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A review by smalltownbookmom
Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump by Ben Philippe
5.0
This book is EXCELLENT! Part memoir, part searing social commentary on race relations in America -all told with a humor that packs a serious emotional punch. Ben was born in Haiti, moved to Canada at a young age and grew up in Montreal, then went to Columbia and now lives and writes in NYC. We like to claim him as Canadian but he has very much been a witness to what life is like in America, especially for a dark-skinned Black man. While a LOT of this book is funny pop culture references (he mentions Gossip Girl and Gilmore girls SOOOOO many times lol), as a fellow born in the 80s child, I connected with a lot of the same things. However, he is also justifiably angry at the state of Black lives in America and minces no words in these essays. HIGHLY recommend, especially for fans of Samantha Irby, Emmanuel Acho or R Eric Thomas.
Favorite quotes (there were so many):
"I'm Black, dark skinned-Black if you want to go there, you should SEE that. In America, a race-blind world simply amounts to a white world in which the rest of us are quiet with pursed lips not making a fuss."
"My Blackness was not fake in my mind, but secondary, an aside to the equation, I didn't quite know what to do with it...it was easily disregarded by friends who did not necessarily have the highest regard for cultural Blackness."
"Being a Black boy in Canada had not prepared me for the task of being a Black man in America. It's a boss level I don't have the right weapons for...People don't want to think of themselves as actively unfriending a Black guy for being too angry about the world. I don't want to be alone again, so my politics make way for a polite and functioning sort of social hypocrisy."
"Being Black in America, like most things today, means angry."
Favorite quotes (there were so many):
"I'm Black, dark skinned-Black if you want to go there, you should SEE that. In America, a race-blind world simply amounts to a white world in which the rest of us are quiet with pursed lips not making a fuss."
"My Blackness was not fake in my mind, but secondary, an aside to the equation, I didn't quite know what to do with it...it was easily disregarded by friends who did not necessarily have the highest regard for cultural Blackness."
"Being a Black boy in Canada had not prepared me for the task of being a Black man in America. It's a boss level I don't have the right weapons for...People don't want to think of themselves as actively unfriending a Black guy for being too angry about the world. I don't want to be alone again, so my politics make way for a polite and functioning sort of social hypocrisy."
"Being Black in America, like most things today, means angry."