Do African Americans Really Approve of the Literary Degradation of Their Culture?

If you'd seen me this morning, as I went through our mail, you might have seen steam puffing out my ears. I am angry.

Somehow, we got onto the mailing list of "Black Expressions", a small catalog of books for "black book lovers". Huh? Maybe I shouldn't have read it, 'cause I'm white, but I am married to a black man and our children will be referred to as "black" by the culture, so I guess I thought I could at least take a peek. I may get in trouble with some, but I can't help writing this. Just call it "White-wife-of-black-husband-and-mom-of-mixed-kids Expressions"

Well, I am flabbergasted and horrified by what I found. It seems the publishers of "Black Expressions" think that "black culture" is limited to smut, promiscuity, the aquisition of "bling", the degradation of husbands and the sexual objectification of both men and women, adultery, and, oh yes, a few books on "Christian Living" (wait 'til you hear what that entails), black hair care, and cutesy church cookbooks, tucked into the back. This is the stuff that my children are going to be told is thier culture as black Americans, thier heritage, thier identity? No thanks!

Here's a sampling of some of thier book descriptions:
"M---- is beginning a new career and is vowing to be celibate. But when she succumbs to the charms of D---, she must confront her own scandalous past..."

"A---- is one sistah who swears by the bootie call...."

"Three church women stop frontin and tell it all!" (and goes on to describe a tale of the wife of a womanizing minister husband, a girl who's had a baby by a married church man, and one who is upset by her husband's wanna-be gangsta lifestyle)

"N--- is fighting his demons and his attraction to a married church woman..."

"Single mom G---- thinks her life is boring and finds pleasure in food and bootie calls from her married, ex-husband..."

Talk about the degradation of women and the corruption of family.

That's just the fiction. There is a "soul" section, including a book challenging Bill Cosby's opinion on black poverty, and one woman's experience being married to a man who was "on the Down Low". Later on in the catalog there are several more books on that depressing subject. There's the tell-all biography of a female who's main claim to fame is having sung back-up for several hip-hop stars and having bedded quite a number of them, as well as a few sports stars. There are many books with references to "baby mamma" or "baby daddy", ie: your child's parent, not married to you and all the trials of dealing with such relationships. If you thought the novels were bad, I'll tell you that they weren't the worst--there's a section of erotica, written just for blacks. Lovely, isn't it?

The "spiritual books" include selections from T.D. Jakes and Creflo Dollar, of course. Then there's "Christian fiction" about a young lady who drops her dedication to being celibate, and helps her now-lover "reaffirm his faith" and the tale of a Christian wife who tires of her husbands cold heart and is tempted by a s*xy lawyer. "Will J----'s cold heart push his godly wife into the arms of another man?" And "Jesus and the Hip Hop Prophets", describing how Tupac Shakur and Lauryn Hill were some sort of spiritual messengers from God. Gee, if that's Christianity, who wouldn't want to join? We can have s*x, be gangsta's and just generally stick with our immoral culture, and still rap our way right into heaven, we'll also be rich because we can tithe and actually force God to give back ten-fold! Sounds fun, doesn't it!

These books are no better and no worse than any other, but what particularly disturbed me was the emphasis on this stuff being "black culture", and the liberal mixing of terms like "church" and "spiritual" into what is utter garbage. I'd be horrified if my husband identified with this "culture" (and thank God, he doesn't, as he's from another culture entirely), and devastated if my children grow up and decided that this is thier "identity".

This stuff glorifies and promotes all that is wrong with black culture, and this is not just little old white me saying so. All the black people I know (and that's a lot, as we attend an urban mega-church) admit that these are problems. So why these types of publications seek to make money off promoting the problems? Why not rise above the problems, instead of wallowing in them and trying to bring them into one's spiritual life?