Posted by First the good news: Jimi Izrael is very frank and honest in this book (at least, up to a point; more on this later). He is also taking on a complex, sensitive, vital and always interesting agenda, which few African American men (or African/Caribbean-British men, for that matter) care to take on at all, let alone publicly and with so much effort. For this, he deserves credit, as well as for his stated aim to change the dominant narrative about African American men, which he justifiably characterises as overwhelmingly negative and backs up with some insightful observations. But this is as good as it gets.
The dysfunctional state of intimate and sexual relationships between African American men and women is, according to Izrael, a sociological touchstone, used by African American women and white Americans of both sexes to vilify African American men. He provides some evidence for this and makes plain his intention to refute this analysis. In doing so, however, he makes what strikes this reader as a basic error by blaming virtually all this communal dysfunction on African American women. If it is overly simplistic and derogatory to blame African American men for these problems, surely blaming African American women entirely is equally wrong? I suspect that in doing so, he is not only over compensating; he’s also pre-empting the resounding rejection of his ideas that he correctly anticipates will dominate responses to his book. This isn’t the only paradox contained in Izrael’s long-winded argument; African American women are referred to as bitches throughout its 300 odd pages, along with other derogatory epithets.
The book is subtitled Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men (author’s emphasis). As with many of the elements of the argument Izrael constructs, he is somewhat vague on how to define ‘good black men.’ His opinions on gender roles are much more clearly specified, however, reading like a tract lifted straight out of 1950s Americana. Given his role as a token black contributo to Rupert Murdoch’s hard right Fox News, this is unsurprising. But his writing style is not so much old school as confused. His prose reads like an unhappy cross between a modestly articulate defender of gangsta rap and the self-consciously arch wit of a syndicated columnist. This mix might have worked better if not for another irritating affectation.
The brief, one sentence paragraph.
Izrael uses this unsubtle device to exclaim (both damn and wow, in the introduction, for example) emphasise various points, or to indicate he’s said something profound, controversial, or that he’ll explain in the following paragraphs. Using this device once would have been too much; using it throughout the introduction and eleven chapters is wearying.
Yeah, I said it. See what I mean? And this paragraph is three sentences.
Izrael wears many of his paradoxes on his sleeve, though this doesn’t necessarily mean he’s aware of all of them. For example, he is at pains to emphasise he is not homophobic, declaring early on that he was a DJ in a gay nightclub and attended several lesbian and gay ‘weddings.’ (This reads rather too much like ‘some of my best friends are black’ for comfort to me, but never mind.) He also expresses a surprisingly progressive attitude to communicating with his nine-year-old daughter about sex and in a bizarre passage that somehow eluded the editing process, tells his male readers how to look good in a sarong (nothing’s sarong with that, except that it gave me the excuse to inflict that pun on you)! He’s even open to the possibility that his daughter may be lesbian or bisexual. Given this, it is puzzling that he declares: “the only thing worse than a slut is a lesbian slut.”
Another striking paradox is Izrael’s tendency to exaggeration. He frequently describes himself as a ‘big (black) dude,’ yet the factual information he provides does not support his claim. At 5 feet 10 inches, he is about the same height and judging from the admittedly limited perspective of the head and shoulder portrait that graces both the book and his website, roughly the same build as Manchester United and England striker, Wayne Rooney. Not puny but certainly no imposing physical specimen, particularly by USA standards (a quick online check of a few credible websites declare this to be average height for that nation). This makes his claims about the age at which he started being sexually active, the number of sexual partners he’s been with and the “freaky,” satisfying nature of his sexual prowess open to question.
It takes Izrael around 260 pages to disclose his current relationship is with a white woman. Presumably, this is because anyone who has read that far will soldier on for the remaining 40 odd pages, even if in doing so, they question the value of advice from someone in a mixed relationship on restoring relationships between African American women and men. He is also surprisingly reticent about his relationship with his mother and takes his cue for addressing their difficulties from a white ‘fuck buddy.’ But this is OK, because he asserts he has his “blackness intact,” whatever that means.
In one of Izrael’s endless list of stereotypes, most of which are derived from or illustrated by examples from movies and entertainment, he says: “the only thing worse than a little knowledge is too much and a steady diet of books on the pathology of blackness will only make [this stereotypical male] angry and drive you crazy.” I would heed his advice in this case, unless you get off on being offended, consider one dimensional stereotypes as a valid means of understanding the world of relationships, or like your comedy unintentional.
Related Posts:
- Shani Greene-Dowdell’s Keeping It Tight (Reviewed)
- Are Black Women Destined to be Single?
- Half-Caste, Bi-racial, Mixed-Race or Black?
- SAFE
