Rock me hard
Rock me hardIf Beale Street Could Talk follows the experiences of a young black couple in the late sixties or early seventies. Fonny and Tish grew up together on the same street and shared their lives. When Fonny is twenty-one and Tish eighteen, their friendship begins to mature into a loving relationship. As they explore their new love, they must also deal with an American society that is very cruel and unjust to blacks, especially black men. Police arrest Fonny for rape, on a night he has not left his apartment. Fonny is identified by the victim in the lineup, however he is the only black man in the lineup when the victim only knows her assailant was black. The rest of the book chronicles Tish’s experiences on the outside while Fonny suffers in jail, this includes the realization that she is pregnant. The book shifts from scenes of the past and present, as the reader comes to a better understanding of Tish’s life, her family, and her society. If Beale Street Could Talk exposes the harsh reality of racism in
American cities and what it takes to survive in those circumstances.
If Beale Street Could Talk addresses the very difficult subject of racism and it does so blatantly. There is no way to sugar coat the effects of racism. James Baldwin presents the truth of life for black Americans honestly. “I must say that I don’t think America is God’s gift to anybody- if it is, God’s days have got to be numbered. That God these people say they serve- and do serve, in ways that they don’t know- has got a very nasty sense of humor. Like you’d beat the shit out of Him, if He was a man. Or: if you were.” (p. 28) The language to describe racism is not pretty but neither is...
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