It's Simple: Literary Talk

In this biography, the readers learn that Alice Faye Williams was born a poor Black girl in the South, like any other young girl until her family moved to New York City during the sixties at a time racial tensions were rising and Blacks were fighting back. Alice became notably passionate with the uprising to help further the plight of Blacks—after joining the Black Panther Party she was no longer Alice but now Afeni Shakur. In today’s world, she’s most famous for being the mother of Tupac Shakur: rapper, actor, poet, and a political fighter himself. Before becoming the mother of Tupac, she was a fighter for justice, social and economic change for Black people and accused of being one of the notorious Panther 21.

While sitting in the airport, with a four-hour layover, I needed something good to read. I wandered over to the Tattered Cover Book Store at the Denver International Airport. Looking through the books, my eyes locked in on this beautiful cover. The title had me sold, “Yinka, Where is Yor Huzband?” …. It reminded me of many conversations I’ve had with my good, good girlfriends. This is the first novel by British-Nigerian author, Lizzie Damilola Blackburn.  I really enjoyed this! I’m starting to get more into stories with African families. Yinka is so full of heart! I loved that a cast of heartfelt characters surrounds her. As well as the straight first-person narrative, the story is told with emails, WhatsApp messages, internet search history, and voicemail transcripts. It looks at values and self-worth, being true to oneself as well as achieving a balance between traditional and contemporary attitudes.

Yinka's life. Even though I am not Nigerian, I am a sister a Black sista!  Just like Yinka ad so many other women, there is a struggle within us that screams “when will I find love, real and true love? Women of color will most definitely be able to relate to Yinka in even deeper ways due to her struggles with colorism and honoring her Nigerian roots. This book has a lot to unpack, yet it still has a light tone and is an enjoyable read. Alternate formats like text conversations, internet searches, and calendar reminders are sprinkled in adding variety. A wonderful debut. Looking forward to seeing more from this author.

Love Radio is a direct, heartfelt, YA-Romance following two teens in Detroit coming to the end of their high school years. I completely loved this story. From the very start I was captivated with the two main characters, Prince and Danielle.  Both were well-developed and pleasant. It was so easy to support and cheer them on. I was caught up at times I got lost in read; I forgot I was reading a YA Romance. Prince & Dani were both mature and throughout the story I continued to see growth. The way Ebony LaDelle wrote this book, the narratives of achievements, and finding their way through high school while fighting countless hardships was extraordinary. Prince was the sweetest!!! He was charismatic, thoughtful, helpful, and selfless! The author managed Prince’s storyline with such depth and grace. Danielle went through so much, and it was heart wrenching to read. The emotions of it all. I absolutely loved how the author penned Danielle’s story and how realistic it felt. I adored that she reconnected with her friends and gave insightful details about what happened to her and pursued help. It was courageous. One of the best YA books I have read in a long time. It was an enjoyable story, honest and heartfelt.

This novel was such a life changer for me. This book, the direct words of Mr. Douglass has stuck with me more than any book I have ever read.  How often is it that you can honestly say that you’ll never be the same after reading a book? He speaks frankly and in stark terms about the evil and brutality suffered by himself and his fellow slaves. This is a remarkable achievement considering it is written in such a straight forward manner by a man who taught himself to read. Frederick Douglass is truly one of if not the greatest intellectuals of Black history, most importantly American history. Not an easy one to read, but important to understand how bad the situation was. It is written with pride and grace, and Mr. Douglass dissects both the mindset of the brutal slave owner, and the mindset of a slave -- most notably, what it takes to make a slave: the fear, the humiliation, the violence which must be superimposed upon an individual to break him/her. What a powerful piece of writing this is.

One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life- A Story of Race and Family Secrets by Bliss Broyard

This book is about secrets, deception, but most importantly, trying to find redemption for her father. After 23 years, Bliss Broyard, discovers her father, Anatole Broyard, is a Black man, “passing as a white man”.  She found it to be quite entertaining. I believe the book is lacking character. Broyard didn’t tell her father’s story in a fascinating manner. The author was looking to discover just how Black, she was. She wanted to know if she had any family members that’d been slaves, to prove how Black she was. It came off a bit racist and closed-minded to me. I put the book down several times and it took much out of me to pick it back up to continue reading it. Living a sheltered life for so long, I don’t think the Broyard had any concept on anything other than living in her whiteness.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This is a scientific tale about the late Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who lives an immortal existence due to cell research with her cancerous cells. This tall tale is full of interesting scientific fragments filled with alarming findings, including bits about race, history, and sociology. Ms. Lacks cancerous cells were magnified and disseminated throughout the world making the possibilities for a new order of research and advancing medical treatments.

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The miraculous strain of cells, named HeLa short for Henrietta Lacks, has mind-blowingly helped with the advancements of medical treatments, and science throughout the world: space travel, pharmaceutical treatments, genome research, and polio vaccination. Henrietta Lacks story may be scientifically mind-bogglingly but it is also a horrific story about the social and financial injustice done to Ms. Lack and her family committed by the pharmaceutical industry.

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Rebecca Skloot's book is a web intertwined with gender, class, medicine, and race.  Her story is a tale of scientific disbelief of pharmaceutical companies not abiding by ethics, faith, and reason. Instead, they continuously violated and deprived the Lack family of having financial wealth and allowed Henrietta Lack the recognition of leaving a legacy behind for her family. I enjoyed the fact her book wasn’t just about pharmaceutical giants and science. She completely detailed the history and injustice demonstrated towards the Lack family, most importantly, the lack of respect given towards Henrietta because she never gave consent for the usage of her cells.

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By all accounts, this story is alarming, informative, and tragic. There is a certain kind of genius to it with a deep injustice. Henrietta Lacks name is world widely unknown but her cells have been used worldwide in scientific experiments for many decades. The saddest part of this story is that Henrietta’s children all had illnesses and none of the doctors that poked and probed them made any effect to use her cells to cure them.