I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America
Book by Tyler Merritt
DETAILS
Publisher : Worthy Books (September 14, 2021) Language : English Hardcover : 320 pages ISBN-10 : 1546029419 ISBN-13 : 978-1546029410 Item Weight : 1.1 pounds Dimensions : 6.35 x 1.35 x 9.35 inches Best Sellers Rank: #37,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #113 in African American Demographic Studies (Books) #148 in Black & African American Biographies #153 in Humor Essays (Books) , As a 6'2" dreadlocked black man, Tyler Merritt knows what it feels like to be stereotyped as threatening, which can have dangerous consequences. But he also knows that proximity to people who are different from ourselves can be a cure for racism. Tyler Merritt's video "Before You Call the Cops" has been viewed millions of times. He's appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and Sports Illustrated and has been profiled in the New York Times . The viral video's main point—the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person—is the springboard for this book. By sharing his highs and exposing his lows, Tyler welcomes us into his world in order to help bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day. In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a black man in America. He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural community and realizing that he wasn't always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that's where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn't). Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping and why you don't cross black mamas. He teaches readers about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today. By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black paints a portrait of black manhood in America and enlightens, illuminates, and entertains—ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society. Read more
REVIEW
Tyler Merritt is dope. I’m about sixty years old. I grew up in a small all-white rural farming town in northern Minnesota on the Canadian border. I have lived in Minnesota my whole life. Having lived in the Twin Cities for over forty years, I have, of course, interacted with people from most racial and ethnic backgrounds (and since the 1990s, I have worked as a lawyer for a very large global corporation where I connect with a broad array of people). Yet I am largely insulated from daily interaction with people from a large variety of demographic groups (ethnic, racial, and religious) in terms of my *personal life* — not by conscious choice but by the daily rhythm of my life: For years I have gotten up in the morning, gotten ready for work, driven to work, spent a long day at work, driven home (often late), eaten, relaxed, and gone to bed — and repeated that over and over again, week after week, month after month, year after year. I first became aware of Tyler Merritt in mid-2020 with the re-release of his short video “Before You Call the Cops”. I was moved by his words. After “I Take My Coffee Black” was released in September, I bought a copy. I have laughed many times reading the book. He has an honest and self-effacing sense of humor. I felt some of his struggles where I could clearly see myself (or anyone else) in a similar situation when he touched themes of universal human experience. But I was also given glimpses into parts of his life which were totally unfamiliar to me — his personal life as a Black man. He described a “double consciousness” common among Blacks: Being an American AND a Black man. I walk through life without consciously thinking about my race or ethnicity. This is not true of many people who are American AND __________ (could be a Black man, a Muslim, a lesbian, an immigrant, or people from many other ethnic, religious, or gender backgrounds). That double consciousness is reinforced by the way a person like Tyler can be treated (as opposed to how I am treated). People don’t cross the street to avoid me on a sidewalk like they often do with Tyler, a big, tall, dreadlocks-wearing Black man in a hoodie. Tyler’s remedy to help bridge the gap in understanding among people of different backgrounds is: Proximity. The more you interact with people who are different than you, the more you are likely to understand them and can see the world through their eyes (empathy). I’m not sure proximity is sufficient — but Tyler’s got the right idea. Proximity must be mixed with openness and vulnerability to fully work its magic. That’s harder. It requires intentionality. Tyler’s approach to sharing his experiences reminded me of the work Andrew Sullivan did in the 1990s and early aughts in the fight he helped lead for marriage equality in America. Rather than seeking to force people to accept something (in Sullivan’s case, same-sex marriage), Sullivan did the hard work of engaging with people who didn’t share his goals or world view. He would go to churches, on Fox News, and to any other forum which would have him to make his case for why marriage equality should be embraced by all. He did the incredibly hard work of engaging in persuasion — as opposed to the lazy and ineffective approach of simply demanding change. What Sullivan and others who led that fight did was underscore the commonality of humans who may be very different in certain aspects of their lives and that approach was spectacularly successful. Tyler takes a similar approach. He speaks with humility but also with conviction. No one is going to run over Tyler or push him around but he’s also not going to insist that you embrace his world view. Instead, he invites his readers to have a conversation about race — to at least consider and think about what he is saying. And that approach is effective. It made me *want* to be open to other viewpoints. In stark contrast, too often “conversations” about race are one-way commands. Blacks “speak truth to power” when engaging whites. You are a racist — even if only unconsciously — and here is what you must do to fix it. The world is harshly binary and divided into “the oppressors” and “the oppressed”. “Systemic racism” is both everywhere and the principal driving force in society. This is how Ibram X Kendi looks at the world. But the first thing which happens when someone is told they are a racist or *told* to do something is the person’s mind immediately closes and the person stops listening. The person speaking may get a momentary rush of endorphins from their self-righteous declaration and demands — but if the idea is to change hearts and minds, and to change actual circumstances, it’s a losing proposition. When the 1619 Project tells Americans that our country is, root and branch, steeped in racism, that closes minds. Not only is it obnoxiously accusatory but it’s also not true — America is simultaneously a country founded on principles from the Enlightenment, concepts of self-governance, religious freedom, free speech, and individual liberty. Obviously, our history is littered with faults — but we are not simply the sum of our faults. Tyler makes a person want to hear more. To learn. To look at the world through someone else’s eyes. If you have never met a Muslim, for example, and had a free and open conversation with her, it is so easy to view Muslims as abstractions and to unconsciously dehumanize them. This goes for all kinds of differences, be they racial, ethnic, or religious. Tyler’s approach is to encourage connection. During the several hours it took me to make my way through Tyler’s book, I laughed, I cringed, I learned, and I reflected. I was sad the book had to end but very happy I read it.
DOWNLOAD PAGE
留言列表
