Customer Reviews

How to Rent a Negro

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book, simply because I have experienced 90% of what she is talking about. I do have to say that I have experienced much of this from more than just "white" people, but all peoples, including many Black people who practice internalized racism. I do NOT think that Ayo is saying that Blacks and whites will never get along or be in a meaningful relationship. In my opinion (and it really is just my opinion), I feel that she is forcing people who consciously or subconsciously "rent a negro" to really step back and engage in critical consciousness and ask: "What are my true motivations behind what I am doing? If I am to understand racism in America, I need to understand the 'in your face' racism as well as the institutionalized racism that even liberal White people AND non-White but Liberal people can easily fall into." This book may be hurtful to white idetified people who feel they are sincerely participating in ending racism in the world. These journeys are not EASY and a lot of people will hear perceptions from Black people that they won't like. Believe me, it's NOT easy but well worth it in the long run to consider approaches to ending RACISM from all points of view, not just the ones you are comfortable with. One needs the WHOLE picture from a plethora of perspectives to start engaging in an effective dialogue to talk about racism, whiteness, and white privilege within the context of USA history. As a Professional "black person" and career scholar in the fusion of race, class, sexual orientation and gender in identity development, I come across much literature I may not philosophically agree with but know it's pertinent to my understanding of social injustices in the world. ayo's piece was a bit uncomfortable for me to read as well, but at the same time, in the depths of my soul I know that it's time for race/ethnic dialogues in USA to stop being "easy" and "comfortable" "touchy feel good conversations" and start becoming more "Challenging", "Critical consciousness inducing," and "multi-facted". Instead of feeling attacked and thinking it's about "you", truly engage in why you're feeling attacked and consider the possbility that even you, "a liberal", could actually be engaging in hurtful practices without even knowing it because that's how DEEP institutionalized prejudices work. Throwing ayo's book away is only an effectively unfortunate way to continute to SILENCE marginalized voices in the Black community that don't fit the "liberals" view of mainstream race relations in America. Read Zora Neale Hurston's autobiography, the exact extreme opposite of ayo's views about race in America and you'll find that at the time of her career, she was not acceptable or fashionable with what was expected of the Black Writer by the "liberal" blacks and whites.

How to Rent a Negro is funny, it's true, but it's also discomforting, powerful, sharp, intuitive and unique in it's honesty about race relations in America. When you see through the dark humor (which inevitably you will), you'll catch yourself remembering times when you have been in situations ayo illustrates, and you will suddenly learn where your intentions lie. What damali ayo effectively does in How to Rent a Negro is she intelligently and integrally takes a look at all the ways in which we persist in practicing a form of social predjudice and in so doing forces us to look at our actions and hopefully instigate change. A rare and fantastic and necessary book. And a great pleasure to read!

I saw Damali Ayo talk about her book on cable tv last night and decided I had to read it. The fact that it elicits such extreme responses shows that it touches a nerve in those who may see themselves in these little spoofs. This is a tongue in cheek look at the very real, serious and persist problem of racism.

Sadly I have rented my share of people.
In my desparate attempt to feel their pain, understand their plight, and relate to their day to day goings ons, I have in turn done a great deal of the things in this book.

It is fun to laugh at oneself and still learn from it.
A slap in my face and a healthy knock from my hypersensitive liberal high horse.

Oh and to the self titled liberal, below who was finding the author's anger.. I sure hope in your rage induced disposal of her book that later you fished it out and recycled it!

Funniest and most helpful book I've read on black-white racial interactions in the USA.....Must reading for all Americans. Could well be the "Little Black Book" that finally starts the honest dialog black and white Americans must begin in order to make us all whole again.

BP

Provocative and searing, perfect. If you don't like the book, even better, ayo has you right where we all should be. Thinking about Race and Racism in your everyday life.

Read this book and when you've read a paragraph or every chapter and checklist, take a moment to feel what it makes you feel. Anger, disappointment, disgust, laughter, revenge, and frustration, or none of the above. That's where you are, that's where we are as a nation and society. The feeling you walk away with when you read this book is yours.

Sadly, we all own the knowledge that no matter how you spin it, Race is still part of our society, and it will continue to be. ayo shapes it in a way that repackages it, reformats it in the language of Wall Street and sleazy car dealerships for the regular entrepreneur. This is Race and Racism translated into the language of the Small Business Administration and prepackaged propaganda news reels and self help books overstocked in your local conglomerated mammoth book outlet.

If you have 5 minutes for this book or a life time, How to Rent a Negro reminds us that Racism hurts. Racism is here; reverse, upside down and inside out.

ayo doesn't work to corner the market on "renting" out her race(s), whether your Jewish, Irish, Asian, Mayan, African, or if you landed on Plymouth Rock, or if Plymouth Rock landed on your grandfather, she is representing a reality in which all our experiences are lost in a cultural marketplace where Racial transactions occur in a social hierarchy. Will money, cultural status, and lust for the "other" always be our definition in our relationships? As she points out, it is what sells, so why not sell it for real capital?

In response to the Washington Post's Jabari Asim, bravo for covering the book and at the same time, "move the needle off the skipping record for a second my brother." The premise of Mr. Asim's views are based on the idea that only other
Men's thoughts are good and "intelligent" and not one mention of a woman's point of view or lasting contribution to the dialogue. I for one think Ms. ayo's contribution is a substantial one.

ayo by example of all her responses on the website, book purchases, national television interviews, and in the vast national and international (Canada) tour, has reached into places that McGruder and Chapell could only hope to go. Maybe the reason men like McGruder and Chapell "mine the same territory with more consistent results" is because they don't just come out and say what ayo has said. It doesn't make business sense to go for the throat like she does. You won't last long in the spot light that way.

I am sure if she wanted to make money from it and "mine it" consistently, she could have lasted longer than any of them by sitting back and letting racism just go on by with a laugh all the way to the bank.

In ayo's national book tour, people interacted, talked, hugged, laughed, cried, squirmed and searched out the issue of race together in the same small bookstores and city streets, once in a while people actually got upset in public about it. That is moving this society forward. We are talking, we are progressing, and that does a lot more than running off to South Africa on a publicity stunt to promote the next season of a show like Dave Chapelle did.

ayo is not guilty of missing the mark; she is only guilty of hitting it dead on and if you don't like it, then you just might have found the darkness in the light.

"How to Rent a Negro" is a fantastic book that makes us think about the strange behavior of confused and uninformed white people. This is a book for smart, educated people. The "average Joe" just won't get it. As a 37- year old black female, the book rings true to my racial experiences in this country. How many times can a white person ask me about my hair, skin color and what it is like to be with a black man. How many times has a white person told me with amazement that I am polite, pretty, articulate and well traveled. Why are they so shocked that I have these qualities. "How to Rent a Negro" brings to light these racial issues and questions. Read it and start thinking about how you can make some extra money as a beautiful black person.

Unlike the Washington Post's review, which concluded that the book's "joke" "wore thin after awhile", I think ayo's tome is replete with the mark of effective comedy: it is and isn't funny. In fact, it is as accurate as a sharpshooter's prowess with a gun.
This needs to be read and (again,like masterful humor) seriously
considered. By everyone.

I absolutely loved "How to..." As a certified Professional Black Person with over 30 years experience in the field I found myself in stitches reading this book. Having natural hair and diminutive features, I too have experienced people wanting to touch my hair, suggesting I must be "mixed with something because you don't look Black," or that I sound "white" and am surprisingly articulate. I found the way Ms. (Mrs.?) Ayo broke down the Invoice is a gem! I'm already calculating how many people I should be sending past due invoices to! :-) The only thing I wish she'd touched on a bit more was the issue of Black sexuality and and the stereotypical view of Black male size and Black female drive. I'm hoping there is another book already in the works... I've already called at least 5 of my friends and my parents and am recommending this book to all of my website visitors and personal friends as well.

This book makes you laugh, makes you want to cry, and makes you think. It goes way beyond the initial premise and is an in-depth examination of what it means to be African-American in the USA today. The photos are hilarious. When I read this book, I realized how many people, including myself, would see the truth behind the satire. Do we treat our colleagues and friends differently if they are a different race? How much has the country learned and grown since the days of slavery? Why does everyone feel the need to touch long dreadlocks? "How to Rent a Negro" is a book that can help us with these questions, all while laughing so hard we want to pee our pants.