, with Premier as the architect, fused riffs from Charlie Parker and others with the hip-hop groove; while Guru laid the words down like it was a history lesson. It was conscious rap, one of the last prominent stages of it. Both he and Premier's connection with jazz stood out as a form of hip-hop that was firmly rooted in the music that came before them. Of course this can be said about all hip-hop-Guru's distinction was the conscious way he approached his connection to culture.

What was most profound for me was the way in which the elements of thug culture represented himself in his music without the idea that he was a thug. His artistry represented what we all know to be true about thug culture and gangsterism. Mr. T "I pity the fool." And we pity them to-too many of us trapped in some dungeon Just to Get a Rep. Their is a reality to violence in hip-hop and the senseless bravado. We see the seeds in our lives too often in young men we were, grew up with or meet. However, the truth of our lives is far more complex. Whatever the thug is must be held in context with the full dimension of our humanity. Guru's music provided me with that full dimension. The work with MC Solar the international approach, Above the Clouds-that esoteric spiritual approach. The straight up metaphysical and religious as we Prepare for Our Moment of Truth, preparing for our Moment of Truth. And of course No Shame to My Game

Which is why when my friend, Professor Dereef Jamison sent me No Shame to My Game-I rocked my head to
life's a b****
who are we to judge each other
talk to me I ain't the holy motherf******

The simplicity of the statement. Not Thug as what I did and am doing-but old school bar room talk, the blues and the longing for something else that just won't stop. For me, he speaks about humility here-which is something hip-hop could use a huge dose of.

He died so young. It hurts my heart to know he is gone. And from cancer, again-this is a bit different than Tupac and Biggie for me. The tragedy of a man on the border of elderhood passing on, moving on.

Rest in Peace Guru
May you always represent Free Black Space

Reading For Black Children

2010-04-21T07:39:00.001-07:00

As a Professor at Bowie State University, one of the great fringe benefits of my job is the ability to poll my students. At 39, though I still think I am hip-I am about a generation away from these students. I lecture, stare into their eyes and listen to their questions, complaints and musings. They are brilliant and explosive, positive and negative.

The question was posed to them, how many of them had grown up on a diet of African American books as children. Suprisingly, most of them had read few if any African American children's books. As the former owner of an African American bookstore I found this amazing. For 15 years I worked in a place full of African American children's books. My own children read extensively in and out of the African American genre; but I still cannot imagine them without Black children's books.

Yet, if I return to my own experience it was the Hardy Boys, the choose your own mysteries and my all-time favorite-Charlie Brown which help me transcend the tiny neighborhood I lived in. There was also the Bible, which had the inserts full of white folks which captured my imagination. To think the tiny boy, David, could defeat Goliath. I was down with that. I was small, I loved the underdog, I wanted to win-anything was possible with the power of God.

Reading was visual, defying gravity- my imagination was activated and free.

Something about selling books to African Americans stomped on that part of my brain. The path to the imagination became trampled like the grass pathway leading to the store. Listening to African Americans with $100 sneakers complain about a $15 book for their children made me grow leary of what it meant to read.

The problem, the crux of the matter centered on the business model. Those people who often teetered on the edge of hating books were our customers. Trick them into reading-use the books of Patti Labelle, the 50 Cent Autobiography ghost written by corporate agents eager to capitalize on his career. Take the story and create new drama, rivaling t.v., the soap operas and the gangster sopranos.

We are as American as everyone else here. Within the Free Black Space of the bookstore it became clear that there were few places where we truly engaged the landscape of Black thought. My customers were confronting literature and ideas everytime they decided to make a purchase. The great consumer freedom the weight of the country rest upon was the primary motivator in the process. What we wanted was the crux of our success and we voted in mass.

Our history is not relevant. The sales report tells me so. We must break it down so folks can understand. "Too much of the language is academic." "Too much of the subject matter is not presented in a relevant way." While I attempt to be sensitive to these considerations, I still question what great woman has ever locked themselves out of knowledge because it wasn't relevant. It seems the goal is to make it relevant. The illusion of separation is perhaps the greatest of the human experience.

Yet, the absence of children's books with images reflecting African American ethnicity helps to create seperation between the reader and the ideas. Yet, I can't remember feeling that way-locked out of knowledge as a child. Perhaps it is the need for entertainment that has taken control of us. Or perhaps there is no such thing as being locked out of knowledge by relevancy.

Yet, we encode knowledge on a variety of levels. Obviously, if you have never seen a picture of Black Folks in books that my lead you to believe Black Folks don't belong in books, don't read or that books are not relevant to your pursuit of knowledge. To tell the truth, I can't remember that thought or feeling that way. I loved books, the library and there are countless others out there who I am sure have had the same experience.

In spite of my personal experience there still should Black Books for Black kids. My children have been blessed with them along with hundreds of thousands of others.

Buy Black childrens Books.

Free Black Space

Trancendance Beyond Words

2010-04-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

I can see young'ns crumpin or beat'n their feet. The black power fist released in the body like electricity. I see brothers high steppin in a hip hop cipher so certain the flow, what they say, that strong nigger feeling has not been expressed before. Or the style-the way we creep around some corner and a great voice says, speak freely-say it like you see it. And we talk on a lunch break or send the text message that truly speaks our mind. Someone asks us, What do you think about this-and we lie-straight up. Or the way I smile into the eyes of someone else when we see something-take for instance the man who works maintenance downtown among the suits and fabrics, the sheer elevation of diamonds and duty. He makes the building run, he knows this. My man making paint in invisible man. I see him and smile-he smiles back. I know-he knows. What is it.

I am interested in the contemplation of nothingness, zen, oblivion-free black space. I wonder if this energy is somehow trapped up in the blues. It seems our energy is the energy of the moment-a moment where the past that is hidden and repressed somehow makes its way free.

The thing beyond words.

There is something about our approach to living that is profound. It is moment, it is the code of our repressed memory our repressed history.

It is the anger of the woman across the street and the way her voice changes to groggy gravel that sounds like she is on the microphone in a go-go band.

The music, the art, the thing that entertains the world comes from our lives.

I would suggest it is code-the code of our captivity, our imprisonment, our joys, our love, our holding onto one another-the anxious way we walk out of a building on Friday night.

It seems often when we express ourselves in the moment, the truth of our experience is brought to bear. To get there the release is so complete-perhaps it is like Zen, perhaps it is the pursuit of nothingness.

I know this much, that those who reach the pinnacle of success, in spite of the odds, against them, must ignore what many of us contemplate as the tools of responsibility. Being a good nigger, keeping a job, doing what you know you are sposed to do.

I am uncertain of the past.
I am uncertain of the future.

Being myself in the present is a form of revolution.

I also know this, that we do not own release, nothingness. It is open to anyone. Yet, our approach is simply our path.

Michael Jackson was beyond praise for me-he was simply an element of the universe-literally something I depended on.

Stevie Wonder-All I Do is beyond words. Beyond the hip.

My song, the common song, my breathe is short, but my wind is long.

Just Riffing

Free Black Space.

Notes on the Healthcare Plan-Free Black Space

2010-03-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

I have asked a friend to share with us some of the major components of the new health care plan for the country. Obviously, this is a major achievement. Healthcare is a fundamental right and component of our ability to both survive and thrive in this society.

Robin Preston has been a healthcare for professional for over a decade. She has kept me and many of our friends up to date on the debate leading up to the passage of the bill.

Presented below is a general outline of some of the major ways the healthcare bill will affect us.

It is amazing to me that there is contempt for helping people to get healthy and stay healthy. That politicians and other idealogues would 1) not even read the bill that they are commenting on or lying about or 2) out right lie about the contents of the bill. So here are a few facts that I think are important to share:

Timeline - there are many facets of this bill. Some will go into effect immediately, but the entire bill will not go into effect until 2014. Some of the more immediate items include:
1. Dependent care up to age 26 - this allows families to keep their unmarried adult children on their health plan. This is good because we all know when we are getting started with our carreers that healthcare may not be affordable.
2. Cost sharing limits are $5,000 per individual and $10,000 per family each year - this will minimize the out of pocket expense for people each year. For example, if you had cancer and you had a 20% copay for your chemo and radiation, you could very well encounter $30k in debt for your share of your care. Now your annual out of pocket expense is capped.
3. No cost for preventative care - all well check ups for adults and children will have no copayments. Copayments will still apply for sick visits.
No exclusions for pre-exisiting conditions - this means if you have high blood pressure and you switch insurance your high blood pressure care will be covered. Previously, insurance companies would say that they would pay for everything EXCEPT the care you received for your high blood pressure.
4. No annual or lifetime limits - some policies will only pay out $X amount for your care over the period of a year or a lifetime. So for example, if you have a premature baby that ends up in the NICU for a period of time and then that child has on-going care needs, they could exhaust their lifetime benefit in their first 5 years of life. If you are not poor enough to qualify for CHIP or Medicaid, then you child would not have coverage because they exhausted their lifetime max or if you switched insurance it would be seen as a pre-existing condition and insurance would pay for care related to the chronic illness.
5. Mandate for health insurance - yes this is in there. Except for hardship cases.
6. Mental Health and Substance abuse care - benefits will be equal to physical health benefits. Previously, a lot of policies limited MH or SA care to X number of visits a year or X number of days in rehab, etc.
7. There are a lot of other provision that apply to the exisiting Medicaid and Medicare programs. Mostly expansion of coverage or benefits.

St. Patrick's Day, Gates Whose Your Daddy?

2010-03-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

I just read an article by Henry Louis Gates, entitled Whose Your Irish Daddy. The article can be found at http://www.theroot.com/views/whos-your-irish-daddy?page=0,.

In a celebration of St. Patrick's Day Gates asks the question "Who are his Irish Ancestors." Apparently, his great, great grandfather was Irish. My wife and I saw one of his specials on PBS were he spoke about how many African Americans who swear to goodness they have Native American blood are in fact confused. You'll have to read the article for yourself, but his article seems to suggests that many of us who are looking for African Ancestors are in fact descended from whites-and the Irish in particular. Recent DNA tests make the conclusions clear.

My wife jokingly tells the story of how an Aunt who got a DNA test turned out to be a white, dreadlocked, full-hipped woman. How do we know this? Not the mirror-the DNA tells us so.

Always at the top of his game-Gates begins the article by talking about "one of his famous Malcolm X speeches" where Malcolm discusses how we borrowed names from white people. He explains to us that Malcolm was in fact playing the dozens and that perhaps Malcolm was wrong.

Forgive me, but I am a bit confused. Not that Malcolm couldn't be wrong, or not that many of us don't have white ancestors. I know for a fact my Great Great Great Maternal Grandfather was a white man. I also know that race is a haint, a haunt, a aberrational concept which exist in so many of our minds, its validity does not lie in whether its pretext or contexts are true; but in the fact that people use the idea to make decisions. Somewhere in Gates article I get the impression that once again the evidence of the crime is faulty, the trail of crumbs leading into the forest dries up.

This would not be so important if race as a construct was still not an active program running on the mainframe of America. I must return to the ripe age of fourteen when I was just leaving a predominantly white Christian school in the suburbs of D.C., and realized that there was something not included in my education that was part of the social fabric of the institution. Was it the absence of African Americans in the text book? Was it Jesus, the prophets and the disciples who looked like they were from England and Ireland? Was it the talent development room at the end of the hall full of black students? Was it the limited list of African Americans who had contributed to American history? Was it the summer trips down South and my parents almost fanatical devotion to "who white people were" and "what they did" in spite of our education at a predominantly white school.

Perhaps ghosts are real. Perhaps the real question of race is one of spirit (albeit bad ones) and not one of science. I buy that many of us have white ancestors. It is in our blood, mixed in with the blood of this country. I also remember Malcolm saying he hated every drop of the white racists blood that flowed through him. Not to suggests again that he was right in doing this, but the beauty of Malcolm was his ability to speak certain portions of the collective consciousness of African Americans that were rarely spoken in public before he came. It was the free black space whisper he spoke in public on the microphone, fresh in the age of the t.v., while the world watched. One can only imagine how petrifying this was for White Americans whose sense of self was often fueled by our fear and silence. One can only imagine how powerful Malcolm's effect was on countless African Americans who questioned the validity of their own thoughts in silence. A silence based on clear social constructs, abuse fear, power dynamics and the like.

It was right around fourteen that I read Malcolm; and he more than any other person-though he was an ancestor by that time, hipped me to the hidden reality which for years had shaped and molded me. It was the man growing in me that began to question the ideas that made me a social being. Whatever it was I was becoming felt trapped, weak and somewhere outside of the social order, not just at school but also within my own community. Malcolm helped navigate this arena and gave birth to a righteous anger, that helped weigh in with the pursuit of women, drinking, fashion and the like. Ideas mattered. When Malcolm spoke one was forced to realize black consciousness was a real and living thing, influencing our lives. This reality was ignored, even repressed by the larger society. Everyday African Americans recognized and verified this consciousness as the reflection of their own thoughts and ideas. A simple acknowledgement which was resistance on the most fundamental levels.

I have to mention Baldwin and the Fire Next Time. One of my all-time favorite books. Baldwin makes the statement that his father "really believed he was what white people said he was." Likewise, his father's belief, saddened, angered and depressed the man. He also articulates the sense of loneliness and despair that young people in Harlem felt as they reached the ages of adolescence. So many of them, Baldwin explains, entered an abyss which ultimately left us trapped in a black world stressing limits as compared to the limitless. The streets or the Church seemed to be the only two options. Not without parallels, it is in the Fire Next Time that Baldwin talks about why he could not be a muslim. He places the Nation of Islam as a similar option to the streets or the church which showed itself as an outlet for young people on the edge of the abyss.

Black anger in many respects has dissolved as a dominant mode in society since Black Power. Much has been learned. In many respects Malcolm's words and life helped us begin to navigate and articulate this energy and force which for years had haunted the internal world of our community.

Ghosts are real.

Who Let the Dogs out?

Gates article rests on science. What does America know about the science of emotion? The navigation of the spiritual realms? The navigation of the psyche of the human being? There are numerous psychologists and spiritual advisors throughout the country.

Black reality is black consciousness.

If white Americans are trying to come to this years family reunion based on Gates article, we have science and DNA testing to thank.

Free Black Space

Spring is in the Air-Art of War, Know the Seasons

2010-03-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

Check it- the Sun is the year and the seasons-the moon is the month and the mood. For those who have not checked out the I-Ching, please do. I recommend the translation by Richard Wilhelm. We just hit the last new moon in winter of 2010.

It was a hell of a winter too, one of the worst in many years with record snow falls. However, I can say I got closer to my family. Who didn't with all of the snow on the ground? Who could leave the house?

The last snowstorm that big, came in 1979. My sister and I dug tunnels in the snow outside the house-an undersnow network. It was beautiful. More than anything I liked the sight of the snow before the black dirt of the streets was mixed with it. Heavy snow, good for snowball fighting. When one of the storms arrived it hung to the trees and the world was full of glass-it was magical.

On the streets snow was iced up for weeks. Like this past winter, we got that long holiday every kid is waiting on. It was a long time before the snow plows came and what I remember most is the strange sense of calm that came over the house-knowing no work could be done. We were in a limbo that noone could not control. The weather did it. It seemed the folks I ran into on the street belonged to two different categories: The ones who were relieved by the snow and those who were in panic mode. Our reaction to the weather patterns has everything to do with the types of jobs we have.

We are on the plantation-it begins to rain-is there joy or sorrow at the sight of rain?

The Art of War, Sun Tzu's classic is a much understood text by those who have difficulty contemplating a work, or those who dare to judge a book by it's cover(or the title for that matter). There are some who think study of the work is the contemplation of death to one's enemies.

In the first section of the work under strategic assessments the book advises us to know the seasons. It then states the seasons means the weather. Then in my translation, examples are given of generals who lead attacks during the summer or winter and were shown to be inconsiderate of their soldiers.

How does spring truly affect us? What work can be done today that can't be done tomorrow?
If the nature is affected by these patterns what happens to us?

Something to Contemplate.

Free Black Space

Things to contemplate....

In Free Black Space

Bilal-Second Child

2010-03-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

Fred Joiner and Alan King hooked me up to Bilal. Tryst four or five years ago, they shout out his name. I am confused-I don't know him. I'm sposed to know him. Four years later, I download from I-tunes. Late one night four months later-I hear "second child" late one night cleaning up my mess-getting ready to move out.

I'm addicted, my son can't understand. Conscious lyrics. Old skool last poet like-funky bass line-different movements. Music of it's own category.

This post is from an old friend I met at Karibu-who now studies at USC, afine poet and writer. Here is an interview she did with Bilal. Nicole Perkins with Bilal. The format is a bit odd, but I enjoyed it.

We claim him. Bilal is defenitely on the Free Black Space.
http://tnwhiskeywoman.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/an-interview-with-bilal/

Repost: What is Free Black Space

2010-02-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

Free Black Space is a place where all definitions of blackness exist.

Physically, it is the Hair Dresser, the Barbershop, the Club, the Corner, the Backyard where the cookout is held, the Church, the One Room School House in the old Deep South, The Black Bookstore, The Black Think Tank Board Room, it is the place where black folks can open their mouth and what they say will be respected, heard (not neccessarily agreed with but heard.)

Mentally, it is the place where freedom has existed every since African Americans arrived in this country. Spiritually, it is the place where pain and suffering are transcended. Mentally, it is the place where Black Thought has the ability to solve all problems and engage them with vigor, like science, like mathematics. A place where form and content fuse.

And Free Black Space obviously contains Black Love. The force and power that is a unity between all of our entities, a collective consciousness that seeks the highest forms of unity with the forces of nature and others in our community.

And while Free Black space is metaphysical, it is also physical. Back to the location-anyplace where there is the feeling of freedom. The original impetus, the thing our ancestors who were enslaved sought above all else. The Black Body, the vessel that holds the soul and the mind. The brother and sister, the mother and father, the child and the adult walking down the street being themselves.

Yet, Free Black Space is as much about the physicality as the mental, what we can and cannot say. Free Black Space is about the forum, the ground where we can speak freely, so that we may share, learn and seek a greater sense of unity with members of our community.

Free Black Space comes out of an experience of selling books to African Americans. Too often in our daily lives, we are convinced that what we think does not matter. Though books are about entertainment they are also about thought. Within the world of books, one is able to travel to a variety of places. The dialogue about books is a dialogue about thought. Many of the people who read and enjoy books are convinced that thought matters. Free Black Space promotes Free Black Thought and Free Black Ideas. Free Black Space promotes Black People Reading. Free Black Space promotes Black People reading in and outside of the Black Literary Tradition. Free Black Space promotes Black People studying all forms of culture and all forms of knowledge.

Karibu Books was a generalized Black Bookstore. There were few if any restrictions on what Literature would be carried. Witness the birth of the general black bookstore. Unlike prior generations of Black Bookstores there was no one perspective reflected in the inventory. The location offered books in a wide variety of subjects by people who often did not share ideologies, political beliefs, religions or ways of viewing the world. While the traditional Black Bookstore was a question of liberation, Karibu Books was not allowed this luxury. The customers, the historical time, the market forces all demanded more. And some may asks what is more than liberation. Perhaps it is liberation which needs to be redefined. Liberation not just in the physical sense, but also in the mental, spiritual and metaphysical sense. This quest for freedom is a natural progression of our development in this country, our becoming. And even more clearly, it is the fundamental ground those in our community who seek knowledge always return to. We know the book is powerful. We know that knowledge is powerful. We experience a process of transformation once we come to these revelations. Revelations that in some shape or form center around a becoming that is connected to seeking knowledge in literature-respecting and cultivating the culture of the book.

Karibu Books and all Black Bookstores are important because they add dimension to the physical locations of Free Black Space. They are an important part of our culture. Free Black Space is a journey as much as it is a place. It is a place as much as it is a mindset.

Kanye's Book

2009-11-23T12:01:00.001-08:00

I recently read this quote from Kanye West, "I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life."

This is part of his promo for his new book. Kanye-isms?

I would be interested in some comments on this one. As a small note Kanye West is the son of a Black Panther and a mother who was an English Professor.

What does it mean for such a prominent and articulate young man to say he is a proud non-reader?

Marc Cary and Jazz

2009-11-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Years ago Karibu Books had Marc Cary, the famous young jazz pianist from D.C. perform at P.G. Plaza. As I remember it, it was an amazing concert. It must've been 8 or 9 years ago now. P.G. Plaza was packed with the usual folks on a Saturday evening. On drums-the woman drummer Cindy Blackman who played beautifully.

For those of you who do not know his music please check him out. I just gotta chance to listen to him and Urbanus, the new effort from the Stefon Harris Group. Marc has played with Abbey Lincoln and a whole range of prominent musicians. In addition, he is homegrown D.C. with the go-go feel. Our best and brightest you may say.

Perhaps my best Marc Cary surprise was when he played at the Dance Place (a local theater spot in the North East)with Sekou Sundiata (now deceased) once of the best spoken word poets ever. If you don't know check youtube and the def poetry jam archives.

If you get a chance give Urbanus a shot or Focus. Marc also features an Indian drummer Sameer Gupta on drums and tabula. The cut Taiwa is the new standard.

Christmas 1979

2009-10-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

Christmas 1979

your father is gone

wind howls outside

the fire is not hot enough

what moves in us is moon
white light made of moans

One-Lane Highways

2009-10-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

One-Lane Highways

by Bro. Yao

what's out there

paved upon the earth
under the moonlight
on summer nights down
south, has no mouth

except the howl of the wind
running its hands through
the chimes after dark

in those last days when we find
ourselves in the skin
of summer's heat/ on the edge
of autumn's cool days to come

we feel like those who looked
at the sea, and could not go home.

standing in the road, looking upon
the dotted line-looking towards
the horizon-looking both ways.

The Shape of Things to Come

2009-10-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

The Shape of Things To Come

by Bro. Yao/Hoke Glover

For Sekou

i have sought the shape of things
the november of my father's death
moon the day my money went south

my skin fell off the day my
daughter was born. and my man
in the sunset, brought me tears
in his casket, though he is always

smiling in my head. i confess
i like money in my hand
feast upon my wife's smile
trace the steps of my mother

through life with weeping and beauty
rising on saturday morning
with amonia in the air
with a steaming bucket .

i know so little about the world.
something make me follow.

my feet are not my own.

A Question of Freedom

2009-08-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

A man wakes up in prison.

A man wakes up in America.

A woman wakes up in America.

We wake up in the belly of a slave ship and work to find our way home.

These are some of the great metaphors of African-American existence. Ringing with the same tone as the slave narratives, the ultimate archetype of African American Literature-waking up in bondage and beginning the journey to a higher consciousness.

One's condition is an opportunity presented for the sake of destiny.

Dwayne Bett's new memoir, A Question of Freedom is a finely written book that chronicles his steps towards consciousness. As a teenager he was locked up and sentenced to prison for 8 years for carjacking. No doubt he was brilliant before he ever went in; but the prison experience transformed him into an even more brilliant thinker, writer and human being. While imprisoned he became a man, feeding off the energy, knowledge and wisdom he received from fellow prisoners and books that he read.

I know the man, and in our conversations we have often talked about nationalism and how it helped develop and transform his consciousness. Malcolm, the panthers, Marcus Garvey, five percenters and other movements and figures of the Black Nationalist, Black Arts and Black Power movements are pivotal in his development. However, their influence is blended with a general love of literature as a whole. In addition to A Question of Freedom, Dwayne's first manuscript of poetry, Shahid Reads His Own Palm is forthcoming in publication. For in addition to being a fine writer of memoir he is also a brilliant poet in love with literature, in love with words and in love with the development of the skill of clearly articulating himself on the page and in three dimensions. And when you read his work, when you are in his presence you are affected. You cannot help but say this is real-we are alive. Something is happening, I don't neccessarily know what it is, where it will go, or where it will end; but something is defenitely happening.

Currently, he is enrolled in Warren Wilson College obtaining his M.F.A. In addition, he recently received his Bachelor's from the University of MD. where at this years commencement he was chosen as the student speaker. I say this to say, his story must be seperated or at the least viewed in conjunction with his brilliance and ability. For they are distinct elements that come at last in one package. This has happened before. We are taking by suprise. We could only plan this if we planned the mass imprisonment ourselves.

For all too often, the jetlag on the acceptance and acknowledgement of the brilliance of Black Men who come out of prison is an all too important fixture in America. There are the pockets in the underground where these writers and great minds are studied and chanted and quoted; but for the most part there is a great reservoir of wisdom in their works that is underutilized. In other words, we as a country are late. We were late on Malcolm and many still fail to recognize the profound nature of George Jackson. Etheridge Knight is sitting lonely on the page, speaking poems to himself in someone's library. Yet, those men and numerous others, at the least, helped us realize that great minds can undergo development in prison. There in the cage many have confronted the worst in themselves and the country and risen above it. We are back to the beginning. The great metaphor of black existence: bondage and the response. Darkness in the bellly of the slave ship and what light shines there.

And that is why at the signing I attended earlier tonight, members of the crowd were moved to tears. A woman stands up and speaks of her son in prison and asks Dwayne a question she wants to ask her son. His story is somehow a part of her son's story and to see him shine is somehow feeling a connection with her son's shining-his ability to shine. The powers of Malcolm's Autobiography are many, and one of the most prominent was that in the words of Ossie Davis at the Eulogy-"he was our black shining prince"- one of the best of us, who had experienced the worst. And where did he come from-the belly of prison, where some of our cousins, our uncles, our fathers, our brothers had almost rotted away-isolated in their pain and frustration.

There are wells of emotion in the world. The reservoir of pain and suffering, but also potential joy surrounding the imprisonment of Black Men in America is a place where the water gathers. We are all affected though our everyday lives go on while they are not with us. And though the story can be strung simply-"shorty just f'd up", "you know he knew better", the numbers are so large and disproportionate we know there must be some complexity in there which goes beyond the spins of the news and the media. For this reason the prison narratives like the slave narratives strike a common chord not just for the Black Community but for the larger American society. It verifies what we know about humanity, that a man is not his crimes but a man-complex, genuis and ingenious, loving and unloved, courageous and fearful, dynamic, almost forever in mutations and incantantions, in ideas and struggles.

However, we need the voice of those with the skill of words to articulate those various dimensions of the human condition. Not just for themselves and for those who are not so articualte and in prison, but for all of us. This is the potential joy.

How I got over

A Question of Freedom.

Check it Out.

Free Black Space

E. Lynn Harris

2009-07-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

In Honor of E. Lynn Harris June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009

As a a member of the Karibu Books team I had the pleasure of being a part of E. Lynn Harris' success.

E. Lynn in the early 90's was an example of that up and coming author who came up and then established himself as a heavyweight in the African American Literary Industry. It was a fascinating time. One would hear about books as rumors and then suddenly they would appear. E. Lynn was like that, Zane was like that. A customer walks through the doorway and says,
"I am looking for a book?"
"Well, do you know the name?"
"I think it is called Invisible Life."
"Let me check my database?"
"Nothing is coming up by that name."
"I'll put it down and we'll keep searching for it-see what we can come up with?"
For E. Lynn and countless other authors this was how their careers were built. The great powerful tool of word of mouth was the decisive factor in the Literary Renaissance of the 1990's. Iyanla was like that, E. Lynn Harris was like that and of course Zane and a whole host of urban authors built their career with the street hustle: selling their books out of the trunks of cars, in barbershops, salons and the like.

And E. Lynn was special. I remember a hundred folks lined up inside of one of Karibu's tiny stores and him arriving, looking a bit stressed. Yet, his sense of composure was amazing. Always well dressed, always professional and always articulate. As a former salesmen he understood clearly that his fans, his customers were the most important thing and he often spent his time making sure that each one of them felt special. Again, I can remember him coming to a signing at Karibu after having spent 8 or 9 days on the road in tours. The tired showed on his body. His face had a little less of the E. Lynn glow; yet he trudged through and made sure folks were taken care of.

Booksignings aare extremely demanding. Try writing your name 200 times on two hundred different books, saying hello to two hundred different people and let us not forget to try listening to two hundred people tell you how much your book meant to them. Yes, E. Lynn made money off the books but he defenitely did not have to be as kind and considerate as he was. There are countless examples of authors he stands high above.

It also important to mention the role he played in the Hurston-Wright Foundation. As his success continued to grow he became a part of the Board of the Hurston-Wright Foundation. He sat on the Board, helped raise money and publish books with the foundation and even created scholarships for young writers to attend Hurston-Wright Workshops.

What I will remember most about him is the way he smiled and carried each interaction I had with him like it was showtime. So professional. So elegant. So much style.

Below is a link to the Washington Post which contains an excellent obituary on Mr. Harris. What I like about it, is the literary context and love he mixes into the writing. Enjoy.

Free Black Space

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072404037.html

General Comments

2009-06-25T04:51:00.001-07:00

Most of the blogs I have created, a few yet to be posted have been more on the essay side. The high density side. However, today I decided to hit a more traditional blog. Just a couple of things I think about daily. One is that the world of Black Books will always be here. I talked with a friend last night and we discussed whether folks will still be reading books on paper in the next forty years. I would love to hear from someone who has a kindle. Everyone I have talked to about a kindle says they love it. I am looking at my desk now and thinking about how many of the books that are stacked there would be gone if they were all compacted into that digital device.

His opinion mirrors the opinion a few of my serious book friends have hit me with. That less and less people are reading actual books and spend more time reading articles or portions of information on the internet.

Our relationship with media and communication is very different than that of our grandparents or parents a generation or two ago. What amount of time do we spend watching t.v., interacting with the internet or talking on a cel phone? A few generations ago, these forms of media and communication did not exist. However, there is a difference in those forms as compared to others. I would argue the book is one of the greatest technologies ever created. It is a fundamental part of most civilizations. I know we have the oral tradition in certain societies, but books are one of the most complete ways to transfer thoughts from one mind to the next. There is an upcoming blog which will touch on this in more detail.

We are on information overload. We are the over-communicated society. And for so many of us, the response to being over-communicated is to shut down. For when over-communicated there is a maintenance cost associated with sifting through the information. The way you cut out the cost is you separate yourself from the information.

All that to say the society is due to balance out some of this communication, as part of its quest for stability. Perhaps as time goes on, only the poor and seeking will read books from the library, for perhaps only those of us who cannot afford to keep up with the technological age, will have time to read books.

And the idea, that all we need is information seems to grow out of a capitalistic approach to living. Information which is all too important because we need it to gain some competitive advantage in our quest for our goals. A novel for instance, properly written allows us to experience a transformation in the consciousness of a character-a process which mirrors our lives. The mind begins in one place, interacts with a variety of elements and then ends up being in another place in the end. "I am not the person that I used to be." Why? Because your experiences in life have altered that consciousness. We read great novels to gain greater insight into our humanity and the humanity of others.

While the ability to entertain is an important aspect of the book, we must also remember entertainment too often competes with the t.v., movies and radio which all too often serve as distractions in a society where people are overloaded with information and the pursuit of their desires. While books do entertain, they demand a focus and command of one's attention that is very different from t.v. or movies. While the competition between a passive activity and an active one is unfair, it is a part of the American market. In much of the same way we have faith that an Obama can change one of the worst U.S. Economies into a positive situation for many of us, I would like to suggest we believe and work towards teaching our youth (and many adults too) about the rewards that come from reading.

Reading is mental exercise and let's face it, many of our minds are constantly active during the course of the day. Toni Morrison's work (many customers used to tell me) is one of the great obstacle courses for the mind.

If there are forms of reading that are more difficult than others-why not promote these mental exercises as the great triatholons or tests of mental activity. Why not make our children and community proud to be able to read what few others can understand. We could approach it the the same way we smile and enjoy the man who makes the dunk at the All-Star Game. What makes him special-few others can do what he can do.

Just thoughts.

Free Black Space

There is No Technology Greater Than The Book

2009-06-23T10:02:00.001-07:00

There seems to be a division within African American Literature and African American culture as a whole, between the hip, the commercial, the religious, the philosophical, the educational and the radical or nationalist. This is not to suggest that these categories are complete-the point is to stress the sense of disconnectedness. For those hip to afro-centrism the issue appears to be one of dismemberment. The process of "re-membering" as a reference to the myth of Ausar(Osiris) and Auset(Isis) and the conception of the son (Heru), is an approach to our history and culture which if taken guarantees many rewards.

To be clearer, as individuals and then also as a community we struggle with the process of remembering. For example, something as simple as the name of one's great, great, great grandparents will stump many of us. Among all of the other complexities created by slavery collective amnesia stands as one of the greatest. On the base level, slavery was about destroying our sense of connectedness.

Even what often seems like an over emphasis on erotic or more appropriately sex content in portions of our culture(particularly the commercially successful), whether one considers it good or bad, has at its roots a quest for union or connectedness with other human beings. The base level-the root-the need to touch and feel and to have sex corresponds with the root of our existence. The power of literature which makes reference to sex and even violence is that it stimulates and connects with our sense of what it means to be alive.

Black Literature is the documentation of Black consciousness. It is the quest to communicate what it means to experience life from this vantage point. Black Diaspora or African consciousness naturally in America, but also throughout the world, has spent much time grappling with the issue of race. And rightly so, for race as a concept used to negate or minimize the humanity of those with Black skin or African ancestry, is much like a riddle about what it means to be human. The injustice and suffering we have encountered when judged(misjudged) according to our race, often causes us to question the meaning of our lives. We can be certain that our history has demanded this of many. For how are we to understand our humanity, when that humanity has been negated in countless situations.

Free Black Space is in essence the place where we can speak freely and transfer consciousness from one mind to another. Often times the objective is simply one of compassion, with the goal of serving as a balm for one's wounded sense of self, or simply a listening ear. At other times, it is historical and serves to contribute to the collective memory-to establish a time line in the face of amnesia. Within Academia, the transfer of consciousness often explores and documents, in order to uncover what was hidden so that a more practical approach to present and future problems can be taken. Within commercial literature, the consciousness is rooted in the common experiences, physical objects and ideas of the community. The story told may be presented in a form or fashion unfamiliar to the community but is grounded with details and perspectives we are familiar with. For religion, the fundamental questions of human existence are asked from the vantage point of Africans in the diaspora and America.

The point is that there very well may be nothing new under the sun. However, translating or communicating the countless manifestations of the one into words and languages is fundamentally what literature is all about.

Remember, the question is one of re membering. If the body is torn asunder, it must be remembered-put back together as a whole. For humanity is fundamentally about wholeness. Dr. Afrika's Afrikan Holistic Health is a perfect example of a primer text that introduces one to the concept of health and life as a combination of mind, body and spirit. And the same must be said for the community as whole. The process of remembering is fundamentally a question of refusing to negate any portion of what is-what has occurred. Those experiences negated or not remembered, cannot be re membered. And what cannot be re membered cannot be reassembled in the collective body of knowledge. Cannot be actualized or used as consciousness. And consciousness is the gasoline, the power behind life-it is what increases or decreases our ability to experience life fully.

A customer at Karibu Books once shared with me that in a temple in Egypt he saw a quote over the doorway which stated (this is a paraphrase) "out of all things, reading will feed all of your senses." The structure of human language is fundamentally about sharing human consciousness from one mind to the next. Images and nouns represent physical objects and ideas, verbs represent actions and so forth. The core of language is that it always hints at the other or something that is in fact greater than words. Something that is sensory and dynamic as the experience of life is. Immediately, the Wisdom of Laotse is called to mind. " The Tao(Way) that can be told of is not the Absolute Tao(Way); and the Names that can be given are not the absolute names." The point to be made is that words point towards life, and life is something that exist beyond words, however, as the temple in Egypt noted, reading or communicating via words is perhaps human beings best resource when it comes to sharing what it means to be alive. Speech and Literature are the ultimate when it comes to sharing what comes from the invisible regions of our minds with our fellow human beings.

The ability to share consciousness through words or through speech is skill, an almost mystical skill cultivated an possessed by only a few. And these are out great authors and orators in particular, remembered throughout time.

Free Black Space cultivates a holistic approach to the experiences and consciousness which has occurred within the dimensions of the human mind, via those with black skin. There is something we have to give to the world and to echo James Baldwin, America in particular. Our enslavement at the inception of the country calls into question the depth of the consciousness attached to ideas such as "freedom, justice and democracy." For if there was an understanding of these concepts-how serious was it, given our treatment at the time. Our existence alone in America has always posed difficult questions for the country. And we are not the only one's. There are countless others who have existed outside of the mainstream of America's discourses and idealistic concepts. These places and communities have existed in similar fashion to Free Black Space. And within Free Black Space there has always been a discussion of gender, race and class and virtually every issue which has effected human beings on the planet.

The goal here is to establish parameters and to technically have no parameters with exception of inclusion in the range of experience of those with African Ancestry. And of course it is important to note as Karibu did-books By and About African People. By no means is it only Africans or those of African descent who have been dedicated to the study and preservation of Black Consciousness. There are countless examples of people outside the "race" who have involved, contributed to and communicated within the realms of Free Black Space.

Commercialism and Black LIterature

2009-05-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

The past twenty years has been one of the most positive periods in African American Literature and the range of published books for African Americans has increased dramatically. Much of the growth in the industry coincided with the economic boom in the American economy as a whole. This relationship between African American Literature's prominence and the positive financial climate in the country mirrors the Harlem Renaissance which began around 1919 and ended in the early 1930's. The Renaissance is considered by most to be one of the first African American literary movements. The past twenty years has often been referred to as a Literary Renaissance. For purposes here we will call this the Black Woman/Urban Lit Renaissance. For in these last twenty years, these two facets of African American Literature have been the most commercially successful and experienced the most growth.

There is a direct comparison that can be drawn between the Roaring Twenties and the Bling 90's and the early two-thousands; and the Harlem Renaissance and Black Woman/Urban Literary Movement. Some historians place the end of the Harlem Reniassance in the early 1930's a few years after the collapse of the stock market in the crash of 1929. An important question to raise here is what effect will the financial crisis have on the state of African American Literature?

From the surface the question is easy to answer. Even before the final crash of the market in Fall of 2008 African American Bookstores were closing all over the country. Our own bookstore Karibu Books, a six store chain in Washington D.C. closed it's doors in early 2008. Eso-Wan books in L.A. sent out announcements that it was about to close in October of 2007 and was consequently kept in operation by a rally from customers. Black Images Book Bazar, run by industry giant Emma Rodgers in Dallas, Texas, closed their doors after twenty-nine years in December of 2006. These are only a few of the most-highlighted examples, countless other small stores have closed in the past five years-even before the financially difficult times arrived.

On the corporate level, publishing had only few blacks to begin with. Clyde McElvene, Director of the Hurston-Wright Foundation, named after Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston and dedicated to the preservation of the book in African Diaspora communities, stated most of the African Americans he knew in publishing have made an exodus in the past three years. It seems while African American Literature has been a growth segment in publishing, the harsh economic times have made the personnel who managed that growth expendable. Besides, the difficulty of working in those predominantly white environments has been hard on the souls of those destiend to do that good work. The idea of literary taste is at the center of any literary movement. The literary taste brought to bear with the urban literature in particular is much like hip-hop. There is a different asthetic at work. Without understanding of the aesthetic, publishers tend to make their decisions based on whether or not the book will sell. The complexity reaches its heights, when publishers after increasing their revenue with urban sales, began to define urban lit as the "essence of black literature." It is a question of how infrastructure and power can influence what gets defined as Black Literature. The other question is did this happen with the Harlem Renaissance. And maybe not, did it happen, but could it have happened. We tend to study literature primarily as the texts and the concepts held there. However, what about the industry as whole. This is a great area of study for African American scholars.

Lastly, Black Issues Book Review, considered by many to be the premier Black Book publication stopped publishing in early 2007. The signs appear to be clear, African American Bookstores and independent institutions in the face of a Renaissance have been unable to thrive. The reasons behind this paradox are numerous, perhaps too numerous to discuss here, however, we can bring to light or address a few of the most prominent.

The first, would be the Harlem Renaissance's quest for a literary benefactor. I fondly remember a great intellctual and poet form the Washington Metropolitan Area, D.J. Renegade having a debate many years ago stating that the Harlem Renaissance was a hoax. While I don't remember all the particulars of the argument, a portion of it hinged on the idea that Black Literature promoted by white benefactors to white audiences was in reality what the Renaissance was about. Carl Van Vechten, a white author and critic, took interest in and promoted the literary careers of Langston Hughes, Richard Wright and Wallace Thurman. The publicaton of his book Nigger Heaven in the center of the Harlem Renaissance is of note, considering his use of the perjorative term in spite of his whiteness. This example serves to introduce some complexity to what most of us know as a literary movement that dramatically shaped the course of African American history. The approach applies to the current Black Woman/Urban Lit Movement. To what degree are Black Literary Movements simply a recognition or embracing of Free Black Space by members of the larger society. The question needs more study, however, we can be sure that the current Literary Renaissance has in many ways been fueled by the larger society (publishing industry's) recognition of the value of African American Literature. This began first with the ascendancy of Black Women writers such as Terry McMillan, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison as the most notables and then continued on to the hip-hop street life authors. The latter began their literary careers selling books out of the trunks of their cars. An excellent example would be Omar Tyree who published his first book, an urban literature classic, Flyy Girl in the early 1990's, and would receive delivery trucks at his apartment in Hyattsville, MD before he became a successful author with numerous book deals with Simon and Schuster. Other examples would be the author Zane who self-published her Sex Chronicles to wide acclaim and eventually landed contracts with Simon and Schuster too.

The examples of the urban life success stories are similar to hip-hop and often filled with erotica and the grit of "raw urban black life." The quality of literature is questioned by many, including the publishers who actually gave the books a wider distribution. However, it is the authors themselves who in a grass roots gesture much like Master P or hip-hop particularly in the early days, developed street marketing techniques and showed their value first among black customers and then used this as leverage to get publishers to bring their work into their houses.

The last factor to suggests why African American Bookstores would close and Blacks would have difficulty in the industry in spite of the growth of Black Literary consciousness is the presence of the chains and the "box retailers." Like all authors, black authors want sales and to increase sales you need more outlets. The mega booksellers have provided this. And ascendancy has been defined as an ability to sell to these outlets. The problem is this, the Black Booksellers such as Karibu, Black Images Book Bazar and Eso-Wan, among others were the only people to take on these authors on their way up. However once authors get signed, these outlets are forced to go through white institutions and the gross sales from outlets outside of the Black Market exceed the sales within it. The paradox is one of success. Given our minority status in the country as a whole, larger modes of success determine we encounter, enter in to communication with or embrace the other. This is a mode that has striking similarities with the growth (and what some would call the decline) of hip-hop literature in the market place. The end result is that grass root efforts make their way to halls of industry and in many respects folks want it that way.

While the complexity may appear overwhelming, we can be certain that Black authors ascendancy to the mainstream is connected to the decline of our own independent institutions. While independent publishing has not been discussed here-there are similarities in that arena. Yet, the quote "a people who do not know there past are doomed to repeat it" echoes in our minds. Could the present modes somehow have already been played out in our history.

It is here that the need for study becomes all too important. It has been the tendency of the African American community during the boom of the 1990's and early two thousands to gravitate towards the entertainment side of literature. The nineties and the post Reagan years represent an almost leaderless landscape for African Americans and a difficulty in figuring out what the next stage of development "post black power/post-civil rights" should be. The money flowing throughout the economy gave rise to gangsterism, thugism and get-mineism. Not indictments but observations, actually logical conclusions given the political environment in the country. The grass roots nature of urban literature like hip-hop represents a sense of blackness that is the more form or style as compared to content. The community needs both. However, the grass roots nature is the undeniable feature of Black Urban Literature which cannot be denied even by those who dislike it. For the grass roots is where the literature acts just like a social movement. Civil Rights, Black Power was/is grass roots. With exception of the Million Man March what else so big, so large in the 90's.

Especially in these times, with the tendency towards the entertainment mode of Black Literature, the need for serious study of the literature is more important than ever. And the hint here with the comparison to the Harlem Renaissance is that the study of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay, Nella Larsen and countless others goes beyond academic jargon and complex language in the halls of academia. The answers to some of our current problems may be found there, in the works and their context in history. Free Black Space needs academia and intellectualism, in fact Free Black Space has always had it.

The current times, with the election of Obama suggests African Americans will be more grounded in their approach to knowledge and literature. This is a plus. The negative is the access to capital from the larger corporate infra-Structure will change or already has. Entertainment after all is a luxury. While some think books are luxury items, others do not. I can't help but think about how Ben, good ole Ben Franklin said " The Library is the Poor Man's University." We are sold cheap on books if we think they are only there to entertain us. Dialogue and mind to mind communication with countless brilliant people who have are dead and gone or a million miles away is available via the technology of the book.

Free Black Space

Some Notes on Black Books

2009-05-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Selling Books to African Americans and writing books for the Black Community can easily be categorized as a form of activism. It begins with slavery and the efforts to educate those formerly enslaved. The reality is startling. Millions of Africans who for years had been subjected to inhumane treatment are suddenly given freedom. As a whole the nation and the community must struggle with the question of "How is freedom to be actualized?" Countless freed Blacks, the government and religious groups dedicate themselves the tasks of educating the Freedman. The classic works by Carter G. Woodson, The Education of the Negro (prior to 1860) and the Mis-Education of the Negro- in the wake of slavery address these fundamental issues.

In Karibu Books both of these books were considered Core Books or "Books every African American household should have." The fundamental questions addressed are what type of education African Americans should receive and how can the practicality of that education be addressed. In the contemporary market, the world of black Books has grown beyond these questions of education. Much of the growth in the industry from the early 1990's through the the rest of the decade was based on the growth of books as a vehicle for entertainment. The most prominent example of this was the birth of urban fiction represented by titles such as Omar Tyree's, Flyy Girl, Sistah Souljah's, The Coldest Winter Ever, and the urban erotic fiction of Zane. Prior to this the industy also experienced dramatic growth when the motivational titles of Iyanla Vanzant grew to national prominence. This growth in the industry was still balanced by agressive "literary fiction" which addressed most notably the formal notion of documenting black consciousness in the present day and historically. Toni Morrison's work and the works of Terri McMillan are prominent examples of this. Morrison often creating narratives which told stories the community had a grasp of historically but not personally, such as Beloved, which documented the narrative of a woman who struggled with motherhood during slavery and the killing of a child to avoid enslavement; and McMillan whose Waiting to Exhale masterfully articulated the inner voice and aspirations of African American women in the modern world.

While much of this may seem academic and "too deep," the complexity is one that is necessitated by the ground of African-American Literature and the world of Black Books. However, this is only the surface. The works produced by African-American authors have engaged the complexity of Black Thought and Free Black Space since the beginning of our history in this county. Books exist as one of the most complete, if not the most complete forms of mind to mind communication. The range of ideas and forms contained withing them represent the documentation and communication of human consciousnness: the full spectrum, from children's literatur to experimental forms.

Our reluctance to fully engage the complexity of Black Thought in Free Black Space is a natural occurence of our position in this country. In our minds, we often avoid the responsibility that comes with manageing a complete society. This management rarely takes physical forms because the larger structure of society does so many things for us. It builds institutions, collects taxes, paves our roads and manages the law among others. The management of a Black Bookstore or Black Library is one of the first steps or attempts at managing the complete reality of the African American Experience. It goes without saying, that the complete experience has not already been documented, henceforth the need for the publlication of more Black Books and African American Literature.

The book is indeed a strange thing in the African American Community, countless celebrities "cash in" on their public image through publication of a book. Books by rappers and stars are often designed to present people who may not normally be considered readers with a book they would like to read. On the flip side, important books which tell some story, nearly eliminated from the annals of history due to the radical counsciousness it contained or the particular consciousness documented for the benefit of those with black skin, lies dormant on the shelf with only a few copies sold.

Free Black Space aims to foster a community of ideas that is comprehensive and as all encompassing as possible for African Americans. It reflects our current position in history, our place in the contemporary world. Technology and years of history demand this approach be taken.

Free Black space aims to be comprehensive as Karibu Books was. For what is the nature of our conversations within the context of Free Black Space? We cover all of the topics a book could be written about: male-female relationships, sex, slavery, entertainment, sports, history: any and everything that comes to mind. After all, it is a Free Black Space we are in, and the restrictions on our thought, the cutting of the chord that connects our consciousness with our mouth are no longer valid here. Besides the disconnect between our thought and our freedom to speak may be one of the most powerful vestiges of slavery. Freedom of Speech rarely existed, if ever, for slaves. Society created laws which clearly regulated the penalties for saying what was truly on your mind and contesting the words and ideas of the larger society. One can only imagine how dramatic this experience was and it may very well explain much of the loud talk, outburst and almost ghostlike ranting and raving so many of us are exposed to in our communities. It is the ancient voice finally forced out, by frustration, tension and anger; by love, joy and the necessity that forms the annals of Black Literature. It is both, the good and the bad, the uglyl and the beautiful which demand our attention. We explode and say the things on our mind, that for so long we have tried to hold-in. It is also important to note that some of our fear may be located in the past. Some of those things we go through such agony to say, especially within the confines of Free Black Space, may not be as traumatic as we think. Yes, there is a danger which should never be underestimated, but our position demands we say what we think and document what we think. Books are the traditional end of this documentation process. Much of our loneliness and isolation outside Free black space can be combated in this way.

And if there is danger, it should be confronted. This idea of literary activism engaged by writers, bookstore owners and publishers is an important part of the African American struggle. The words of Langston Hughes resonate from his important essay, " The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," quoted and respected in the world of African American Literature as much as Dubois' eternal quote about "double consciousness"

We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual darkskinned selves wihtout fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs. If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.

Free Black Space is about the love and care that African Americans give to each other when we listen. It is about the trust that goes into saying what we truly feel. In societies and civilizations this is at the root of the need for personal expression and what often leads people to write books. These books in turn serve as the map and guiding light for future generations. The knowledge contained within them will help them on the journey to figure out who they are and eventually master the multiple realities they are confronted with.

what is free black space

2009-05-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Free Black Space is a place where all definitions of blackness exist.

Physically, it is the Hair Dresser, the Barbershop, the Club, the Corner, the Backyard where the cookout is held. The Church, the One Room School House in the Old Deep South, The Black Bookstore, The Black Think Tank Board Room. It is the place where black folks can open their mouth and what they say will be respected, heard (not neccessarily agreed with but heard.)

Mentally, it is the place where freedom has existed every since African Americans arrived in this country. Spiritually, it is the place where pain and suffering are transcended. Mentally, it is the place where Black Thought has the ability to solve all problems and engage them with vigor, like science, like mathematics. A place where form and content fuse.

And Free Black Space obviously contains Black Love. The force and power that is a unity between all of our entities, a collective consciousness that seeks the highest forms of unity with the forces of nature and others in our community.

And while Free Black space is metaphysical, it is also physical. Back to the location-anyplace where there is the feeling of freedom. The original impetus-the thing our ancestors who were enslaved sought above all else. The Black Body, the vessel that holds the soul and the mind. The brother and sister, the mother and father, the child and the adult walking down the street being themselves.

Yet, Free Black Space is as much about the physical as the mental. What we can and cannot say. Where we can go and cannot go. Free Black Space is about the forum-the ground where we can speak freely, so that we may share, learn and seek a greater sense of unity with members of our community.

Free Black Space comes out of an experience of selling books to African Americans. Too often in our daily lives, we are convinced that what we think does not matter. Though books are about entertainment they are also about thought. Within the world of books one is able to travel to a variety of places. The dialogue about books is a dialogue about thought. Many of the people who read and many of the people who enjoy books are convinced that thought matters. Free Black Space promotes Free Black Thought and Free Black Ideas. Free Black Space promotes Black People Reading. Free Black Space promotes Black People reading in and outside of the Black Literary Tradition. Free Black Space promotes Black People studying all forms of culture and all forms of knowledge.

Karibu Books was a generalized Black Bookstore. There were few if any restrictions on what Literature would be carried. Witness the birth of the general black bookstore. Unlike prior generations of Black Bookstores there was no one perspective reflected in the inventory. The location offered books in a wide variety of subjects by people who often did not share ideologies, political beliefs, religions or ways of viewing the world. While the traditional Black Bookstore was a question of liberation Karibu Books was not allowed this luxury. The customers, the historical time, the market forces all demanded a different and more comprehensive approach. Some may asks what is more than liberation. Perhaps it is liberation which needs to be redefined. Liberation not just in the physical sense, but also in the mental, spiritual and metaphysical sense. This quest for freedom is a natural progression of our development in this country-our becoming. And even more clearly, it is the fundamental ground those in our community who seek knowledge always return to. We know the book is powerful. We know that knowledge is powerful. We experience a process of transformation once we come to these revelations. Revelations that in some shape or form center around a becoming that is connected to seeking knowledge in literature-respecting and cultivating the culture of the book.

Karibu Books and all Black Bookstores are important because they add dimension to the physical locations of Free Black Space. They are an important part of our culture. Free Black Space is a journey as much as it is a place. It is a place as much as it is a mindset.