Skin deep

My skin is brown, the color of almonds (I did a side-by-side.) Every day, from morning to evening, that is how the world sees me. There is no doubt of my race, I can effortlessly check the Black box. In Danzy Senna’s must-listen audiobook, Colored Television, by the time you finish you will understand just about everything you need to know about mulattos. That’s what people who have a white parent and a Black parent are called, a word that in some circles is controversial. Mulattos often have to announce themselves, or as Senna, a mulatto, once said in an interview, she’s had to become comfortable making people uncomfortable because they don’t see her Blackness. In Colored Television, Senna exposes, explores, tickles, and excites the listener with life, through Jane, a mulatto writer’s eyes. She’s just completed a major book on race. Jane’s husband, Lenny, refers to it as the “mulatto War and Peace.” It’s a hard sell. Rejection sends her to Hollywood, where she’s considered and respected by one producer as a “real writer.” Senna is a great writer. She seasons the story generously with laughter, clever word plays, and cold hard facts that don’t seem so bad when the writing is so good. Kristen Ariza narrates effortlessly as if she wrote the book. What it is, I think, is that she got the message. — Yvonne D., Audible Editor