2018/4th semester
Reaction paper
In his book „How to be black“, stand-up comedian Baratunde Thurston gives advices about
how to act like a black person, but in satyrical manner. It's purpose is actually to present mass
media and society in general as extremely racist. Thurston does this by narrating his own life,
from childhood to the present exposing his experiences and daily struggles of being black in
today's world. However, it is not written in serious tone, by contrary, he brings in the reader
the sense of irony, sarcasm and pure humour. The book is divided into smaller parts which
refer to various topics or points of his life where he states some rules on how to be black
friend, a black employer, etc. Furthermore, there are several comical explanations of the roles
a black individual has to play in American society and they are presented in such manner that
it will cause solely laugh. Apart from book being accumulated with hilarious advice, it is also
description about his experiences in Sidwell Friends and Harvard University, and also about
his childhood story when he lived in Washington D.C. In order to be understood more clearly,
Thurston congregates “The Black Panel” which consists of artists and stand-up comedians
who discuss about race in their profession. Questions included in this panel indicate when
these people first realized their “blackness” (most were children), if there was a time they
wanted not to be black (almost no one) and their thoughts upon the concept of “post-racial
America”.
Regarding the historical context the period of Thurston’s childhood which was mainly
described was happening during 1980s. It was the time when the African-American
suburbs had signs of black history and culture. By 1975 more than 70 percent of population of
that city was black. It flourished with The Black Arts, Black Power, variety of genres of
music such as jazz, blues and go-go which is described as DC’s version of funk). This is
connected to Thurston’s mother who was black activist and made him participate in Ankobia
program in D.C. run by Pan-African black American activists. Unfortunately, these suburbs
were well known for daily shootings and drug dealing (“I was a little black boy living in a war
zone.”). That’s how Thurston’s father died; he was involved in drug-dealing business. This
text shows how does that “post-racial America” concept really work. But after all, this is
important for creating of the book because this certain period of his life made him aware that
accepting and being proud of your blackness is the best thing to do.
The writer first begins with general “tips” on how to be black, and then he explains the origin
of his name and how it affects Nigerian people. He also shares some comical stories about the
time several people became aware that they are black. Then he talks about his grandmother
and his mother, how his mother had a huge influence on him on becoming a black activist.
His mother also isolated him from joining the drug dealing business and assured him a normal
about the level of blackness others have, i.e. how much they are black. This is also connected
with the term “Oreo cookie” which meant that the person is black on the outside, but white on
the inside. He mentioned the relationship with his father and the memories he could remember
(his father was killed when he was six). In the next chapter, he remembers his days spent in
Aknobia, which purpose was to teach him about black history and more importantly, how to
defend himself from the violent surroundings he lived in. Furthermore, there are “tips” how to
be black friend which actually presents how white people perceive their black friend in some
stereotypical way including abilities such as good sense of humour, rapping, dancing etc. This
black friend has also an important role, to be spokesman of all black people out there in
situations when the white starts “shooting” their controversial questions. The question of
“wishing not to be black” is also put in question. Then Thurston alludes to general stereotypes
or even microaggressions he experienced, such as, people thinking he can’t swim, he would
be a great soldier because “black people are violent”, etc. He also points out the tips of how to
be a black employee and how to survive daily “struggles” with your colleagues. In addition,
there are tips on how to be the next black president, accompanied with satire. The book ends
with more serious conclusion, like the writer wants to say that even though the content of the
book is hilarious, in the end we’ve become aware what is going on, and to deal with this
There are several racial issues being discussed in this book, however not so explicitly. This
book hides variety of different meanings in its comical content. The main ones are certainly
double consciousness, identity, representation and docile bodies. The issue of double
consciousness is present almost in every chapter, especially when the author describes how he
spent week days in Sidwell Friends School among wealthy, white children and his weekends
were spent in, how he calls it: “a Hebrew School or Bar Mitzvah for Blackness Friends”. This
is also linked to judging the identity - “Then you take someone like me that would go to
Sidwell by day and then go back to my neighbourhood and the black kids there, and their
judgment of someone like me who goes off to the fancy private school. Initially, it was like:
'Oh, you go to that white school.” 'His name was also a problem for his identity, causing
confusion among black people. Furthermore, it is connected to the topic of how to be a black
employee, when there are situations black person has to suppress his “blackness” from others
seeing it, for example, doesn’t draw attention to the way you dance or don’t eat watermelons
(black people were known for selling watermelons after the slavery). Another important issue
Setting in the book (Washington D.C., Senegal in Africa) is very important feature of the
book because as mentioned before, Washington D.C. was a residence of numerous black
people and a lot of black culture developed there. It is also a city full of controversy about
black suburbs as they were known for violence, crime and drugs on the streets. A trip to
Senegal, his “motherland” was ironically described, as Thurston was disappointed when he
realized that it was “populated by fat, naked Germans”. On the other side, he was excited to
The strength of this book is that it is composed out of merely autobiographical memory so
readers find it interesting and reliable because it is based on someone’s experience. The
superb thing is that it is written in a way that makes reader laugh; he describes some events in
ironic and cynical way. In other words, it is not another book about racism, written in serious
and cold tone and hoarded with facts. On the other hand, the only weakness of this text is that
in the chapter “How to speak for all black people”, Thurston assumes that one black
individual can speak in the name of the whole black race, together with presumption that a
There is a close relation of the work with the contemporary world because there are lot of
elements described which happened in the recent past. For example, the chapter “How to be
an angry negro” says a lot of present situation. In one way, white people think that the black
are full of rage when they are not smiling, while in other way, black people get offended by
every word or question and think it is jeopardizing them against their blackness.
Unfortunately, almost every problem discussed in this text can be drawn to the present time,
mainly microaggressions, like simply touching black person’s hair, calling them “my brotha”,
and that one case which I could name: ranting on black people, “daring to be present”. It
happened when Thurston was studying on Harvard and he was doing his part time job as a
waiter and one man accused him of lying and then he described his feelings
“but in that moment, I felt extraordinarily black and angry and embarrassed.”. This depicts the
main problem in society, black people are unable to accept their blackness and perceive it as
something unique because of actions of ignorant people who express their hatred in every
possible way.
I found this book inspiring and easy to read and the thing I liked about it is something that this
everyone to read it and understand it, as well. The most parts I enjoyed were memoirs. In
addition, big part of the book is intensely personal but it is used to promote his theory: there is
variety of ways how to form your own black identity but also to depict his side of
experiencing blackness. On the other hand, I found some situations quite sad, because, after
all, this humour hides one shade of irony. I assume that Thurston wanted it this way, to make
the reader aware how big the problem is. What affected me the most were situations when
people became aware they were black, they were children and didn’t quite understand why
they should be different from others. I recognized the struggle of being black in White
America and how black people are being served with discrimination every day. I can relate
with this book when it comes to microaggressions because everyone who is slightly different
from others experiences that. What I also liked about this book is that even though most of
racial issues are quite serious, the tone of the whole text is hopeful. It calls for all those black
This assigned work covers a wide range of themes discussed in the course. I explained before
that double consciousness is briefly talked about, as the author is stretched between white and
black world. Identity is also analysed, especially at the end of the book when the writer says
that black identity indeed represents America - “This country is our home, and we helped
build it both physically and morally. The struggle of black people in America, therefore, is the
struggle of America itself”. Furthermore, this whole book is here to prove how immensely
racial identity is stereotyped and more important, how the author is the one who succeed to
break from all those stereotypes. What is mostly emphasized is that black people shouldn’t
see their blackness as something unwanted, and having such a negative view on black history
is affecting the self-worth and other people’s perception of you. He also mentions docile
bodies (not explicitly), saying that black bodies were the physical strength for providing all
those goals and ideals of the white. In other words, black body is responsible for providing the
American Dream.
3. CONCLUSION
blending it with humour, it actually presents the hard, cold truth about racial issues then and
now. Except for its memoir part, this guidebook reveals biggest stereotypes of black people
by presenting advices on “how to be a black friend”, “how to be the (next) black president”,
etc. Beyond memoir, this guidebook offers practical advice on everything from "How to Be
The Black Friend" to "How to Be The (Next) Black President" to "How to Celebrate Black
History Month." The writer didn’t just share his experience of being black but he also
interviewed other black people to make his point stronger and in the same time provided a
good laugh to his readers. Furthermore, I acknowledged these main points by reading this
book: 1. best way of succeeding is being yourself 2. Black people should accept their
blackness and need to love themselves more 3. Black people shouldn’t let stereotypes shape
their identity. I think that the most salient thing is author’s showing that you can define your