Author's latest novel poses tough questions on race
The African-American Studies Department hosted an informal discussion on the newest novel by TV personality and author Touré: “Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?”
Qiana Whitted, an associate professor of , and Folashade Alao and Marvin McAllister, assistant professors of English and African-American Studies, facilitated the conversation.
The discussion posed many of the questions that Touré asked during his research, questions such as “Would you be comfortable eating watermelon in a room full of white people?” and “What does being black mean to you?”
“It’s not a book that’s looking at the past; it’s trying to chart the landscape right now,” Whitted said.
Students engaged energetically, offering up their own questions as well as answering those posed by the novel.
“How do we address post-blackness with people still thinking in terms of color?” said Bernard Oniwe, a doctorate comparative literature student.
Many students told personal stories about the affects of race on the individual.
“[Black students] would say ‘you’re not black,’ but then white students would say ‘you’re not black, but you’re not white’ so you’re in this awkward medium,” first-year undeclared student Angelle Moore said. “Where do you go from there? Do you try to leave that or define that?”
Whitted said that a book like Touré’s is a good way to introduce questions on race before problems occur.
“We know there are a lot of political issues, a lot of campus issues, so we were hoping in African-American Studies that we could take the opportunity of this book to say ‘How do we discuss race now? What does blackness mean?’” Whitted said.
The book encourages people to look within and find their own path for self-improvement. Many of the issues, according to Ramon Jackson, a graduate history student, stem from how Touré defines blackness.
“How can we have a post-blackness without talking about having a post-whiteness?” said Kasim Ortiz, a graduate public health student. “It’s not just about race, it’s about privilege and, to me, more so, class issues.”
Students debated many of the issues surrounding our culture today. When one spoke of a black actress who appeared in many “white movies,” as opposed to “black movies,” students had to consider, “What is a black movie?”
Sam Brigham, a fourth-year advertising student, spoke about what it was like coming to South Carolina after growing up in Boston.
“We housed a black student, and he was part of our family. No one in the community questioned it,” he said. “When I came down here and lived with four other black students, there was an identifiable tension between them and my white friends. It’s a totally different society.”