Office Depot, Emeryville, CA.
***
My cause first, midst, last, and always, whether in office or out of office, was and is that of the black man; not because he is black, but because he is a man, and a man subjected in this country to peculiar wrongs and hardships.
–Frederick Douglass, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
Ajuan Mance
AC Transit bus stop, corner of MacArthur and 35th, Oakland, California.
Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.
–W.E.B. Du Bois, in “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” The Souls of Black Folk
Ajuan Mance
Outside Farmer Joe’s Market, Oakland, CA.
***
There is something kind of amazing about a cool soul brother. Now, if you’ve spent any amount of time looking at the drawings on this website, you probably know that I also have much love for the not-so-cool brothers. In fact, to say that I have an affinity for Afro-geeks and Black nerds would be a understatement.
That said, the sight of a cool brother is affirming in it’s own distinct way. It’s a reminder of our power and resilience as Black people. The cool brother is the embodiment of one of our greatest survival skills, the ability to create our own sense of power and beauty out of and in opposition to the limited resources we have been given.
Consider these words from Black feminist scholar bell hooks:
Once upon a time black male “cool” was defined by the ways in which black men confronted hardships of life without allowing their spirits to be ravaged. They took the pain of it and used it alchemically to turn the pain into gold. That burning process required high heat. Black male cool was defined by the ability to withstand the heat and remain centered. It was defined by black male willingness to confront reality, to face the truth, and bear it not by adopting a false pose if cool while feeding on fantasy; not by black male denial or by assuming a “poor me” victim identity. It was defined by individual black males daring to self-define rather than be defined by others.
—bell hooks inWe Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
Ajuan Mance
Here’s another gentleman who is the likely parent, grandparent, friend, spouse, or guardian of new or returning Mills undergrad. I’m no Sherlock homes, but I’m guessing that he’s not a student, based on the fact that most of our graduate students are a bit younger than he seemed to be. I’m guessing he is somehow attached to an undergrad (and not a grad student) because those grad students who live on campus tend to move in on their own, without a dad, uncle, or grandpa in tow.
Ajuan Mance
I teach at Mills College, an impressively diverse institution by any measure. Still, even the full student body cannot measure up to the diversity on campus during the days leading up to the beginning of the school year. Despite the class, race, gender, and age diversity that they bring to the campus, all of the students have one thing in common–they are all enrolled in college. During the weekend before the fall semester begins, the campus is buzzing with parents, spouses, partners, children, grandparents, and friends, all of whose experiences cover an even broader range of experiences and backgrounds than those of the loved ones they’ve come to drop off.
The man in this drawing was the first to emerge from a car full of women, one of whom was about to enter her first year of college. Between asking me for directions and making sure the student in question was carrying the paperwork she needed, it took the rest of the people in the car a few additional minutes to get out. Through all of this, the man in this drawing seemed content to wait quietly, and he stood beside the vehicle, gazing at the scenery and striking this memorable pose.
Ajuan Mance
Outside Egbert Souse, Piedmont, Ave., Oakland, CA.
***
My People
The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.
Peet’s Coffee, Market St. near Castro, San Francisco, California.
***
There / are / Black men in the south
Of America who / are soooooooo pretty
That their beauty
Sucks in fat gulps the breath from your mouth.
–From “On Seeing the Black Male As #1 Sex Object in America” by Etheridge Knight
In the rush to finish up a few errands before heading out to my family reunion, I only had a quick moment to pick up an iced tea at my favorite cafe. This gentleman was in line right behind me, laughing and telling jokes with his friend (who was also dressed in his Wednesday best).
Ajuan Mance
Early morning sweater weather in the East Bay.
Ajuan Mance
Early morning, near West Oakland BART, Oakland, California.
Ajuan Mance