Abstract

Hiding in Plain Sight

The article presents information on two books "Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White," by Brent Staples, "Makes me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America," by Nathan McCall. It is not surprising that some African American writers would respond to being labeled the problem and pathological with works that are essentially confessional in nature. This could be to the good. But too often the belief that black people are inherently pathological, coupled with black self-hatred, defines and indelibly colors the ways in which black writers of nonfiction look at their lives. The expectation of black pathology on the part of editors, readers and opinion-makers insinuates itself, however subtly, into the writer's consciousness. In different ways, this consciousness is a common theme in the two books by African-American male writers.