"Bitch Is the New Black"
A Memoir
by Helena Andrews
Harper Books
Hardcover, $24.99
244 pages
ISBN: 978-0-06-177882-7

“I’m such a badass. I am literally the baddest bitch on the planet. If there was a bitch contest between me and every other heartbroken, hissing, red-eyed, puffy-faced woman in the world, I would defeat every last one of them--handily… I’m a bitch, but I swear I don’t want to be. Really, I think I have to be.”
-- Excerpted from Chapter One (pg. 4)

Normally, I’d say it takes a lot of nerve to publish your memoirs before you even turn 30, but in the case of Helena Andrews I have to concede that it turns out to be totally warranted. For this fiery young sister not only already has a lot of life experiences under her belt, literally and figuratively, but has cultivated a wealth of wisdom to share well beyond her years. And, perhaps most importantly, she has a most beguiling way with words which keep you intrigued with what’s coming out of her mouth next in this shockingly-frank autobiography.

“Since the dawn of the hip-hop era in the 1970s, Black people have become increasingly freer and freer as individuals, with a wider range of possibilities spread out before us now than at any time in our past. Yet the circumstances of our collective life have degenerated in direct contrast to this fact, with a more impoverished vision of what it means to be Black today than ever before. If these exciting new circumstances we now find ourselves in, of which our president is the apotheosis, are to mean anything of lasting value, the zeitgeist… is going to have to change, too—permanently…

Will we, at long last, allow ourselves to abandon the instinct to self-sabotage and the narcissistic glorification of our own failure? Will the fact of daily exposure to a Black president in turn expose once and for all the lie that is and always has been keeping it real?
-- Excerpted from the Epilogue (pgs. 213-214i)

“I’ve tried to … penetrate the myth in order to answer the eternal question: What’s she really like? In the process, I found a remarkable woman, hugely complicated and contradictory. Sometimes generous, magnanimous, and deeply caring. Sometimes petty, small-minded, and self-centered.

She has done an extraordinary amount of good and also backed products and ideas that are not only controversial but considered by many to be harmful. There is a warm side to Oprah and a side that can only be called as cold as ice.” -Excerpted from the Foreword (pg. xiv)

It was recently suggested that I was anti-Semitic by a highly-respected, Jewish intellectual who disagreed with my review of a documentary about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Since the allegations were totally unfounded, I contacted my accuser who nonetheless refused to retract his remarks. Both embarrassed and hurt, I ended up frustrated by the fact that I had nowhere to turn to get my reputation back.

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” – President Barack Obama
”Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
-- Inspirational quotes in Bible for Blacks kids

Given that this is the Easter Season, Christian parents might like to check out this new Bible specifically designed with Black children in mind. This edition of the Good Book is basically the complete King James Version, but augmented by Cheryl and Wade Hudson to make it more appealing to African-American youngsters and teenagers.

For instance, Adam and Eve are brown-skinned in the illustrations. This only makes sense since the oldest human fossils unearthed by archeologists were found in Africa. Another bright-colored drawing features what appears to be Harriet Tubman leading a few fugitive slaves to safety via the Underground Railroad. A hint that it’s Harriet is that her skirt is fashioned out of a Canadian flag, and Canada was the final station on her perilous trek along the freedom trail.