i came across paul beatty's the sellout on flavorpill's list of must read books for march. the description stated:
One of the best books of the year so far, and one of the funniest in decades (in a laughing-to-keep-from-crying kind of way — the sharpest, most lasting humor), The Sellout is a major work from the wildly talented Beatty, the author of two books of poetry and three previous novels, including the cult classic The White Boy Shuffle. The biting satire on race in America that we need in these times, it follows a gentleman farmer nicknamed “Bonbon” with the last name of Me as he, well, reinstates slavery (with the help of the last living Little Rascal) and brings back segregation. The result gets him in front of the Supreme Court, in a case called “Me vs. The United States of America.” This is a difficult and dazzling book that, if we’re lucky, we’ll be talking about for a long time to come.
i could just make this post that blurb and say read the book. but i will also share my thoughts on it. however, i really think you should read the book first, and then come back to this post.
the book also had a blurb on it's backcover from sarah silverman that was spot on as well, "the sellout is brilliant. amazing. like demented angels wrote it."
yes, this novel is something demented angels wrote. this book speaks honestly and truthfully about race, but in the most absurd way. as shared in the flavorpill post, the protagonist, bonbon, brings back slavery and segregation. bonbon was a farmer that sold pot and delicious fruit (i have to admit his watermelon sounded good!) south los angeles, in the tiny town of dickens that had been erased from the maps. in an attempt to bring dickens back, he also brought slavery and segregation but instead of regress, dickens progressed.
when we are first introduced to bonbon he was in dc for his supreme court trial. he didn't share with us his crimes but the fact that arresting him for getting high at the lincoln memorial was pointless. bonbon appeared to not give any fucks about what is going on, but as we will see later on, it was because he didn't really do anything wrong. bonbon's actions were misconstrued and he is a hero instead of criminal.
bonbon had an odd childhood. his father, though gifted with the art of n*gger whispering (calming down suicidal n*ggers), was cray. he made bonbon the subject of numerous replications of social science experiments but with a racial twist. for example, to test out the bystander effect", he decked out bonbon with expensive chains and electronics and then mugged him. however, instead of people helping bonbon, they helped his father beat him. bonbon's unorthodox upbringing made him a little off as a person but that ended up helping him change the dickens. ultimately, bonbon's father was shot by police while trying to help a suicidal person. this resulted in bonbon becoming the new n*gger whisperer and motivated him to reclaim dickens.
bonbon did not purposely reinstate slavery, it actually just showed up one day on his doorstep, well his front yard, in the form of hominy jenkins. hominy was a member of the "little rascal", his role was akin to buckwheat but more racist from the description. he was a celebrity around dickens but when the town went so did his fame, because people couldn't find him. due to this, hominy attempted suicide but bonbon saved him and as a thank you, hominy became his slave.
however, hominy was only a slave in name. he didn't really do any work and demanded that he be whipped on wednesday. not wanting to whip
an old man, bonbon took him to a dominatrix!
through hominy, different race issues are examined. for one is the tradition minstrelsy, as we all now know and recognize it is racist. however, it is demonstrated through hominy that he was very serious and proud of his acting. and i felt that actors who played racist roles in history should not be scorn for the roles they played but celebrated for working in such a racist industry like entertainment. i also related this to current shows like fresh off the boat and blackish, which have both received backlash for being racist. however, i enjoy both shows and yes they do portray stereotypes but isn't television about generalizations and stereotypes? plus the actors are asian and black and they don't have an issue with the roles they are portraying so i am not sure how this backlash happen. also, i think to certain point these characters are relatable regardless of ethnicity. and for the record i am not saying minstrelsy is okay but i do not think it exist in the modern world or post racial america.
another thing that hominy was the direct cause of was the segregated bus. for his birthday, hominy wanted to give up his seat to a white person the the bus. ironically, no white people were on the bus, so bonbon hired an actress. in addition to that a plaque was put up that read:
priority seating for seniors, disabled, and whites
instead of causing an uproar, the sign actually resulted in the bus being one of the safest ones. people became
more respectful because they were reminded of how much progress needs to be made. i can actually see this working in real life. i never really considered myself a feminist however after reading literature on how oppressed women really are, i have become
more of a feminist. and this is the issue with race right now in a post racial
america. by ignoring race and racism because supposedly things are better now, america will continue to have inqualities among the races. you can't solve a problem if most of society does not think it exists.
the segregating of the schools stemmed from the bus. bonbon put up signs for a fake academy that catered toward white students. this fake academy became motivation for the students of dickens to start working more since they were excluded from the academy. students were achieving and due to this white students wanted to attend school with the blacks and latinos. in the end, this need to desegregate the schools resulted in bonbon going on trial in front of the supreme court.
at his trial, bonbon's attorney recoded the question "what is blackness, your honor?" he explained that based on bonbon's father's theory there were different stages of blackness:
neophyte negro: "here the black lesson exists in a state of preconsciousness. . . the neophyte is scared of his own black was." examples given: michael jordan, colin powell, and condoleezza rice.
stage II is "capital b black": "a heightened awareness of race." examples given: jesse jackson, sojourner truth, and kim kardashian. (lol. i am serious!)
stage III is "race transcendentalism", "a collective consciousness that fights oppression and seeks serenity". examples given: rosa parks, harriet Tubman, sitting bull, cesar chavez, and ichiro suzuki
bonbon believed there needsd to be a stage IV called "unmitigated blackness" which would be "simply not giving a fuck". examples given: clarence cooper, charlie parker, richard pryor, maya deren, sun ra, mizoguchi, frida kahlo, black-and-white godard, celine, gong li, david hammons, björk, and wu-tang clan. (yes, i loved that my girls frida and björk got an a shout out!!)
as bonbon explained, "unmitigated blackness is coming to the realization that as fucked up and meaningless it all is, sometimes it's the nihilism that makes life worth willing." that was deep to me. i have often explained how faith in nothing can be actually cause one to embrace it all. beatty summed it up perfectly. i can't say more. this is the lesson of this amazing work.
i would end it here on this high note, but have to do some gushing.
i have to add that in addition to having great commentary on race, it also raised interesting points about los angeles as a city, ie the trend of neighborhoods labeling themselves and how the city is segregated based on race and class. he made the excellent point of how "you can find korean taco trucks only in white neighborhoods." something that slapped me in the face with how true that is. god i am such white hipster trash though i am mixed race! i have to also ass that i did love that one of my favorite la landmarks, tito's tacos!!!, got a shout out.
first of all, i loved beatty's pop references. bebe's kids, turtle from entourage, coral from the real world all got hilarious mentions. also it's my theory that adam y____ from the trial is adam yauch from the beastie boys but i can be reading into his free tibet shirt too much.
also there was a character, foy chesire who read like he would be the love child of oprah and al sharpton. he was rewrote classics and other beloved books for young black readers. i felt bonbon's regret for not saving them because they were quite clever, as a book lover i loved the puns:
the perjorative-free adventures and intellectual spiritual journeys of african-american jom and his protege,
white brother huckleberry fun as they go in search of the lost black family unit
the great blacksby
uncle tom's condo
the point guard in the rye
the dopeman cometh
me talk white one day
as you can see this book is hilarious but deep, and a definite must read!!!
