Black Literature Finds Work

On a recent episode of Raising Kanan, the character B-Rilla visits the book shop of Kenyatta, who emerges from the back reciting lines of Countee Cullen’s

“Incident”:

Now I was eight and very small,

    And he was no whit bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked out

    His tongue, and called me, “Nigger.”

I saw the whole of Baltimore

    From May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

   That’s all that I remember.

Then the two dap and proceed to plan a house robbery that turns into homicide. I was trying to figure why Countee was up in that mix. Something from their school days?  Lockdown days? Maybe it was a celebration in the writers’ room of the poem’s centennial? Or just that his book was in the store? Anyway, it was kinda nice to see ole Renaissance homey hanging around though he probably wasn’t anticipating that he was prelude to murder. I mean “Incident” expresses anger about being called the n-word, but this took it over the top. It is television, however. Countee must roll with the sample or not at all. How many people checking for him these days?

James Baldwin, on the other hand, remains popular. It’s no surprise that he popped up on Godfather of Harlem given all the imagined 1960s scenarios related to Bumpy Johnson that they’re squeezing into the series even when those angles are overly fanciful and out of place and time: Bumpy great friend of Malcolm X, Bumpy intervening in the fight world to rescue an upcoming Cassius Clay, Afeni Shakur and Black Panthers in Harlem two years too early. So, in that swirl, Baldwin on display in 1966 fits.   

Alice Bradshaw, a Park Avenue member of the New York Fine Arts Board tells Mayme Johnson, who is being considered for appointment, that she would find her inclusion “fascinating” even though the other Board members are opposed because of Bumpy’s criminal background. She reads Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and thinks Baldwin, to whom Mayme is partial, is “charming” from what she can tell from the television screen, “like a little chocolate frog.” Her search for the “authentic” leads her to meet Mayme in a Harlem restaurant and agree to try some smothered pork chops and sweet tea.    

The next episode opens with Baldwin at a lectern offering standard complaint fare before Alice, Mayme, Bumpy, and several other attendees. Baldwin and Johnson cross verbal swords after Baldwin, specifically referring to Johnson, calls out dope dealers for profiting off the people’s suffering. Unknown to Baldwin, Johnson has renounced drug dealing and is pursuing legal community empowerment. But he doesn’t explain this, instead flaring up at Baldwin, “And there you are, the silver-tongued Jimmy Baldwin. It’s easy for you to get on that stage and judge a man for trying to make things better in the streets.” Bumpy said Baldwin serves to entertain and amuse white folks while “jabbing” at him.

Baldwin later runs into Bumpy at a shoeshine stand and offers an apology. He sees their struggles to be connected, united in the mission to ward of white aggression. He hopes he and Bumpy can shield each other, and he offers Bumpy advice about moving his legal initiatives along. 

From what I gather, the Baldwin character will be a recurring role. I suppose he’ll have more advice for Bumpy, fill the void of conscience left by Malcolm. Maybe he even discusses things with Afeni.

#thelanguagelane #keithgilyard #CounteeCullen #RaisinKanan #JamesBaldwin #GodfatherofHarlem