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What Being Black Is and What Being Black Isn't
by
Jacob Whittingham and Biscuit
Paperback 264pp
264
ISBN: 978-1-906190-30-9
price:
UK pounds £9.99
US dollars
$
pp
ISBN:
price:
UK pounds £
US dollars
$
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Currently, the most powerful man in the world is Barack Obama, and some people in the media industry refer to Oprah as the most powerful woman in the world, so for the first time, being Black and successful isn’t just about how well you can dance, sing or run. From Zadie Smith to Lewis Hamilton, and Tiger Woods to Kanya King, Black people are succeeding in areas that the world never expected.
Yet there’s a flipside to all this: around 70 per cent of teenagers murdered in London are Black; half of all Black families are headed by a single parent; and 12 per cent of the UK prison population is Black.
This book is a bold, fresh and honest approach to the problems that exist inside the Black community right now. While we might not like to admit it, there are problems. From the amusing to the violent, and from the silly to the painful, this book does what so many people can’t seem to get right – it defines what being Black is, and what being Black isn’t.
Jacob Whittingham was born in north London and since 2003 he has been a youth worker in many different communities – from Skopje to Southall, Lambeth to Lithuania, and Khakov to Kennington. He has spent most of his career working in Tottenham, Lambeth and Southwark and he attributes his inspiration and way of thinking to his discussions with theorists Johnson and Henry. His first publication was the short story, Loveless: No Love In The Club (2007) which was written in collaboration with his close friend, Biscuit.
Biscuit was born in Acton, west London, and has lived in Brent, Stoke Newington and Seven Sisters. He was mentored by Paul Wilson-Eme, Andrew Muhammad and Lez Henry and his thinking has been developed by the books of Noam Chomsky, the speeches of Malcolm X and the learning gained through his residence in Lambeth, south London.
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