Yesterday I had a little time on my hand and I strolled hither and yon checking out blogs…
There seemed to me an ongoing theme…
African American literature and the responsibilities of AA authors for AA people…
One of the general themes was this…
When an AA author puts out a body of work…
It should be always be about uplifting the Race…
It should have meaning and depth…
And should never show us in a bad light…
Whew!
In my own writing I always try to write about us as I know us to be…
A sharing of my experiences and those of the many, many folks I have come in contact with…
Other than that I don’t feel a great deal of responsibility for the masses, when writing…
To show my responsibility…
I teach…
I tithe...
I mentor…
I embrace…
But when I write…
I simply want to tell stories…
Many always comment on the positive messages in my work…
So somehow I am getting that out there…
But I think that is because I live a positive life…
I would be hard pressed to come up with a deep down…
Melancholy book…
Because that isn’t in me…
On the other hand I will never be able to write a book…
That doesn’t speak truth as I know it…
If I sit down at my computer and start trying to pen a book…
That is only about uplifting and only showing what is palatable…
To some of my brothers and sisters…
I will never write again…
I probably would also become a mute…
So here is what I will do…
You have my word on this…
I will write about us as we are…from what I know…
Sometimes we will be beautiful…
Sometimes ugly…
Sometimes we will be nice…
Other times not so nice…
Some of us will live straight up lives…
Others will live more twisted lives…
We will love…
We will fight…
We will cuss…
And we will cry…
We will be straight…
Gay…
Happy and sad…
We will not be monolithic…
But diverse….
We will be all the things we are…
Unapolgetically…
It is the only way I can do it…
I love my people….
I just can’t be responsible for all of us…
All the time…
Love and Blessings…
Angelia
acVernon Menchan
9 comments:
This is right on point. I'm going to link to it.
much love and peace,
Gwyneth
Thanks Sis...
Love and Blessings...
angelia
Somehow people are reflecting at when we were growing up and had to be responsible for whatever happened to our younger sibling while outside playing. But in the writing world you cannot write about all the good stuff. There has to be something like a flaw of some kind because the truth of the matter is not everything in life is perfect. If it was there would be no need for guns and wars. So if by chance you write a story about a drug dealer you once knew, or an amazing woman that went from street walking to a bible toting God fearing woman, so be it.
I'm all for positives, but I also feel that a story with no negatives will be a boring story. I'm also not much for carrying around the weight of an entire race on my narrow little shoulders. People, no matter what their race, have character traits ranging from unfortunate to downright sinful: They steal, they lie, they embellish, they kill, they're jealous, take advantage, are selfish, etc. I'll likely have at least one of these types in my fiction and save the halos for somebody else to write about!
Bettye,
that is it exactly, it seems that many AAs want to paint a picture that looks good even when we know things arent always good...I am not that author and I don't want anyone to expect me to be...on the other hand I wont be portraying us in stereotypical, nonsensical ways either...thanks for stopping by
Love and Blessings...
angelia
The notion of holding up our race goes back generations. Another legacy of slavery.
But darn, doesn't all that weight get heavy? If we each just worked on being the best human we could be, which includes being honest in my book, wouldn't the AA race rise up?
I loved this post. I'll be reading your blog more often.
Thanks Patricia,
it is a huge weight and somedays after wheaties and all I just can't do it...
blessings...
angelia
Human. That's always the best way to write, because that's what we all are. Good for you and thanks to Gwyneth for sending me over here.
;)
Thanks Kimber An...
That is who I am a human...
blessings...
angelia
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