5 Books to Read instead of Watching 'Southern Fried Rice'

Our stories are being told just not televised

You’ve probably seen the dust-up by the Keke Palmer backed ‘Southern Fried Rice’ about an Asian girl who has been raised by Black people who attends an HBCU to further connect with her roots. Huh? Yeah, it’s a comedy. Now, I think there needs to be clarification on why so many people are upset. Some say it erases the real experience of Blasian (or Black and Asian) people and that would make more sense. Others see it as another vehicle to demonize and stereotype Black people for not being as accepting as we should be, while still others are upset because there hasn’t been a Hollywood backed screen portrayal of the HBCU experience since A Different World went off the air thirty years ago and now that there is, Black people aren’t the main character.

I fall into that last category. Stories about Black childhood, young adulthood and the college experience are so rare you can count them on one hand. And it is NOT because we aren’t writing these stories, it is that they are less likely to be published. We need stories that feature and celebrate Black kids as the main characters. We also need stories that feature Black kids in Black spaces, too too too often we are only allowed ‘fish out of water’ stories where part of the plot is the antagonism received by White people, well we have spaces where we’re safe and thriving and do not involve or center white racists at all. By focusing on that story alone we give those same white racists more attention than they deserve and I often wonder if publishing would rather a horrible white person on the page to relate to than no white person at all.

Anyway, here are a few stories about the Black college going experience that you should pick up.

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You’ve Got a Place Here Too

Love can be messy, painful, and heartbreaking, but it can also be revolutionary, profound, and hopeful. For Celine, a forbidden crush on a professor evolves into a second chance at romance years later. Myra’s focus on a coveted audition for the Fisk Jubilee Singers is challenged by the handsome music major determined to help her. Kiese investigates the darker side to academia, love, and identity. Like most blessings, love emerges in the most unexpected places—in a training cockpit for new pilots, during a Mardi Gras celebration, or while gathering signatures to start the first-ever LGBTQ+ student organization officially recognized at an HBCU.

These are just a few of the heart-searing, tender, and transporting love stories collected in You’ve Got a Place Here, Too—a true celebration of Black love and the profound impact of HBCUs on the community.

Featuring stories by Elizabeth Acevedo, Jasmine Bell, Carla Bruce, Aaron Foley, Kai Harris, Ebony LaDelle, Kiese Laymon, Christine Platt, Farrah Rochon, Kennedy Ryan, Dawnie Walton, and Nicola Yoon.

The Unfortunates

Sahara is Not Okay. Entering her sophomore year at Elite University, she feels like a failure: her body is too curvy, her love life is nonexistent, her family is disappointed in her, her grades are terrible, and, well, the few Black classmates she has just keep dying. Sahara is close to giving up, herself: her depression is, as she says, her only “Life Partner.”

And this narrative—taking the form of an irreverent, piercing “thesis” to the university committee that will judge her—is meant to be a final unfurling of her singular, unforgettable voice before her own inevitable disappearance and death. But over the course of this wild sophomore year, and supported by her eccentric community of BIPOC women, Sahara will eventually find hope, answers, and an unexpected redemption.

The Scammer

Out from under her overprotective parents, Jordyn is ready to kill it in prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington DC. When her new roommate’s brother is released from prison, the last thing Jordyn expects is to come home and find the ex-convict on their dorm room sofa. But Devonte needs a place to stay while he gets back on his feet—and how could she say no to one of her new best friends?

Devonte is older, as charming as he is intelligent, pushing every student he meets to make better choices about their young lives. But Jordyn senses something sinister beneath his friendly advice and growing group of followers. When one of Jordyn’s roommates goes missing, she must enlist the help of the university’s lone white student to uncover the mystery—or become trapped at the center of a web of lies more tangled than she can imagine.

Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman

Savannah Howard thought everyone followed the same checklist to get into Wooddale University:

• Take the hardest classes

• Get perfect grades

• Give up a social life to score a full ride to a top school

But now that she’s on campus, it’s clear there’s a different rule book. Take student body president, campus royalty, and racist jerk Lucas Cunningham. It’s no secret money bought his acceptance letter. And he’s not the only one. Savannah tries to keep to head down, but when the statue of the university’s first Black president is vandalized, how can she look away? Someone has to put a stop to the injustice. But will telling the truth about Wooddale’s racist past cost Savannah her own future?

Blood at the Root

A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical . Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut with the emotional power of Legendborn and the redefined ancestral magic of Lovecraft Country .

Ten years ago, Malik’s life changed forever the night his mother mysteriously vanished and he discovered he had uncontrollable powers. Since then, he has kept his abilities hidden, looking out for himself and his younger foster brother, Taye. Now, at 17, Malik is finally ready to start a new life for both of them, far from the trauma of his past. However, a daring act to rescue Taye reveals an unexpected connection with his long-lost a legendary conjurer with ties to a hidden magical university that Malik’s mother attended.

At Caiman University, Malik’s eyes are opened to a future he never could have envisioned for himself— one that includes the reappearance of his first love, Alexis. His search for answers about his heritage, his powers, and what really happened to his mother exposes the cracks in their magical community as it faces a reawakened evil dating back to the Haitian Revolution. Together with Alexis, Malik discovers a lot beneath the surface at feuding covens and magical politics, forbidden knowledge and buried mysteries.

In a wholly unique saga of family, history and community, Malik must embrace his legacy to save what’s left of his old family as well as his new one. Exploring the roots and secrets that connect us in an unforgettable contemporary setting, this heart-pounding fantasy series opener is a rich tapestry of atmosphere, intrigue, and emotion.

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All of the links support an indie bookstore via Bookshop.org. You can also download their app and still support indies as you buy ebooks.

And as always you can Buy Me a Coffee if this speaks to you.

Into Teen Time Travel? Romance. I wrote one that hits both here:

For All Time

A Parade Magazine Best Young Adult Book of 2021

“A romance for the ages…one perfect little novel.” —Stacey Lee, award-winning author of The Downstairs Girl

The Sun Is Also a Star meets Outlander in this “unforgettable and artfully crafted romance” (Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’) about two teens who relive their tragic love story over and over until they uncover what they must do to change their fate.

Tamar is a musician, a warrior, a survivor. Fayard? He’s a pioneer, a hustler, a hopeless romantic.

Together, Tamar and Fayard have lived a thousand lives, seen the world build itself up from nothing only to tear itself down again in civil war. They’ve even watched humanity take to the stars. But in each life one thing remains the same: their love and their fight to be together. One love story after another. Their only concern is they never get to see how their story ends. Until now.

When they finally discover what it will take to break the cycle, will they be able to make the sacrifice?