A00022 - Book of the Month for February 2022: Your Blues Ain't Like Mine: A Conversation with Bebe Moore Campbell

The Ballantine edition of Your Blues Ain't Like Mine contains a "A Conversation with Bebe Moore Campbell".  The following are some pertinent excerpts from the conversation:

"Janine Yvette Gardner: The tragic fate of Armstrong Todd reads identical to that of Emmett Till.  Was that moment in America's history the influence for this novel? If so, why?"

"Bebe Moore Campbell: Absolutely.  It was an event that haunted me.  I was five when it happened.  It was a historical event that was close to my own time.  It haunted the entire black community.  It was really one of the first publicized lynchings.  Usually lynchings were clandestine affairs, very secretive.  No one ever came forward.  Here you had the killers after the trial confess to the murders.  The fact that the boy was so young and the courage of his mother in making sure this wasn't some anonymous crime that no one ever heard about made it unique in black history.  I think it catapulted us into the Civil Rights Era, because I don't think that it was a coincidence that, let's see that was in August, and then by December Rosa Parks was refusing to give up her seat on the bus."

"Q: Lily Cox appears to be a one-dimensional character on the surface; a white female who is subservient to her husband and is content with being that.  Yet, there is some complexity to her.  What message are you trying to convey to readers about white females in the segregated South, and the role they played (conscious or not) in the institutionalization of racism in America?"

"A: Well, usually what happened in the American South is that the subjugation of white women and harsh activist racism went hand in hand.  White women were the excuse in many instances for the acting out of racism's harshest punishment to preserve and protect white womanhood.  Black men were lynched, and so many of the times they were lynched is directly because they were accused of raping white women or indirectly because they challenged white authority in a way that would move them closer to being a sexual threat to white men.  [For example] opening fup a store that competed with a white man that put them in a position to earn more, which put them in a position to be more attractive to white females."

"Q; So what role then would we as African American women play in that?"

"A: Well, we were raped, of course, with impunity throughout slavery and the post-Emancipation Proclamation Era.  Until the Civil Rights acts of 1964, it was always open season on black women.  Our honor was not taken seriously, which put black men in a position of always feeling ashamed that they couldn't defend us unless they were willing to pay with their lives.  We were the loose and easy targets of racialized sexualization, while white women were put on a pedastal, which made the comparison more stark and made white women more desirable."

"Q: So many characters make up this beautiful story.  Which character did you enjoy getting to know the most and why?"

"A: Probably Lily.  Lily is the one I expected least to sympathize with.  I saw the real life husband and wife.  The wife was responsible for accusing Emmett Till.  Her name was Carolyn Bryant.  I saw footage of the trial of J. W. Milam and Mr. Bryant; they were half-brothers and they were the men who killed Emmett Till.  The part I saw was when they were found innocent, and when the judge made the pronouncement they (Carolyn and Roy Bryant) kissed.  It was an erotic kiss to me.  What I thought was that this was a woman who was proud, saying to the world "I got a man who will kill for me."  I wondered what what was beneath the surface with her.  What makes any woman need to say to the world "I got a man who will kill for me."  So when you go down a little deeper you see the molestation, a childhood that is deprived of anything ... there have been more Miss Americas (or at least that used to be the case) from the state of Mississippi than any other state. They have really raised their women to be beautiful ornaments for a very long time. Here is a woman (Lily) who is damaged at an early age and then is brought up in this society where women are second-class citizens, these butterflies in a cage.  So that was Lily.  Then she runs into this black woman, Ida, who has a personal sense of independence, personal sense of soul, and she envies that because she realizes right away that she doesn't have it."

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On Monday, February 21, 2022, the American Experience on PBS will report on the murder of Emmett Till.  

Peace, 

Everett Jenkins

Fairfield, California

February 17, 2022

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I finally finished Bebe Moore Campbell's Your Blues Ain't Like Mine.  At the end of the Ballantyne edition of the book there is an article by Janine Yvette Gardiner entitled "My Blues, Yiour Blues, We All Got Blues".  Here are some excerpts from that book. 

"The realities of racism effect each individual living in America in a different way.  Whether the person realizes it or not, racism plays a part in how people view each other, how they treat each other, and how they live amongst each other.

"Although the civil rights era seems a distant memory to those of us who were born years after it took place, the historical event of the Emmett Till murder and trial still represents many social issues that continue to occur within the United States of America.  A young black boy plays a childish game that involves speaking to a white woman and receives the ultimate punishment for stepping outside of threatening an accustomed way of life.  The symbolism of this case is reflective of the role men and women, both black and white, willingly or unwillingly play on the stage of the American South circa 1955 and hence present American society as a whole."

For the remainder of this month, we shall explore the issues raised by Your Blues Ain't Like Mine.

Peace,

Everett Jenkins

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It is now February, a month ascribed as "Black History"  month.  For those who actually are interested in Black History, there are some programs that I find of interest and invite you to join me in watching.

First, on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 9:00 pm, American Experience will air a program entitled "The American Diplomat."  In highlighting this program, the PBS programming guide i receive states:

"Examine the experience of African American diplomats serving during the Cold War.  At the height of the civil rights movement, these individuals represented the best of American ideals abroad while facing discrimination at home.  Discover how -- in the face of intolerance -- three African American diplomats pushed past these historical and institutional racial barriers and reached high-ranking appointments in the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations, changing the face of American diplomacy."

The following week, on Monday, February 21, 2022 at 10:00 pm, American Experience will air a program entitled "The Murder of Emmett Till".  I will watch this program before beginning my streaming of the recent ABC series "Women of the Movement" which, for this season, dramatically focuses on the murder of Emmett Till.  This will also give me time to finish Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, a book that explores the psychological impacts of a crime such as the murder of Emmett Till on both the bereaved family members and those who committed the crime.  I am finding these connections to be more important with each passing day.

Finally, tonight on the PBS World channel at 8:00pm or 9:00pm (check your local listings), America Reframed will re-air a 2017 documentary on the Black Towns of Oklahoma.  Titled "Struggle and Hope", the documentary gives a history for the creation of so many black towns in Oklahoma.  That part is inspiring.  However, as a descendant of one of the former residents of the Black Town of Boley, Oklahoma, ultimately, I found this documentary depressing. Nevertheless, the documentary provides a history of what once was ... but will probably never be once more. 

Peace,

Everett  Jenkins