For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home

by Keith Boykin (Editor)

Overview

New York Times bestselling author and CNBC commenter Keith Boykin expands on the "It Gets Better" project by bringing together 25 essays by men of color on the topic of surviving growing up gay. In 1974, playwright Ntozake Shange published a choreopoem called For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf. The book/play/poetry would go on to inspire legions of women for decades and would later become the subject and title of a hugely popular movie in the fall of 2010. While the film was selling out movie theaters, young black gay men were literally committing suicide in the silence of their own communities. In the same time period, a young Rutgers University student named Tyler Clementi took his own life after a roommate secretly videotaped him in an intimate setting with another young man. In response, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry to inspire young people facing harassment. Their message, It Gets Better, turned into a popular movement, inspiring thousands of user-created videos on the Internet. Savage's project targeted people of all races, backgrounds and colors, but Boykin has created something special "for colored boys." The new book responds to the crisis of youth development and suicide in the black community, and more specifically among young gay men of color. For Colored Boys is designed to educate and inspire those seeking to overcome obstacles in their lives. About the Author Keith Boykin is the editor of The Daily Voice online news site, a CNBC contributor, a BET TV host and a New York Times best-selling author of three books. Educated at Dartmouth and Harvard, Keith attended law school with President Barack Obama and served in the White House as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton. Keith was a star on the 2004 Showtime television series American Candidate and has since appeared on numerous national media programs, including Anderson Cooper 360, The O'Reilly Factor, The Tyra Banks Show, The Montel Williams Show, Judge Hatchett and The Tom Joyner Morning Show. He lives in New York.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936833153
Publisher:	Querelle Press
Publication date:	08/23/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	354
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 5.30(h) x 0.86(d)

About the Author

Keith Boykin is a popular TV commentator, inspirational speaker, and New York Times best-selling author. Keith has provided political commentary for CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC, and he previously co-hosted the weekly TV series "My Two Cents" on BET Networks.
Educated at Dartmouth and Harvard, Keith attended law school with President Barack Obama and served in the White House as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton, where he helped organize and participated in the nation's first ever meeting between a sitting president and leaders of the LGBT community.
Keith has traveled extensively across four continents, and was appointed by President Clinton, along with Coretta Scott King and Rev. Jesse Jackson, to the U.S. presidential trade delegation to Zimbabwe.
He was a star on the Showtime television series American Candidate and has since appeared on numerous national media programs, including Anderson Cooper 360, The O'Reilly Factor, The Tyra Banks Show, The Montel Williams Show, Judge Hatchett and The Tom Joyner Morning Show.
A founder and first board president of the National Black Justice Coalition, Keith has spoken to audiences, large and small, all across the world. He delivered a landmark speech to 200,000 people at the Millennium March on Washington, and he gave a stirring speech about the AIDS epidemic in front of 40,000 people in Chicago's Soldier Field.
All of Keith's first three books were nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, including his third book, Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America. Keith won the Lambda Literary Award for his second book, Respecting The Soul, while his first book, One More River to Cross, is taught in colleges and universities throughout the country.
Keith was an associate producer of the feature film Dirty Laundry, and he currently writes a weekly column for BET.com.
He was a star on the 2004 Showtime television series American Candidate and has since appeared on numerous national media programs, including Anderson Cooper 360, The O'Reilly Factor, The Tyra Banks Show, The Montel Williams Show, Judge Hatchett and The Tom Joyner Morning Show.
A founder and first board president of the National Black Justice Coalition, Keith has spoken to audiences, large and small, all across the world. He delivered a landmark speech to 200,000 people at the Millennium March on Washington and he gave a stirring speech about the AIDS epidemic in front of 40,000 people in Chicago's Soldier Field in July 2006.
Each of Keith's three books has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, including his most recent book, Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America. Keith won the Lambda Literary Award for his second book, Respecting The Soul, while his first book, One More River to Cross, is taught in colleges and universities throughout the country.
Keith is an associate producer of the 2007 feature film Dirty Laundry and is working on his fourth book. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Keith currently lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Growing Pains

Back to School Craig Washington 1

Guys and Dolls Jarrett Neal 8

Pop Quiz Kevin E. Taylor 14

Bathtubs and Hot Water Shaun Lockhart 18

Strange Fruit Antonio Brown 23

The Family that Preys

Teaspoons of December Alabama Rodney Terich Leonard 31

A House is Not a Home Rob Smith 35

Mother to Son Chaz Barracks 41

I'm Coming Out!

Pride James Earl Hardy 53

Age of Consent Alphonso Morgan 58

The Luckiest Gay Son in the World David Bridgeforth 66

Coming Out in the Locker Room Rod McCullom DeMarco Majors Wade Davis Will Sheridan 70

When I Dare to Be Powerful Keith Boykin 83

For Colored Boys

To Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide Hassan Beyah 93

Mariconcito Emanuel Xavier 96

Chicago Phill Branch 103

Better Days Jamal Brown 115

One Day a DJ Saved My Life Jonathan Kidd 120

When the Rainbow is not Enough

No Asians, Blacks, Fats, or Femmes Indie Harper 129

Alone, Outside G. Winston James 136

When the Strong Grow Weak Kenyon Farrow 144

Faith Under Fire

The Holy Redeemer Victor Yates 153

Coventry, Christ, and Coming of Age Topher Campbell 154

Religious Zombies Clay Cane 167

Preacher's Kid Nathan Hale Williams 176

Love is a Battlefield

I Still Think of You Jason Haas 185

Bad Romance Darian Aaron 187

Afraid of My Own Reflection Antron Reshaud Olukayode 194

Just the Two of Us Curtis Pate III 195

Hey, You Erick Johnson 205

My Night with the Sun Mark Corece 208

Love Your Truth B. Scott 211

Boys like Girls

The Night Diana Died Daren J. Fleming 217

Many Rivers to Cross André St. Clair Thompson 229

Becoming Jessica Wild Jose David Sierra 241

In Sickness and Health

Umm…Okay Tim'm T. West 253

Thank You, CNN David Malebranche 258

The Test Charles Stephens 264

The Voice Ron Simmons 277

It's Only Love That Gets You Through Robert E. Penn 284

Power to the People

We Cannot Forget Victor Yates 293

Poetry of the Flesh Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano 294

Casualties of War L Michael Gipson 301

How Do You Start a Revolution? Keith Boykin 308

Acknowledgments 319

Contributors 321

Editorial Reviews

03/01/2014
Columnist Boykin borrowed the title of Ntozake Shange's performance-poem and dedicated it to young gay men of color. This stirring collection of poems, reminiscences, and essays by a variety of writers brings to light the struggles they experienced at home as children and out in the world as young men.

Library Journal