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INTERVIEW: BRANDI COLLINS-DEXTER
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT Brandi Collins-Dexter
Mollye Miller Photography
Her analysis of Kanye West may grab the headlines, but Brandi Collins-Dexter has a lot more on her mind than the eternally controversial celebrity. Co-host of the Bring Receipts podcast and a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, Collins-Dexter wants to understand why more and more Black voters are disenchanted with the Democratic Party and how their politics are evolving in the age of Black Lives Matter and MAGA. She gathers her observations in the provocatively titled Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future (Celadon Books, Sept. 20), which our reviewer called a “remarkable work that leaves us feeling hopeful for change.” Collins-Dexter answered some questions by email.
What started you working on the book? Black Skinhead explores fracture points in community consciousness in the aftermath of losing 60% of Black wealth and, with it, countless vehicles for cultural cohesion, storytelling, economic gain, and political powerbuilding.
I saw artist Kanye West being interviewed in 2019. He said he had been “canceled before cancel culture,” and that “we” (presumably Black people) are cultureless. I wanted to know if that was something many Black people were feeling and, if so, what was driving that.
I learned that Kanye’s hypervisibility teaches us about Kanye, not Black people at scale or even Black conservatives like the ones I interviewed for the book. Kanye as the late-stage “Black skinhead” is emblematic of what happens when people cease to engage with the pretense of democracy and become more concerned with self-aggrandizing or shattering the idea that a “more perfect union” could ever exist in the multicultural nation we call America.
Still, it was (and is) clear to me that community consciousness is breaking down in alarming ways that could produce more disillusionment with systems and institutions. There are implications in that for all of us. But this is the moment when we can change our story, and I wanted to highlight that too. We don’t have to be a nation of Kanyes. We can, and must, be better.
Who is the ideal reader for your book, and where would they be reading it? The ideal reader is someone who wants to be challenged around their assumptions—whether they are assumptions about democracy, Black voters, pop culture, or even themselves. I was challenged a lot by what I discovered during the process of researching and writing this book, and I tried to show that.
This isn’t a book for people looking for a prescriptive solution. When we look for a checklist to do A, B, C to solve a societal problem, that can stifle our collective ability to imagine something greater than the confines of a singular self-appointed thought leader. I believe that most of us feel underrepresented and like we’re trying to negotiate systems that don’t seem to be working for us. What can we do to interrupt that?
I tried to write it like you are talking with friends
at a bar or family/neighbors at a cookout. It’s a series of essays, meant to be taken in bits and pieces. We all know that life can get in the way and sometimes it’s hard to read a book cover to cover. With this book, you can read (or listen to) an essay on the bus or at the laundromat. Mull over it, put the book down, and then come back whenever you find more time. It doesn’t have to be read in order. You don’t have to know what happened in the previous essay to get the point of the next essay.
What book (or books) published in 2022 were among your favorites? If I had to narrow it down, I would pick: The Viral Underclass by Steven W. Thrasher; Meme Wars by my Harvard colleagues Joan Donovan, Emily Dreyfuss, and Brian Friedberg; and Home Bound by Vanessa A. Bee. On the surface, they’re all very different pieces of nonfiction. But these books, and my own, are all grappling with how we define home, where we find our communities, and what obligations we do or don’t have to one another, especially in uncertain times. They each feel urgent and resonate in their own ways.
Interview by Tom Beer.
formulations, “this is two successive generations of writers trying to say something of value about a wonderful, talented, funny young man who wrote lovely poetry and died in a freak accident. What a series of dying stars all collapsing in on each other: your dad’s book, Maureen’s machinations, your dad’s poetry career, your attempts to win the scenario, your relationship with your dad, your relationship with Maureen.” In Neal’s view, even the difficulties are “amazing and beautiful,” and surprisingly, given the number of resentments and disillusions cataloged here (Larry Rivers, watch out!), he is right. Even the title of the book comes from the off-base headline on O’Hara’s obituary in the New York Times: “EXHIBITIONS AIDE AT MODERN ART DIES—ALSO A POET.” The most powerful of the misapprehensions lies between the author and her father: “Perhaps my role as a writer who is not the best writer in my family is the cost of paying attention to my family,” she submits, a typically loaded remark. One imagines her father, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019 but has lived to read this work, is at last returning the long-withheld favor.
A wonderfully convoluted, catty, candid, and clever piece of work.
THE VORTEX A True Story of History’s Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation
Carney, Scott & Jason Miklian Ecco/HarperCollins (528 pp.) $29.99 | March 29, 2022 978-0-06-298541-5
How unscrupulous politicians exploited the effects of a catastrophic cyclone to commit genocide and nearly trigger a nuclear war.
Carney is an investigative journalist and anthropologist who spent six years reporting from South Asia for Wired, Mother Jones, and other publications, and Miklian is a senior researcher at the Centre for Development and Environment, University of Oslo. The authors begin by documenting the 1970 Bhola cyclone, a staggeringly destructive storm that killed roughly 500,000 people in the densely populated coastal area of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Then the authors turn to the complex aftermath, anatomizing the ruthless opportunism of West Pakistani politicians who sought to consolidate their power by exterminating ethnic rivals; the self-serving machinations of American and Soviet leaders whose interventions culminated in a nuclear standoff; the desperate efforts of Bengali resistance fighters to secure independence in the face of brutal oppression; and the often heroic attempts of aid workers to mitigate the catastrophic human toll. The authors effectively translate their exhaustive research into a compelling narrative, cleverly alternating chapters among the perspectives of a diverse range of protagonists, from Mohammed Hai, a humble young man who became a revolutionary, to international power brokers such as Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon. This is a
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riveting, page-turning story of human devastation, political corruption, and individual bravery as well as a cautionary tale with universal relevance. “This book is about climate change,” they argue convincingly, showing how rising global temperatures will continue to boost both the frequency and intensity of cyclones in many coastal areas, prompting extreme political volatility and large-scale human suffering. To those who may feel complacent about what happened a half-century ago in a relatively obscure part of the world, Carney and Miklian deliver a stark warning: “Our global climate future means not just flooded beach houses in twenty years and more expensive groceries next decade but an increasing likelihood of selective genocide and even global international war.”
A powerful, timely exploration of an environmental and political tragedy.
DILLA TIME The Life and Afterlife of the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
Charnas, Dan MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (480 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 1, 2022 978-0-374-13994-0
An ambitious, dynamic biography of J Dilla, who may be the most influential hip-hop artist known by the least number of people.
A professor at NYU/Tisch’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music best known for his chronicle of the business of hip-hop, The Big Payback, Charnas uses myriad storytelling techniques to make his case for the importance of James Dewitt Yancey (1974-2006), aka J Dilla. To explain Dilla’s groundbreaking approach to rhythm, the author uses graphics to approximate conventional rhythms and contrasts them with the hip-hop producer’s method of slowing some elements while accelerating others. He also offers playlists so readers can hear how Dilla transformed songs and how, eventually, his approach took over hip-hop in the late 1990s. To the author’s credit, he also explains why technological advances allowed other producers and DJs to mimic the sonic style Dilla pioneered—often with broader success, as producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis did on Janet Jackson’s chart-topping smash “Got Til It’s Gone.” Of course, Dilla generated his own hits, with important remixes like the Brand New Heavies’ “Sometimes” and, most notably, his production of Common’s “The Light.” His 2006 album, Donuts, is considered a classic of instrumental hip-hop. As definitively as Charnas chronicles Dilla’s rise through the ranks of Detroit hip-hop and his partnership with Q-Tip, Questlove, D’Angelo, and other significant figures, his reporting on how success didn’t solve all of Dilla’s personal problems or protect him from illness sets this tale apart. The author’s discussion of Dilla’s decline and death from a rare blood disease and lupus is particularly heart-wrenching, especially against the backdrop of his blooming career. Also memorable is Charnas’ chronicle of the family in-fighting that followed his death, which even spilled over into lawsuits against fan-created fundraisers at a time when Dilla’s work was finally being celebrated around the world.
A wide-ranging biography that fully captures the subject’s ingenuity, originality, and musical genius.
FATTY FATTY BOOM BOOM A Memoir of Food, Fat, & Family
Chaudry, Rabia Algonquin (352 pp.) $28.95 | Nov. 8, 2022 978-1-64375-038-5
The highs and lows of a lifelong love affair with food. Chaudry, a podcaster, lawyer, and author of Adnan’s Story, which was adapted as a documentary for HBO, is a gifted storyteller and cultural commentator with a special knack for food writing, as quickly becomes clear in this unblinking account of the high price paid for the pleasures of eating. The author begins in Lahore, Pakistan, where her veterinarian father and school administrator mother married and started their family, moving suddenly to the U.S. while she was still an infant. Jaundiced and scrawny at birth, she was given half-and-half in her baby bottle and frozen butter when she began teething. “You won’t believe me when I tell you this, but as God is my witness, I can still taste the salty, cold butter in my mouth melting into heavenly pools,” writes the author. “You have to wonder exactly how many sticks of butter I consumed to leave an indelible mark on my memory. Too many is the only right answer.” This tone of rueful candor continues as she tracks her expanding body into adulthood, with desperate recourse to fad diets, CrossFit, a gastric sleeve operation, and more along the way. The tortures of immigrant life in suburban Maryland; blissful return visits to Pakistan; the hilariously horrible wedding of her aunt, and the equally horrible but not so funny occasion of her own—every episode glitters. Whether she’s describing a mad motorcycle mission to score Lahore street food with her overweight uncles, the acquisition of the “freshman 25” with new friends at college, or sharing ice cream in bed with her sweet second husband, Chaudry eloquently portrays the role of food in love and friendship. At the same time, she doesn’t flinch from reporting the humiliations heaped on the overweight at every turn. She also includes a selection of enticing recipes.
The literary equivalent of chaat masala fries: spicy, heady, sour, and uniquely delicious.
ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES
Choy, Catherine Ceniza Beacon Press (240 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 2, 2022 978-0-8070-5079-8
An impressive new work about how major moments in Asian American history continue to influence the modern world.
In the first chapter, Choy, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, connects anti-Asian violence during the Covid-19 pandemic to a history of stereotyping Asian immigrants as carriers of disease. Later, she ties the erasure of Chinese railroad workers to the lack of Asian representation in popular media. Popular culture, she writes, has “played a formative role in portraying Asians as subhuman and superhuman threats.” Besides covering topics that are relatively well known, such as Japanese internment and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the author also discusses histories that have been largely erased, including the formation of Asian American groups supporting independence struggles on the Asian continent; the long history of Asian-Black solidarity, which dates back to “Frederick Douglass’s 1869 speech advocating for Chinese immigration”; and the passage of the misogynistic Page Act of 1875, which forced Asian immigrant women to prove that they were not prostitutes before allowing them entry to the U.S. Choy aptly characterizes her work as a fight against erasure and as an attempt to humanize Asian American immigrants whose invisibility so often exposes them to violence. “Asian Americans are in sight, but unseen. And this must change,” she writes. “Placing a human face on the Asian immigrant experience is one way to contest this vicious cycle of nativism.” In addition to being deeply knowledgeable, the author radiates passion and sincerity. Her inclusion of personal experiences infuses the narrative with an intimacy unusual for historical texts, and her experimental use of second person—most notably in the chapter about Japanese internment—cleverly sparks empathy in readers who might never have considered what it’s like to live through race-based violence.
An empathetic and detailed recounting of Asian American histories rarely found in textbooks.
CollinsDexter, Brandi Celadon Books (304 pp.) $28.99 | Sept. 20, 2022 978-1-250-82407-3
An influential media commentator on racial justice explores politics and Black voters in this sharp blend of memoir and cultural criticism.
In her debut book, Collins-Dexter, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, chronicles her “journey to get to the heart of Black political identity, a process that involved extensive interviews with Black people from all across the ideological spectrum.” She narrates a powerful story “about a Black America that had become disillusioned with the failed promises of their country.” In the 1960s, before it became known for White nationalism, the skinhead movement was a political movement comprised of the British working class, most of whom felt “left behind” and disillusioned by economic and political infrastructures. The author uses this idea as a launching pad to deconstruct a host of cultural frameworks involving politics and place in communities around the U.S., and she offers a well-rendered critique of the implicit attitude that Black voters prefer Democrats or Black candidates. Through the lens of Black voters, Collins-Dexter examines often complex political concepts in an accessible way—Kanye West’s troubling persona is a recurring topic—but the rigor of her scholarship is never in question. In the section on populism, the author employs wrestling lingo and characters from the World Wrestling Federation to describe political ideology from the left and right. “With its exaggerated narratives of good, evil, and the struggle of the everyman,” she writes, “[wrestling] is the perfect way to understand populism—its pitfalls and its undeniable draw.” Reminiscent of Notes From No Man’s Land, by Eula Biss, this collection is well constructed and incisively argued. Collins-Dexter begins and ends with poignant memories of her father, effectively tying the personal to the universal. Featuring a vivid mix of hard data, anecdotal details, and scholarly research, this book is a mustread for anyone interested in politics and Black lives in America.
A remarkable work that leaves us feeling hopeful for change.
MY THREE DADS Patriarchy on the Great Plains
Crispin, Jessa Univ. of Chicago (256 pp.) $19.00 paper | Sept. 9, 2022 978-0-226-82010-1
The author of Why I Am Not a Feminist and The Dead Ladies Project returns with a sharp examination of patriarchal cultural norms in the Midwest.
Crispin, who lives in Philadelphia but grew up in Kansas, begins by describing a haunting she discovered in her home after moving back to her home state. The ghost in question, dubbed Charlie, came with a specific type of “dad energy…this disapproval, this long list of unspoken rules, this very Midwestern version of masculinity that is all emotional constipation yet still strangely captivating, that leaves those around it scrutinizing every glimmer of the eye, every change in tone or inflection, looking for some sign of approval or affection or respect. The kind of masculinity that makes you think love is a thing to be
