This past summer I visited the Borders on Michigan Avenue to buy Edward P. Jones’s latest short story collection. While I quickly scanned the J’s I found myself hoping that the people walking by paid close attention to the sign hanging over the shelves so they’d know I was in the African-American Literature section and not the Erotica section, because appearances suggested otherwise.
Nearly all the books displayed with face-out arrangement had covers that could’ve doubled as still shots from Uncut videos. It was almost inconceivable to me that The Bluest Eye and Invisible Man were not only grouped with titles like Thug Matrimony and Thong On Fire, but taking a back seat to them. Nick Chiles detailed a similar experience in his 2006 New York Times op-ed, “Their Eyes Were Reading Smut,” which first sparked the discourse on quickly changing black literary trends.
The debate has flared up again thanks to Terry McMillan, well-known author of How Stella Got her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale. McMillan recently sent a passionate e-mail to Simon and Schuster, one of the largest publishing houses, chastising them for allowing “ghetto lit” to flood the market, thereby leaving less room for emerging literary titles. Unfortunately this is the same dilemma we’ve been facing with black music.
Just as there’s no shortage of talented black musicians, we aren’t hungering for quality black authors. Edwidge Danticat, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Phillis Wheatley, Jamaica Kincaid, Junot Diaz, Lalita Tademy, and recent Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones all had books in the section, although none of them were prominently displayed. The black literary tradition is as strong as the black musical tradition, its influences almost as widespread, and yet recent genre cheapening is beginning to overshadow our past accomplishments.
From a business perspective, black penned books are bringing substantial revenue to publishing companies, while the industry itself is sorely lacking in diversity, even more so than is the case with black music. The majority of the money is dropping straight from black hands to white pockets and it’s costing us in more than one way.
As we know, the responsibility falls at several levels in both industries. Record execs, broadcasters, artists, listeners. Publishers, booksellers, writers, readers. Fortunately tangible changes are already being made in the book industry, perhaps at an earlier stage than was the case for hip-hop. Grants have been established to encourage a larger minority presence in publishing. Smiley Books is a recently formed black imprint that seeks to empower a broad range of readers. Most visibly, a number of black owned bookstores have eliminated their “ghetto lit” titles. And of course, there will always be talented black literary writers pushing to get their work published.
So that leaves us, the readers. One of the successes “ghetto lit” touts is its hustle. Some of the most popular early titles were originally sold by street vendors, proving that word of mouth and grassroots efforts remain strong tools in the black community. There’s no reason why these same techniques can’t be used for more literary works. So just as we rep and promote Lupe, Little Brother, and Kanye West in an effort to balance out The Ying Yang Twins, Soulja Boy, and 50 Cent, we should consider doing the same when we encounter books that make us think. I’ll start. The following black authors were recently nominated for National Book Awards:
Edwidge Danticat for Brother, I’m Dying
Arnold Rampersad for Ralph Ellison: A Biography
M. Sindy Felin for Touching Snow
Two are non-fiction and one is a young adult novel. They may or may not be what you usually read, but consider them anyway. Check out some first chapter excerpts online to try out new authors and see if they speak to you, and if they do, spread the word. It’s yet another way we can use the Plus One, Minus One principle. Literally.
