Black Identity

Negotiating contemporary Black identity is a central theme in the book. Issa foregrounds the experiences and concerns that have characterized her individual relation to being a black woman. She discusses her alienation from black culture as a child in a predominantly white Maryland suburb. But reflects that television from the 1990s, a golden age for the author, featured a rich representation of black life in America, making her feel connected in meaningful ways. This attention to the positive power of representation is what pushed her towards film and theatre. It is what leads her to feel deflated by the film, Precious, with its excessive representation of black poverty and plight.

Issa retells the shifts in her evolving consciousness of what it could mean for her to be black when discussing her family’s move to Los Angeles. In LA he attends a school in South Central and...