Calling Tyrone
Categories: In the News , African American
The plight of young black male America has been discussed ad nauseam for the last year. Are we to believe the recent report that aired on Marketplace about young black men dropping out of the job culture?
Then there is the article from the New York Times that warned about the litany of problems facing black men?
And what about the stories presented in last year’s series from The Washington Post that gave an overview of black men? The series Being a Black Man reported on the varied lives of African American males.
In their latest book, Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip Hop Generation, writers Natalie Hopkins and Natalie Y. Moore sift through varying images of the black male in current media and social thought. Divided into eleven chapters, each portion is a different view of black men and their walk in life.
The essay “Baby Daddy” discusses the absence of black men in the home. “Boy Born Saturday” is about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and how his hip-hop persona chafes against the conservative establishment in his city. Black masculinity is explored in the essays “Tyroninity” (which looks at black men through artistic media) and “Visible Tyrone” (a look at gay men in the African American community).
With this fervent attention perhaps there is help on the way for the eroding image of African American males. But one thing to take away from all of it is a black man is not the sum of his counterparts.
Similar books:
Who's Gonna Take the Weight by Kevin Powell
One More River to Cross by Keith Boykin
