The short story and portrait book, I Am the Black Boy, takes a look into the ugliness of Mississippi’s past and tells the story of slavery from the eyes of a 12-year-old boy.
“It tells the story of slavery and how we came from Africa, the mistreatment and cruelty that we faced and how we were made into slaves,” Author Glen Hobbs said.
He said the story is raw and uncut and touches on subjects like sexual abuse endured by black women and how black men were beaten during slavery for speaking in their native African language.
This book is not for the faint of heart, and Hobbs doesn’t want it to be.
The book takes a look at the Emancipation Proclamation, a proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves.
“And now ‘I, too, sing America,’” Hobbs said referencing the poem “I, too” by Langston Hughes. “I, too, can sing the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and I, too, can sing ‘We Shall Overcome.’ But, we haven’t.” He said. Hobbs said blacks in America have gotten far but not as far as they can go.
“Our history isn’t taught in schools anymore,” he said. “It has been condensed in the history books, and there is very limited information about the Civil Rights Movement. When I do speaking engagements, I talk a lot about the dreams that Martin L. King, Jr. didn’t have.”
Hobbs said he’s sure that King didn’t have a dream of a corrupt education system, very little parental involvement, and a people only looked at by many in mainstream media when something bad happens to them but are hardly praised when something good happens.
“50 years ago, you wouldn’t be able to do what you’re doing now,” Hobbs told the reporter. He said if King could see blacks in America and the way life is now, he would be disappointed.
“Boys with their pants sagging and women going to clubs and social events with inappropriate clothing on, and we’re killing us. I think he would say ‘Is this what I died for?’ People talk about (President) Trump and building his wall. I say let him build his wall because we as blacks have built a wall around ourselves. We have caged ourselves.”
Hobbs said he believes many are under a false conception that the Civil Rights movement is over, that blacks have overcame and now life is better.
“But we do need Civil Rights,” he said. “We need Civil Rights Improvements. And don’t let us get in a position of power. We get big-headed.”
He said he believes a lot of blacks are still under the slave mentality of one skin tone being better than another skin tone.
“We went through so much to vote, and now we don’t even vote at all. We think ‘My vote don’t count’ or if it’s a run-off, ‘I’ve already voted for him once, I’m not voting for him again.’ But, our votes do matter. Our voice does count.”
He said I Am A Black Boy began as a theatrical skit he began writing for a local teacher, but the book took a mind of its own and warped into what it is now.
“I was hoping someone younger would read it and realize that this person went through all of this for me to be here. And maybe act a little better and not be out here killing and robbing,” he said.
Hobbs said the main problem is that people don’t teach their children black history anymore.
“They don’t care anymore. People don’t talk about when Martin L. King Jr. walked through Winona after they get a better financial status, get a little better house, they drive a little better, and they’re not worried about the next person,” Hobbs said.
He said he’s received some mixed reviews from the book.
“Some people don’t like it. They want to know why I went back. Why don’t I just let a sleeping dog lie? But, I told them if we don’t bring up the past then we can’t get to our future.”
Hobbs said some have been glad that he brought up the ugliness of the past and said that he’s been told that more people should read his book.
“One lady told me it was a like a movie in a book. She said there were things that she didn’t know that happened,” he said. “People don’t know our history anymore. They don’t know who invented the lawn mower or air conditioner or that a black woman invented the GPS. People don’t care anymore. We have to tear down the wall that we live in. We don’t want to help each other anymore and until we tear down our own walls, we can’t help each other.”
