WHO WE ARE TWO DOLLAR RADIO is a family-run outfit dedicated to reaffirming the cultural and artistic spirit of the publishing industry. We aim to do this by presenting bold works of literary merit, each book, individually and collectively, providing a sonic progression that we believe to be too loud to ignore.
Love the PLANET? So do we.
Printed on Rolland Enviro.
This paper contains 100% post-consumer fiber,
is manufactured using renewable energy - Biogas
and processed chlorine free.
Printed in Canada
All Rights Reserved
ISBN → 9781937512835
Also available as an Ebook. E-ISBN → 9781937512842
COPYRIGHT → © 2019 BY ANDRE PERRY
Library of Congress Control Number available upon request.
Book Club & Reader Guide of questions and topics for discussion is available at twodollarradio.com
SOME RECOMMENDED LOCATIONS FOR READING SOME OF US ARE VERY HUNGRY NOW: In the club (before the show), in a small bedroom with an 8-track player, or pretty much anywhere because books are portable and the perfect technology!
ANYTHING ELSE? Yes. Do not copy this book—with the exception of quotes used in critical essays and reviews—without the prior written permission from the copyright holder and publisher. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means.
WE MUST ALSO POINT OUT THAT: The stories in this book reflect the author’s recollection of events. Some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of those depicted. Dialogue has been re-created from memory.
CONTENTS
We Thought We Were Rock ’n’ Roll
Some Kinds of Love (Are Better than Others)
Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now
Well
Here it comes
Here comes the sound
The sound of confusion
J. Spaceman & Sonic Boom, “Walkin’ with Jesus”
Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now
Coastland
Language and Other Weapons
The screen is black. The sounds of bodies rustling in leaves can be heard. They are the sounds of love.
NARRATOR (VOICE OVER)
Being black is like having a chronic disease because someone can always call you a nigger and you know they eventually will. You just don’t know when it’s going to come at you or how it’s going to come. Will you get called a nigger out loud or in a more deceptive if equally devastating way? Life goes on for some time without incident and then the affliction bites you again, reminds you that it’s still there. These “nigger moments”—the points in time when black people are forced to recall their blackness in a way that brings shame to their existence—engender self-hate over time. The hate can twist the strongest heart, reducing one’s composure to a vicious growl. The black lashes out at his environment but his hateful words and angry jabs will only quicken his failure.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. FIELD—EVENING
WIDE SHOT: Black-and-white film. Nestled within the tall grass of a field, a YOUNG BLACK MAN and a YOUNG BLACK WOMAN make love on the ground. The camera slowly zooms in on the couple. A dress is pulled up around her waist. Their faces are filled with excitement.
NARRATOR (VOICE OVER—CONT’D)
Consider a character from Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Cholly Breedlove. Morrison first published the novel in the United States in 1970, but it takes place in the years before and after the Great Depression. On the night Cholly loses his virginity to a beautiful country girl, Darlene, he is subjected to the humiliation of a nigger moment.
As CHOLLY and DARLENE continue to make love, the crunching of footsteps on twigs and