To Write and Sell Words

Dull unwashed windows of eyes

And buildings of industry. What

Industry do I practice? A slick

Colored boy, 12 miles from his

Home. I practice no industry.

I am no longer a credit

To my race.

A POEM SOME PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO UNDERSTAND

By Amiri Barka/LeRoi Jones

The writer’s position is strange in African American society and culture. Suffice to say, for many generations, few of us were writers. The slave would always be more concerned with being free than actually writing books. If he or she were to write anything it would be a note to master-a pass. In this way reading and writing were tactical in the struggle towards freedom. Other writers wrote towards the collective freedom of African Americans providing the country with valuable insight into the abolitionist platform. I am sure some scholars will do better than me here. They know the specifics. They have done the research. It appears the numbers do not matter; but business-the business of slavery suggests literature as law, trumped literature as expression/communication. Our internment was the result of someone getting the numbers of oppression right. Law helped make the numbers click. If the law said so, it did not stop everybody from reading, but at the least ensured that many of us, most of us did not. Strange, the power of writing under slavery for blacks was simply a way to gain access to power. There was little news presented as written by us and for us, and subsequently few writers.

It should also be said the more racist one is, the more likely they are to consider African Americans unworthy of publishing their own literature. Though literature is a skill and requires a range of training and can be distinguished from cognitive refinement, its absence in African Americans is used as a measure of intelligence.

Though obvious, there is both pain and freedom in our relationship with literature. We treat the discipline of literature like science, and science it is; but even in the larger society it is considered a different science than the one that gives us technological advancement. The black scholar is a magician of sorts working to cast off the spell of our negation. Our quest towards the production of literature is rooted in the reality of slavery. We know folks be saying stuff that really doesn’t fly. We can choose argument, code, or espionage as tool to reconcile our own knowledge with the false knowledge the Empire has produced about us. Argument seeks to influence through the use of logic, rhetoric, and statements. Espionage operates as metaphor and Ebonics allowing us to mange the hidden in plain view. Code reintegrates the knowledge we know into fundamentals that destroy the binary without opposition.

One must choose their approach or combine them all. Some will prove they are smart, while others will be like fuck the white man. Some will say the white man is the devil. Others will convince you that yes, they are black; but black is better than the definitions cultivated by the empire. Others will wrap themselves up in a straightjacket and learn the ways of “the master.” Untouchable and clean they will present the truths that cannot be contested about who we truly are. The Black History Month firsts and the dirt under our fingernails as we conduct our own version of archeological expeditions to bring our truth to light, still cannot counteract how few of us read.

In those early days, with so few black folks reading the audience was obviously not us. One could not write books and think that a mass of illiterate folks proscribed to their condition by law could support them in their goals to be a writer. Sadly, similar ideas survive until today. How else does one explain many of the producers of our literature isolated in PWI institutions? Or the marginalization of those who are not? The reality is a part of our knowledge we seem reluctant to articulate. Much of the literature we produce, many blacks are not even interested in reading. In other parts whites are not interested in reading and not inclined to publish. There is a general idea the problem is rooted in class. This is only partially true. Also to blame are the codes at the center of the empire of language. Of all things involving knowledge, literature requires one understand the constructs that humans have created to communicate with one another. One can be wrong when using someone’s language in ways that are dominated by the current convention. Blacks were not audience for much of the empire’s literature. Perhaps even more important is the fact that if our image and knowledge was ever discussed accurately, like our body, the ideas were shackled in the cognitive structures managed by the empire.

Language may be like breath, but it is not breathing. If there is a natural right to ones own language it makes the matters of slavery more perplexing and brutal. Even today, the African American writer struggles with how to communicate what we know and see in someone else’s language. Alas, even Black literature seems to be written for white people.

~

The position of the Black Arts movement to write for a black audience is the most prominent thrust towards correcting this problem with our literature. My general assessment is that many of us imagine the thrust to be an extension of some Black Power ideology that hinges on the binary. Perhaps it was articulated that way, in the same way a scientist finds the cure for a disease on a molded piece of bread. As clarity, it gets at the heart of the African American relationship with published literature. In mathematical fashion (industry knows this-it is in fact part of the way they decide who and what will be published), if one is to consider only a black audience the number of potential readers suggest a market size, which shrinks if we only consider the number of educated blacks who can read and purchase books. I imagine the consolidation of publishing companies in the past few decades works against the black audience and the capacity to commit to African American literature written for a black audience. There are a few imprints who address African American market niches, but the blockbuster books given must be crossover or simply written for a white audience. To imagine anything else seems rather naïve. Though since post slavery, the black market size has grown tremendously with more and more educated African Americans, it still represents a rather small percentage of the population.

~

The questions here is, if we were not reading and writing where did our intelligence that corresponds to reading reside? How was it activated and used? How was it exercised?

Free Black Space and Black Music are two of the answers.

~

Outside of that is the question, why would whites want to read about blacks? What does it do for them? What is the significance of the black writer for the larger white audience?

Quilts, coded speech, performance, and music are some of the more obvious written about examples of black intelligence wielded through craft. The true craft most black folks hold to this day is a religious devotion to survival, which is often times the best freedom we can imagine.

As for the reading, folks know how to read many precise texts and situations whites did not. Our intelligence was hidden, and so also, were many of our texts. Hampate Ba's wisdom, "When an elder dies a library burns down.", is useful here.

As for reading, that thing we attach to the text and claim as a true sign of intelligence, the truth underneath, is not confined to literature or texts. The simple idea is the way out of slavery. Imagine how much intelligence it took to read a slave master when attempting to survive? We imagine this to be a low form of intelligence, but in fact it is one of the highest. One must be able to swim through the false morality and hard lines of the system. One must be grounded in the system of religion or philosophy spouted by those in charge, while also understanding, that same person can distance themselves from you and be protected by the law. One must understand the violence adjacent to every conversation like a secret text of possibility. It is much like navigating police officers now. Part of the issue is not simply that some police officers are violent and others are not; but more importantly that they can be. To not acknowledge that reality borders on irresponsibility. It is not simply a question of our existence at the whims of the choices of others. Our knowledge has always maximized our agency in extremely difficult situations, and the myth that we have little agency becomes an important trope in our literature written for a white audience. This occurs not because they hate us, but because it serves as a complement. Even our horrors serve as a complement for some. The hidden text is simply an alternative set of cognitive concepts that proceeds from the reality of treatment some whites may need argument to get to. The situation is not unique to African Americans, metaphorically similar situations must exist for all folks; but to be black is to have less wiggle room in a binary system. If you are wrong about the black it is implied you are wrong about the white. If we are not what we seem, the whole thing falls down.

And the clear difficulty for blacks is not advantage, except to say if one is going to clarify what knowledge is, one does not have the luxury of not including our mistreatment. One cannot believe the code unless it accounts for the division between the code and our treatment. To step into the world of knowledge and communicate what one knows and learns with others, one must include this distance.

~

The problem is not as bad as it seems. In fact, many would like to suggest that it is worse than it is. For the worse it is, the more it seems a testament to the power of those who have oppressed the black. Each terrible story seems to push the oppressor closer towards the realm of the gods.

The shame and secrets that lie behind being white, and the real reason many whites seem to lack compassion for the black are as chilling as slavery itself. For in truth, many imagine being white as harder. Take for instance a so called world war. Imagine all of Europe killing each other. It is really horrific beyond our comprehension. We like to view the battles as separate from the oppression, but they are one in the same thing. For many it may seem a broad stroke, but I always imagine the German World Cup squad is good at soccer for precisely the same reason Blacks seem to be so good at basketball. It is not inherent or gene based, but rather the result of mass trauma in society, and how tragedy shapes the culture-giving rise to a focus that only the most horrific things can foster in human being. Thought is required here. Imagining the unimaginable is required. And one, as with slavery, must not only imagine the child, but also the parents, the grandparents, and the great grandparents. In other words what appears to be the lack of compassion in many cases, is simply a sign of the way a person treats themselves or their own family. The koan is the true riddle of slavery, colonialism, and oppression. Whites have done unto others as they have done unto themselves.

And once one understands this they must be able to sense the humanity that is capable of compassion when the system is not. One must be able to utilize a power that doesn’t seem like power. It is for these reasons there seems to be little evidence of the knowledge slaves brought here, possessed, and refined in the face of slavery. One imagines the only knowledge is superior ability to wield power against others. No doubt, it is intoxicating and fascinating, but not as perfect as it may seem. For knowledge and power need not be violent and wielded against others to be valid and powerful. Knowledge can be Yin. It need not show itself. It can be held gently.

Buying Black?

In the midst of the Coates phenomena I saw a call for people to buy copies of TaNehisi Coates' Between the World and Me at black bookstores. I found the suggestion laughable.

The current state of black booksellers gets at the impracticality of buying Black. If there are only fifty four left read FBS The Fifty Four Black Bookstores here we obviously have not been buying black enough to sustain certain institutions in our community. To tout black bookstores as something worthy of support in the face of the Coates phenomena is like giving us the chittlings while somebody else eats the hog. Though Coates is black and blackness seems to be up in the mix, it is the type of blackness that would be hard pressed to survive or be popular without white folks.

The economics seem to be less important than the message, however, black folks ain't really making money off the book. It could be we didn't even do the cover design-fascinating. Publishing is an industry and the corporations who do the work serve as brokers for cash flow to their workers. If few of those workers are black, black people loose. It is a very uncommon idea, but for our authors who actually influence (through cultural production/literature) to be disconnected from such an issue hints at the how far we haven't come. Some portions of black success seem to be opportunity for individuals and white organizations. To imagine that a series of successful star anythings will change the landscape of our economic survival is to believe in trickle down economics. Albeit, whites have learned the game post Civil Rights. The black genius author is as much genre as it is talented individual.

The drastic changes in the bookselling industry have given all booksellers a run for their money; but still, to be clear, if we want to get rich-the idea that selling books to African Americans is the way to do it, reflects a lack of clarity about our culture. In many ways the black book market our bookstore engaged in was a leftover of the largest market.

The dynamics of the market and bookselling have been written about extensively here on Free Black Space and if you read us you know we have also discussed the other factors at play in the demise of black bookstores. In other words, we are not simply blaming black people for their demise. We could cuz it often seems like that is the most practical thing to do, but things are more complicated than that.

Where blacks purchase their consumer goods is as much a question of practicality as it is belief system or ideal. The market presses towards practicality for consumers, while the idea of buying black is a lower tier religion folks may profess but can't seem to integrate into their life.

For instance, in the P.G. County I live in, there are limited African American purchasing options for most products and services. Retail's showroom often seems to be the most depressing. The black consumers in P.G. County get excited when Macy's and Victoria's Secret come to town. Major retailers are a sign of our comeuppance. It is the post segregation phenomena. A study of African American history will lead to a street where we cannot even purchase certain products. Imagine that, a blackness that makes it so some folks under certain circumstances won't even take your money-in a country were money is worshipped! It is enough to make you think you are not good enough, and have you buying something from someone white like you are desegregating a bus you need to ride in order to get to work on time. Our freedom now is to buy anything we want, if we have the money. In many ways consumerism is our most accessible freedom.

Though it must be said in P.G. County and many places all over the country, one can utilize African American businesses or individuals to facilitate insurance, schooling, restaurants, go to the club, barbershops, and salons, gain access to sophisticated financial management, and a host of other products and services. Yet, the amount of services needed are rarely in sync with the demand. Even in one of the wealthiest African American counties in the country, purchasing black is full of a series of problems that prevent us from utilizing our true business potential.

The truth is, I found a buy black option laughable for the same reason Coates didn't take the option of publishing his blockbuster book with his father. He would have lost money. His father's press was to small to handle the volume of copies to be produced. The Atlantic would most likely have not stood for it. Within the empire of language, blacks lack sufficient infrastructure to handle the large projects and success of many of our authors. I am like Coates. Why be black in business if it limits your potential to actually distribute your ideas? The question is more practical than black, and the same reason blacks will by pass a black option that charges a few dollars more on a product.

Let me say clearly for the record though I understand the practicality, I also understand our inability to make a different set of decisions prevents us from being free in the millennia. In other words, envisioning a transformed America where everyone works for white folks is some crooked form of satire. I might also add, as crooked a form of satire as the majority of our heroes being cogs in the wheel in larger systems of power. If one considers how we are employed, it is arguable that some strange cousin of slavery rules most of us.

In fact Black Books were one of the last things one could actually do that was black. The reality is most blacks and whites don't wanna sell books to black folks. One can be clear there's little or no money in it.

Money isn't important, but then again money is important, and the choices authors and intellectuals make about their work and its production, distribution, and shape in the world are connected to money. Prestige means money. PWI's more time to make money. Wider distributions-more money. Awards-more money, more speaking engagements.

I think for some, we imagine that those who critique the position are simply hating; but the truth may be much closer to freedom. It is hard to imagine a world one hundred years from now without more black businesses and the community being closer to freedom than it is now.

But I also understand the Nation of Islam bean pie, Black Nationalist work for yourself approach is only but so viable in terms of economic infrastructure. Though Farrakhan is a leader, he is most importantly financed by his followers. In many ways he functions like a mega pastor whose Church is not Christian.