Customer Reviews

Coal to Cream: A Black Man's Journey Beyond Color to an Affirmation of Race

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In spite of my better judgement, I really like this book. As a quietly emotional, introspective and beautifully written report of one Black American man's reactions to Brazilian notions of race, it has no equal.

Why do I give it only two stars then? It upsets me that people across the U.S. will use this as some sort of "text book" to decipher Brazilian race relations. It is not. In fact, for an intelligent, sensitive journalist, Robinson shows a shocking lack of knowledge of Brazilian history and culture, especially as viewed through Brazilian eyes. This fatally undermines his analysis of race relations in Brazil.

To hear Robinson tell it, Brazil is in some kind of racial purgatory. Brazil's concepts of race never change. Or rather, its /lack/ of concept of race never changes. Brazilians, as we are told again and again throughout "From Coal to Cream" simply don't believe in the idea of race: they only see colors relative one to another. This theory of race in Brazil has a long and hallowed history in American academia. Unfortunately, Brazilian social scientists have pretty well demonstrated it to be full of enormous holes. There has been quite a long and well-documented tradition of seeing things in "black" and "white" in Brazil - a tradition which the Brazilian public ideologies of race would prefer to ignore. That this tradition remains alive and well in our quotidian world, however, is a fact that's brought back to me everytime I see some light-brown skinned kid wearing a "100% Negro" t-shirt here in Rio de Janeiro.

Ironically, the years that Robinson spent as a journalist in Brazil saw some of the greatest historic changes in afro-descended Brazilians' perceptions of themselves and their nation. These changes were perhaps best (but not exclusively) symbolized by the 1988 Constitutional Resolution to give land to Brazil's surviving quilombo residents - a law which was only won through large-scale mobilization of Black Brazilian grass-roots groups. None of this exciting ferment and activity is touched upon by Robinson, whom, I suspect, is unable to read a daily newspaper in Portuguese. From what I've gathered in the book, he didn't know anything of this sort was occuring among Black Brazilians. If he did, he certainly didn't follow it up, prefering to maintain the old, thread-bare dichotomy of a Brazil which ignores race and doesn't progress opposed to a progressive, race conscious United States.

Robinson would probably be quite suprised that, as regards his conslusions on race in Brazil, he is travelling the same path that many hard-core racists once tread. The French philosopher and scientific racist Gubineau (SP, sorry...) also believed that as a mixed race nation, Brazil was a contradiction in terms which could never, ever progress. The real question, of course, is why Robinson finds it necessary to do this and how does he have the power to be more widely heard on this subject than any one of hundreds of Brazilian journalists and scholars (of all colors) who are infinitely more well-informed than he is.

Robinson needs to look into the mirror and realize that even though he's Black, he's also a U.S. citizen and thus inherits a certain degree of imperial power along with that status. Perhaps then he'd be capable of writing about Brazilian racism with a new degree of sensitivity - not only to his personal feelings, but to Brazil as well. What is scary to me is that "From Coal to Cream" is so convincingly written that even many Brazilians, ignorant of their own history, will buy into its precepts.

When a journalist who barely speaks the language of a country attempts to tackle one of its deepest, most perenial problems based upon a few superficial travels, we should take his conclusions with a large grain of salt. Though it attempts to address Brazilian racism, "From Coal to Cream" is yet another in a long series of fantastic projections of Anglo-American fears and desires upon Brazil. Nevertheless, one should buy this book if one is interested in how Americans perceive and react to Brazil. /That/ is it's true value, and in this sense, Robinson has crafted a masterpiece.

I read the book immediately after hearing Robinson on NPR's "Diane Rehm" show and found it one of the most quietly intelligent books I have read on the subject of race and color. Having been to Brazil recently (and speaking some Portuguese), I was eager to see how he analyzed the socio-racial scene there. This book is not a sociological tract--it is a highly personal book, the story of the author's own odyssey through his personal history and the various societies in which he has lived. By thinking about Brazil, he really does see issues of American society and history in a much clearer light--and helps us see them too. There are a string of revelations here. I would want to argue with him about some of his conclusions, but I thought Robinson came through as a man of great integrity who has put a lot of himself on the line here. I recommend the book highly.

Having returned from my first trip to Brazil recently, I was angry when I saw Mr. Robinson on C-Span discussing this book, angry that he had stolen my idea! This work offers a great introduction for someone who has never been to Brazil, but I was extremely shocked at how skin-deep Mr. Robinson's assessments were. He, over and over again, refers to the "black" people that he encountered in Brazil without ever offering a deeper investigation of what it means to be "black." His perceptions are entirely influenced by his own culture and he seems unable, or at least unwilling, to step away from his own experiences momentarily in order to objectively experience Brazil. The simple fact is that in Brazil, as in the USA, and England, and many other places around the world, light-skinned people receive a disproportionate amount of privilege regardless of what race they claim to belong to. I was really surprised that a seasoned journalist didn't go a bit deeper with his analysis. At best, this book will spark a national conversation amongst people of all races in America, a conversation that we have before but desperately need to revisit. AND SHAME ON THE FREE PRESS FOR ALLOWING SO MANY ERRORS INTO THE FINAL PRINT!

As a white man, I'm sure I'll never really understand what it's like to be black in America. It's simply not possible. But Gene Robinson does his level best to give me a glimpse into that dilemma. The truth is, I think I was hoping for more of an in-depth memoir from Robinson, a man I grew to like and admire during the just completed presidential primaries and elections when I would see him often on Hardball or other cable news programs, offering his opinions. Robinson seems to me to be a man who has a pretty good sense of self, and also possesses a healthy sense of humor in the way he looks at life. I like that in a man. Some of that came out in COAL TO CREAM, but not enough, probably because it is, of course, about such a deadly serious topic: race and color barriers. Robinson's tales of his job assignments in South America (particularly Rio, in Brazil) and London are eye-opening, and he makes his case well about the continuing skin-color spectrum and how it operates in those countries. His initial enchantment and final disillusionment with how color is handled in Brazil is very reasoned and well thought out. But I'm most interested in personal stories, so I kept wishing throughout the book that there were more about his boyhood in South Carolina, his college years in Ann Arbor, and how he met and fell in love with Avis, his wife. Because they sound like such warm and interesting people. But maybe he'll get around to all that some other time, or at least I hope so, because he's a very good writer. - Tim Bazzett, author of Pinhead: A Love Story

Robinson uses his own personal sojourn through South America as a framework to discuss broader issues of race relations and racial identity. When Robinson first visits Brazil, he views it as a utopia for black individuals, a place where unlike America race was not an immutable construct but rather a broad spectrum of possibilities which ebbed and flowed: "[t]he emphasis on the more mutable issue of color (rather than the rigidity of race) was at the heart of what I loved so much about Brazail--the absence of racial conflict, the ease of coexistence."

At first, Robinson's exulation of Brazil as a paradigm for issues of race appears naive and simplistic. However, as Robinson's journey continues, he realizes that Brazil also suffers from its own insidious forms of prejudice and problems of racial conflict though manifested differently, exist there as well. Robinson's meditations on race are interesting and emerge from a well written and engaging story.

i would recommend this book to any reader that wants a good perspective on how race and class abound our world. As a 18 year old Afro-American female,I too like Robinson, initially believed the myths of a Brazilian racial democracy, but later on I sadly realized the truth. Racism is just as explosive in Brazil as the US but only it is done in a more subtle and hidden fashion.

Compare neiborhoods like Ipanema and the favelas(ghettos) of Rochina and Mangueira and see what colors are most dominate. And also see the racist killings of street children (80% killed are Black), and why the most dominate workforce for Blacks is domestic service(i.e. maids and butlers) The affirmation that Robinson made of saying that he was told he didn't have to be Black shows how in Brazil race is not soley based on heritage, but social status and education.

Euguene Robinson digs into the reasons why the Black Brazilian Movement is finally starting in Brazil. Trying to find a voice in a racist society and have the series of "race" categorizations to seperate Blacks be removed so that Blacks can identify and work against racism in a country where they are dominate (UNESCO reports Blacks are 70% population) but used to be counted only as 6% in 1973 and then 44% in 1992 by the government, these figures do not show a boost in Black births, but a boost in Black identity and pride.

Many will argue how Brazil can have Affirmative Action, but with a predomite population and predominte population of poor Afro-Brazilians, it is needed in Government and TV. I disagre with reviewers that claim that Black race identity leads to race "wars", it unifyies us, the only reason why people do not think racial conflict happens in Brazil is because most Blacks haven't been saying anything(ending that is Senetor Benedita da Silva).

Even though I think that this book could have dug deeper in the realities and myths of race in Brazil, I belive this is a honest and well written work

Dispose of the initial David Duke review. This book captures the essence of the approach/avoidance dilemma that a black man encounters in the racial minefield in the US. Well written and personal, Robinson bifurcates and reconstructs the schizoid realm of racial politics. Ties to the plight of Indians in SA connect with the economic undertones of oppression. Robinson strikes at the heart of irrelevance of race, while simultaneously demonstrating its brutal impact. The racial gap in the US is still broad on both sides. This book is must reading for any non-African descendent who seeks to bridge the racial gap, and for any African descendent who wants to continue the racial dialogue. Soul on Ice it aint, but the 90s aint the 60s.

Having read the book, I remain startled by its lack of intellectualism and rather naive viewpoint. I would, however, recommend it for perusal. As far as commenting on my fellow reviewers' comments, I can only shake my head in consternation. There were African slaves in England during the time of Shakespeare who, consequentially, had mixed children and gradually disappeared into Britain's greater society. In the United States, white-featured children of racially mixed "Black" families have "passed" as Caucasians and married into White families for many generations. In my own family of Creole descended French speakers, the usage of "Black" and "White" is a subjective term. My family is only one of many families who have more than 50 percent White heritage but who are aware of their "Black" heritage as well. I strongly suspect there are many "White" families who remain unaware. The only difference between Brazil and The United States is our foolish inability to accept miscegenation as a historical fact and the nonexistence of racial purity among any given population in this country. (Having been to Brazil, I can vouch that the so-called "White" upper echelon would be considered light-skinned "Blacks" in the United States.) For that reason, Coal to Cream is a timely commentary on the insanity of the "one drop rule" though I wish this particular book had not been such a disappointment.

Eugene Robinson's book is an admirable work of reportage by a talented journalist. So much writing on race is tendentious - informed either by prejudice, anger or political correctness. Robinson's work is superior because he is honest about what he doesn't know and understand, and because his narrative is driven by genuine curiosity. Bravo to Robinson for offering a truly original contribution.

I enjoyed this book because it is a thought provoking book. Too often the topic of race is avoided. The truth is that race may be the topic of the next decade in the US. The country is starting to have a substantially higher percent of population of non-whites. The largest California is already mostly non-whites. The author compares and reflects on his upbringing in the US with his experiences in Brazil thru the eyes of a dark Black man. I agree with the author that Brazilians do indeed think about race and are certainly not color blind. In my travels to Brazil I noticed from looks that some people certainly acknowleged the fact that I was Black by giving me a certain look or holding their look a little longer. However the lack of malice was apparent among my Brazilian contacts. In the US sometimes I have created static by simply showing up as a Black man at an all white affair or business meeting. The average Brazilian is actually quite a laid-back person. The American in comparison tends to be aggressive and highly opinionated. I hope to one day spend some time living in Brazil. I think that the author also overestimates the number of Blacks (by US standards) in Brazil. I have the number at around 50%. I actually prefer the terms AfroBrazilian and AfroAmerican. The author actually made it a point to study race. In Brazil race is certainly not one of the top conversational topics. Although this book is only around 4 years old, plenty has change in Brazil. Global changes have had an impact on Brazil and the people have adapted. Foreign films and TV shows have had an impact on Brazilian culture. Inventions such as cell phones and the internet have had a profound effect of reducing Brazils isolation. I can't wait to go back next year!