"The Negro Artist and The Racial Mountain"

Artist: Langston Hughes
Publication: The Nation
Year: June 23, 1926I fashion myself a writer, and while my ultimate goal is to become a publisher, I still love to write short stories, and might even write a novel (for myself) one day. But every time I think about my hypothetical novel, I think about it's hypothetical place on Barnes & Noble's bookshelves.

A fictional novel, it would most likely be a romance mixed with a bit of humor. Where would my book go? Would it go in the "Love & Relationships" or the "Humorous" section? Or is my Novel destined to end up on the very generic "African-American" section in between Karrine "Superhead" Steffans and Terry Macmillian?

In Langston Hughes' "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," Hughes remembers a poet who said to him "I want to be a poet--not a Negro poet," to which he takes as

"I want to write like a white poet"; meaning subconsciously, "I would like to be a white poet"; meaning behind that, "I would like to be white."

For me, that's not the case at all. I'm supposed to write what I know, and what I know is that, yes I am black, but I also experience emotions and situations that stretch beyond racial barriers we've established, and which Bookstores (and other institutions) seem to placidly enforce. Everytime I write a story, my protagonist will be Black, he/she will experience things that I have experienced, and he/she will resolve conflicts in a way that I deem sensible. However, just because of these reasons should my writing be limited to one genre and one genre only?

Over the Winter Break I was hanging out with my mom in Borders (I know, super cool right) and we wandered over to the African-American Books section, which was right by the Bargain Priced-Shit You Don't Need Table. What I saw was appalling. Every single book that was prominently displayed had a half naked man on the cover, or a scantily clad woman in a seductive pose.

I am fully aware of the genre of Erotica, and I'm also aware that the Author Zane has put Black Erotica on the up & up. However, as I looked at these books' summaries, I got more and more pissed off. Then I just got flaming mad, when I saw two copies of the Bluest Eye squeezed in next to this book.

I'm Still Wifey (Kiki Swanson): "While Kira's husband Ricky is behind bars serving federal time, she clings onto the hope that one day she'll get a taste of sweet revenge for Russ—the nigga who played her! In the mix of all the drama, Kira unintentionally falls for a new 'hood rich cat who has it all. Money, good looks, and yes, a girl back home in Jersey! This time around Kira plans to play by a different set of rules!"

Okay, so we're just gonna put Nigga in our taglines and deem it acceptable now? Oh and are we not arranging books by author anymore? :ast time I checked M and S were not next to each other. I understood where Langston Hughes was coming from, but I don't think this is what he was talking about. I strive to fully include my "Black Experience" in all of my writings, but refuse to write these same boring plot lines with the same rise, fall, and self-actualization sequence of a Tyler Perry movie.

The characters in these novels are all the same, Sons and Daughters of Drug Kingpins, Self-made women who now work at "Top Law Firms," High School Sweethearts. I just can't take it anymore, will I be subjected to writing this way in order to have my books sold, or will I just have to not submit a picture with my manuscript and bio?

...and if my book ever gets made into a movie will Vivica Fox play the lead?