Lexi Wants To Know #4: The Ballad of Black Tom (Patreon)

Hey! Welcome to the fourth Intelexual Media Book Club discussion board! During the busy holiday period of December and early-January, we read The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. Below I provide some of my commentary on the book.  Look out for the next book club vote for February in the coming days. For $5+ patrons, the video discussing this book more in depth will be out by January 31st. For $10+ patrons, the Intelexual Media Reading Enhancement Guide for this book will also be out by January 31st. 

Be sure to leave your own commentary below.

Commentary

For this book to be so short (149 pages), it sure does pack a hell of a punch. There were moments in this book that truly made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with fear. The major example I'm thinking of is when Tommy Tester arrives at Robert Suydam's mansion and feels an invisible presence following him, nearly kicking his guitar case from his grip twice (pg 42). It reminded me of that terrifying feeling I get from horror or thriller movies when a crowd of antagonists grabs at a characters feet as they ascend a ladder or squeeze through a small space, narrowly avoiding danger. 

There were also bits of text in The Ballad of Black Tom that made me snort, giggle, and double-back to the top of paragraphs to devour moments over again with delight. I'm talking of course about passages like the one on page 29, when Tommy inwardly expresses disappointment about how non-ratchet The Victoria Society was compared to his anti-black fantasy of it:

"Buckeye ran numbers for the most famous female gangster in New York City, so why wouldn't the Victoria Society be like those legendary opium dens? Or had Tommy simply assumed terrible things about this wave of West Indian immigrants? The American Negroes in Harlem got up to awul gossip about those newcomers. And now he'd come to find The Victoria Society might as well be a British tearoom. He felt slightly disappointed. He'd brought his father because he'd meant to show his dad a scandalous night. He'd heard women danced in nearly nothing, so close they practically sat in your lap..."

This paragraph brought to life an interesting reality of 1920s Harlem: the influx of black West Indians and resulting in a culture clash, along with stereotypes. That's the true beauty of this book- all the dynamite historical references were weaved in seamlessly to make a great story. And many were topics I've covered before in videos, essays, and threads, like:

• "He hustled to provide food an shelter and a little extra to lay on a number from time to time." (pg 9) -- JSYK: A Legacy of Black Hustles 
• "He walked to the train station as if he were on his way to play a rent party alongside Willie "The Lion" Smith." (pg 11)-- Fast History: Rent Parties 
• "Buckeye worked for Madame St. Clair, the numbers queen of Harlem." (Pg 16) -- A Thread on Madame St. Clair 

The book also incorporated the familiar theme of police brutality. It was on page 65 that I read one of the cruelest lines I've ever read. "I felt in danger for my life," Mr. Howard said. "I emptied my revolver. Then I reloaded and did it again." 

So, I Wanna Know...

A) In what ways does Tommy Tester use stereotypes about black men to survive in his dangerous surroundings? How did his thoughts and feelings about this survival method evolve during the course of the story? In particular, what do you think led him to say "Nobody here every called me a monster. So why'd I go running somewhere else to be treated like a dog?" on page 147?

B) Was Robert Suydam a villian? Depending on your answer, would you compare him positively or negatively to white liberals of today? 

 I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Grab your copy of this quick read: $10 on Amazon, $12 on GoodReads, Free Audiobook with $9/month Scrib'd Subscription