Y Wanna Holler the Funny Words
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To pick one favorite scene in this book would be impossible. My book is littered with post-its on at least one in every ten pages. I read about the unfair treatment that the whites inflicted upon the African Americans, and the suppressed anger that the blacks held in return, in fear that they would lose their jobs. His concise yet detailed descriptions of his neighborhood and friends painted a clear picture in my head, making the reading process smooth and unquestionable. A reserved Asian teenager oblivious to the extent of the racial discrimination in America, I found myself reading and re-reading passages that revealed the inner-thoughts of an African American who endured the unthinkable adversities at a young age.
In one particular scene in the book, Nathan McCall describes the importance of respect in his culture. In an ordinary white American community, respect is often gained through one's social status. In Nathan's community, respect is gained by publicly beating up a rival gang member, or in other words, by fear. Nathan explains why respect is such a big issue in his culture: the humiliation that African Americans faced from the whites dug a hole so deep into their souls that any sliver of self-respect is to be highly valued. In other words, the African American's desire to prove their potential to both the whites and fellow blacks continually occupies their minds, causing them to act the way they do. As an example, Nathan recounts his memory of a high school dropout, Scobie-D, a highly-respected but crazed man who often acted on impulse, killing for no apparent reason. By beating up an innocent student in the school cafeteria, Scobie-D gained the respect of the many bystanders who witnessed the incident.
This explanation to why African Americans are usually perceived as trouble makers soon became clear to me. The previous notion of African Americans as a less-civilized group dissipated, and I was left with the realization that it is not by choice that they are stereotyped as ruffians and gangsters, but the pressure to be respected by his peers and whites. Their limited opportunities and racial discrimination restricted many blacks from becoming successful. Especially the racial discrimination. Without the presence of the judgmental whites, African Americans could have been able to work freely towards a better future.
Ultimately, the story of Nathan McCall's life is a story of the African Americans struggling with racial discrimination, suppressing their bitterness towards the white people, and emerging from the violent past into a world of success. It all adds up to a tale of understanding the adversities in which they face, problems that are usually observed from the perspective of the discriminators--the whites. Makes Me Wanna Holler tells that story very well, shedding light to not only the lives of these African American families whose voices were swallowed under the preset racial remarks, but also to the ignorance that most of America has.
I would definitely recommend this book to everyone, especially to those who have never experienced racism to a high degree. Makes Me Wanna Holler opened up my eyes to the adversities that the modern-day African Americans face, helping me to understand the intentions of the horrifying crimes they commit. Following McCall's life from the 'hood to the prison yard and seeing him discover the light outside the seemingly endless cycle of gang-related activities and prison, I cheered him on in his successes and mourned over the losses of his friends and innocence. When he emerged from prison as a changed man, I empathized with his feelings of confusion and self-worth. Brilliantly written, capturing the emotions and trials of young African Americans in the mid-1900s, Makes Me Wanna Holler is a book for both the discriminators and judged alike, and is guaranteed to leave the reader seeing life with a different perspective.
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It really seems young black man hasn't really changed since the 1960's. Just like in the old days young black men have friends, go through lust, have family problems, and even feel separated. One thing that really hasn't changed since the sixties is peer pressure. In the book Nathan McCall talks about how he was pressured to do things, training a girl being one time. While training the girl he felt bad, "I placed myself into her wetness, pretending to grind hard. After a few miserable minutes I got up and signed for the next man to take his turn... I felt sorry for Vanessa". Peer pressure is a pain in the "Ass" when it comes to a teenagers life.
The novel really settles in with the topic of separation. McCall writes about how him and his stepfather had to work for whites who looked down at them. "Every now and then, I looked up and waited for them to acknowledge my stepfather's presence in the way my parents had taught my brothers and me to speak to grown-ups when entering their company. But the boys never said a word. They didn't even look his way. they kept on bouncing the ball and ran around us as if we were trees, shrubs, or some other inanimate part of the scenery". He includes the reader on how he felt about living n a neighborhood designated for middle-class African Americans. "For as long as i can remember, it seems that there was no aspect of my family's reality that wasn't affected by whites, right down to the creation of he neighborhood I grew up in".
With all the training and separation, there's no way McCall could think that could be any more problems, but there was. McCall gets into a couple fights in the white school he goes to. "Hey, nigger", the boy said, "You dropped something". "The word sounded vile coming from his White mouth. When i regained my footing, I tore into that cat and tried to take his head off". In the book he explains what the problem is about whites in an all African American neighborhood. "What's that motherfucka doin' ridin' through here?! It was automatic. We all took off after him... everytime i drove my foot into his balls, i felt better". In every chapter McCall seems to take into bigger and badder problems.
I really hope that you will trust me when i say, "This is one of the best novels, you will ever read." By reading this book a young black man will feel a major connection to the author. It seems as if Nathan McCall is sitting right next to the reader having a conversation. They can read about the sex, separation, and other problems that Nathan McCall faced in the 60's. Showing how the problems facing McCall in the 60's are the same problems from facing young black men of today. Why wouldn't you recommend this book to everyone you passed going down the streets? No, reason? So go get this book!!!
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McCall tells the tales of his on iniquity in a detached, often dispassionate voice, as though reminiscing about a past life. McCall returned to the streets after a year as a lackluster student at the local state college, and soon fund himself serving a three year term fr violent crimes.
One of the aspects of this book I DO like is that religious and political conversion ultimately ere not the solution for McCall; he has had to find his ay n his own, though he absorbed himself in both Christianity and Islam at various points. and certainly encountered Black revolutionary thought in and out of prison.
Reading this book, I can't decide whether I really like Nathan McCall or not. I admire his ability to engage with his inner demons and to confront his past, and then his problems with the women in his adult life, including those he marries, and his retrospective view of his violent past seem flat and too unemotional. His genuine love for his children is the most redeeming trait displayed in this book. And his easy humor and facile descriptions of trying to make his ay s a first-generation African American professional can be absorbing and an easy read. McCall is uneven as a writer; there is a big difference between skill at maintaining tone and perspective as a journalist writing news and feature articles, and keeping that consistent tone in a book-length memoir. McCall leaves many unanswered questions, and I find I want to be part of an intelligent thoughtful. mixed-ethnicity discussion group about how Makes Me Wanna Holler affects its readers.
I have to say, graphic depictions of rape and physical abuse aside, this is one of my favourite books. Here's why: Very few books deal with the mentality of ex-con African-American men and how they wind up in prison to begin with. Nathan McCall is as honest as he can be about his feelings
This book was originally a gift to my mother from a friend of hers back in 1996. My mother didn't like it, but being the precocious ten year old I was, I managed to sneak and read this book from cover to cover.I have to say, graphic depictions of rape and physical abuse aside, this is one of my favourite books. Here's why: Very few books deal with the mentality of ex-con African-American men and how they wind up in prison to begin with. Nathan McCall is as honest as he can be about his feelings of why he did the things that he did, and he also shows regret many times throughout the novel. Also, as a young girl who got some attention from boys my age, and a little older, this was a cautionary tale for me about dealing with men in general. This book definitely gave me a step up on some of my peers who were already getting into some precarious situations at that time. I would recommend this book to teenagers and adults. This is a must read.
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McCall doesn't offer any easy fix or prescription which w
Nathan McCall's Makes Me Wanna Holler was one of the first contemporary accounts of Black America that I read as a young adult. Re-reading it now in my forties, it's even more powerful. McCall describes so much that is in the headlines today, including questions about the worth of black lives in America. His personal transformation -- from a kid in prison for armed robbery to a senior reporter with the Washington Post -- is inspirational.McCall doesn't offer any easy fix or prescription which will fix race relations in America, nor does he offer a prognosis for the fate of young black men in America. What he does do is give an incredibly open and honest account from the heart. And the first step for all of us is to understand. To listen. To think outside the box, to hear what others have to say.
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I will need to edit this review later for a more thorough and comprehensive account.
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I laughed, I cried - mostly I just shook my head and rolled my eyes.
I think everyone should read this book. it doesn't matter what race you are or what gender you are, i think you should read it.
This is one man's story of growing up as a black man in a mostly violent and seemingly relentlessly prejudiced world. I had a hard time reading it, though i'm glad i made it through until the end.
I hated mr. mccall in the very beginning of the book. I don't know if there is another way i coul
This is a mini-review I wrote of this book immediately after reading it in 1996:I think everyone should read this book. it doesn't matter what race you are or what gender you are, i think you should read it.
This is one man's story of growing up as a black man in a mostly violent and seemingly relentlessly prejudiced world. I had a hard time reading it, though i'm glad i made it through until the end.
I hated mr. mccall in the very beginning of the book. I don't know if there is another way i could have felt after some of the things I read (the gang rape of the pre-teen girl was especially painful to read). He chronicles it all, honestly and brutally, with his journalist's temperament, which sometimes, was very frustrating to me, because i wanted to see the tears in the watcher's eyes and hear the agony in the narrative voice when he reported some of the horrific circumstances and events in his life and the lives of others.
The reason I am glad that I made it through the book is because Mr. McCall gave me hope. He changed from what he was into a man of pride and honor by looking deep within himself and his culture and taking action to improve upon it. In reading, I learned more about racism, and how some of it's subtle components are it most deadly. I also learned a lot about my own inner struggle as a woman in a male dominated society, and raised with a patriarchal religion.
This book is the story of achievement against all odds and obstacles, and I think it is inspiring and I can't recommend it highly enough to everyone, especially parents, as it is an especially poignant warning against the often fatal danger that children can encounter and be destroyed by so very easily.
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powerful quote:
"The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He does not wish to Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He wouldn't blea
Note: Still a deep and remarkably potent read today with racism being so overt with a new president who does nothing to help the situationpowerful quote:
"The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He does not wish to Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He wouldn't bleach his Negro blood in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face." - Nathan McCall's Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America
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Growing up in an all black neighborhood, he lived a life he could imitate: a rough strutting, stealing,
raping thug: and eventually,a man-child imprisoned for armed robbery.
Amazingly, after prison, he builds a new life as a successful journalist for both the Atlanta constitution and the Washington post.
A previous book about a y This autobiography is difficult to summarize as his story is both dated (written in 1994) yet very contemporary regarding the issues he shares and the blame he distributes.
Growing up in an all black neighborhood, he lived a life he could imitate: a rough strutting, stealing,
raping thug: and eventually,a man-child imprisoned for armed robbery.
Amazingly, after prison, he builds a new life as a successful journalist for both the Atlanta constitution and the Washington post.
A previous book about a young black man growing up in a predominantly black neighborhood, THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PENCE had some things in common, but more that was unique.
In short, race based bios are bases on more then singular race. McCall grew up in the 70s and 80s. Pence 30 yrs.
later Different times. McCall constantly being put down by the white man is never far below the surface and and by some measure understandable.
But.........
The internalized black culture of the hood: it's violence,gang rapes; it's dissing other blacks who are either doing better or want to be better educated while idolizing the worst most violent among them (crazy nigger) cannot be solely laid on the doorstep of the 'man'.
McCall as a young man embraced the street cred
he built by imitation and for a period thrived on his
thuggery.
To "Henry Gates Jr. a professor at Howard University,"the book grabs you by the collar and doesn't loosen its grip". And I would add it disgusts as well as it enlightens Makes me want to holler as well.
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I read this book during a tough time in my life (14 years old in a youth detention center). It helped me reshape my thinking about the things I was doing, realize I wasn't alone in the ways I was thinking or being treated, and gave me a greater understanding for some of the social issues that I wasn'
Not so much I can say without adding spoilers. Excellent read. Going from Loving books, to hating them for the boring books school dictated I read, this one was powerful. I read straight through it.I read this book during a tough time in my life (14 years old in a youth detention center). It helped me reshape my thinking about the things I was doing, realize I wasn't alone in the ways I was thinking or being treated, and gave me a greater understanding for some of the social issues that I wasn't conscious of but was effected by. A gift from my uncle, there will never not be a copy of this on my bookshelf.
I would gift and recommend this book for anyone trying to understand some of the life struggles of a Black man in America, someone looking for a good story, or someone trying to figure their own life out and not be another stereotype or statistic.
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He gives readers matter-of-fact insight into the behavior, anger and dysfunction of his upbringing without being pretentious or preachy. One of the things I will always remember from this book was McCall's recollection of how he and his friends worked and stole from a department store in his neighborhood, eventually causing the store to go out of business. From his initial point of view as a kid, the thefts were partly fun and part
I wish I could make every black or hispanic young man read this.He gives readers matter-of-fact insight into the behavior, anger and dysfunction of his upbringing without being pretentious or preachy. One of the things I will always remember from this book was McCall's recollection of how he and his friends worked and stole from a department store in his neighborhood, eventually causing the store to go out of business. From his initial point of view as a kid, the thefts were partly fun and partly a way to get back at the establishment. However, as he gets older he comes to realize that the only people who were hurt by the closing were the ones doing the stealing.
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