riff
Jose Jones
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2000
- Posts
- 10,348
I am he and he I am. And "heeyuh" we are.
Some of you have expressed distaste in my "character" the Right Reverend Doctor Elijah Love, affectionately known as "De Right Reverun Doctah 'Lijah Love."
The Reverun Doctah is not a satire or parody of Jesse Jackson, MLK, or anyone real. He is an archetype that lives in my head, and I love him like I love my own grandfather. God bless him and God bless my grandfather.
Is anyone a fan of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain? I have read it almost every summer since I was in high school when it was first assigned for me to read by my English teacher, Ms. Makemson. It's a pity that so many school districts have dropped Huck from the reading lists. Some, I hear, don't allow it in the library because it is "racially offense."
The offense, of course, lying in Twain's portayal of the character, Jim: a runaway slave who accompanies Huck in flight down the Mississippi River. In Huckleberry, Jim is referred to as "a nigger," which is what most Americans (including the slaves) called Africans at that time. In Huckleberry, Jim talks a lot like the Reverun does. And that's how most of the slaves talked- the whites didn't set up schools for the slaves. I guess a lot of people felt that the presence of Huck in schools was perpetuating a stereotype of blacks as ignorant, subservient, and superstitious people.
They don't know how to read. As Huck and Jim flee Missouri, Huck comes to love Jim as a person. In Huck's world, he had been taught that to help a slave escape was a sin- a sin punishable with eternal damnation to hell. In Huckleberry, Huck's love of Jim becomes more powerful than fear of hell. He helps Jim. It's quite touching, really.
I grew up in the south. My father's father was a dirt ass poor cotton farmer. My mother's father was a county agent. They lived about ten miles apart and in the summers I would go spend time with them. Through the course of my stays I was exposed to many black people- but it is the old black men that stick out in my mind. At my mom's dad's camp he had an old black man who would help him do work around the place. He would call me "chile" and was always nice to me and when I would ask him those questions that a 6 year old asks, he would answer them. I was too young to understand the "sociopolitical" relationship between my grandfather and that old guy, all I know is that he was kind to me and I loved the way he talked.
As for the Reverun- he is an archetype. He is an old, uneducated, rural, southern black preacher from another time and place. If you listen to what he says (as opposed to how he says it) I think you will find that he is kind, gentle, patient, and wise. I wish more people in the world were like him and I could give a goddamn about how they talk. I just love the Reverun, it's intellectually stimulating for me to write the dialect, it's spiritually soothing for me listen to what he has to say, and it is emotionally pleasing because of the affection I feel for the archetype.
I am not Mark Twain. Maybe I wish I was. I have not wished to offend anyone with the Reverun, but in our racially sensitive society, I can understand how people might misunderstand my motives for writing. I'm not making fun of anyone. I am celebrating them.
That's as good as an explanation you will get from me. If you do not understand my feelings and my point of view, I doubt that you ever will. Sue me.
Some of you have expressed distaste in my "character" the Right Reverend Doctor Elijah Love, affectionately known as "De Right Reverun Doctah 'Lijah Love."
The Reverun Doctah is not a satire or parody of Jesse Jackson, MLK, or anyone real. He is an archetype that lives in my head, and I love him like I love my own grandfather. God bless him and God bless my grandfather.
Is anyone a fan of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain? I have read it almost every summer since I was in high school when it was first assigned for me to read by my English teacher, Ms. Makemson. It's a pity that so many school districts have dropped Huck from the reading lists. Some, I hear, don't allow it in the library because it is "racially offense."
The offense, of course, lying in Twain's portayal of the character, Jim: a runaway slave who accompanies Huck in flight down the Mississippi River. In Huckleberry, Jim is referred to as "a nigger," which is what most Americans (including the slaves) called Africans at that time. In Huckleberry, Jim talks a lot like the Reverun does. And that's how most of the slaves talked- the whites didn't set up schools for the slaves. I guess a lot of people felt that the presence of Huck in schools was perpetuating a stereotype of blacks as ignorant, subservient, and superstitious people.
They don't know how to read. As Huck and Jim flee Missouri, Huck comes to love Jim as a person. In Huck's world, he had been taught that to help a slave escape was a sin- a sin punishable with eternal damnation to hell. In Huckleberry, Huck's love of Jim becomes more powerful than fear of hell. He helps Jim. It's quite touching, really.
I grew up in the south. My father's father was a dirt ass poor cotton farmer. My mother's father was a county agent. They lived about ten miles apart and in the summers I would go spend time with them. Through the course of my stays I was exposed to many black people- but it is the old black men that stick out in my mind. At my mom's dad's camp he had an old black man who would help him do work around the place. He would call me "chile" and was always nice to me and when I would ask him those questions that a 6 year old asks, he would answer them. I was too young to understand the "sociopolitical" relationship between my grandfather and that old guy, all I know is that he was kind to me and I loved the way he talked.
As for the Reverun- he is an archetype. He is an old, uneducated, rural, southern black preacher from another time and place. If you listen to what he says (as opposed to how he says it) I think you will find that he is kind, gentle, patient, and wise. I wish more people in the world were like him and I could give a goddamn about how they talk. I just love the Reverun, it's intellectually stimulating for me to write the dialect, it's spiritually soothing for me listen to what he has to say, and it is emotionally pleasing because of the affection I feel for the archetype.
I am not Mark Twain. Maybe I wish I was. I have not wished to offend anyone with the Reverun, but in our racially sensitive society, I can understand how people might misunderstand my motives for writing. I'm not making fun of anyone. I am celebrating them.
That's as good as an explanation you will get from me. If you do not understand my feelings and my point of view, I doubt that you ever will. Sue me.
