I Take My Coffee Black

Tyler Merritt's video "Before You Call the Cops" has been viewed more than 60 million times. The viral video's main point--the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person--is the springboard for this book. By sharing his highs and exposing his lows, Tyler welcomes us into his world, allowing us to get to know him and helping bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day. In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a black man in America. He talks about his multi-cultural childhood in Las Vegas that didn't necessarily prepare him for life in the South, his passion for rap music and musical theater, how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) and the shocking events that occurred after his video went viral that no one has heard. Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping, and why you don't cross black mamas, teaching readers about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today. By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black not only paints a portrait of one man's experience of being Black in America, but also expresses the valuable connections we miss when we do not take the time to learn about others' lives and experiences. This book enlightens, illuminates, and entertains--ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society.

In the wake of his deeply powerful viral videos ("Before You Call the Cops" and "Walking While Black"), Tyler Merritt shares his experiences as a black man in America with truth, humor, and poignancy. Tyler Merritt's video "Before You Call the Cops" has been viewed millions of times. He's appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and Sports Illustrated and has been profiled in the New York Times. The viral video's main point—the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person—is the springboard for this book. By sharing his highs and exposing his lows, Tyler welcomes us into his world in order to help bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day. In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a black man in America. He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural community and realizing that he wasn't always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that's where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn't). Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping and why you don't cross black mamas. He teaches readers about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today. By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black paints a portrait of black manhood in America and enlightens, illuminates, and entertains—ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society.

“A funny, fresh novel about growing up African-American in 1960s Chicago” by an author who “writes like Terry McMillan’s kid sister” (Entertainment Weekly). In this hilarious and insightful coming-of-age novel, author April Sinclair introduces the charming Jean “Stevie” Stevenson, a young woman raised on Chicago’s South Side during an era of irrevocable social upheaval. Curious and witty, bold but naïve, Stevie grows up debating the qualities of good hair and dark skin. As the years pass, her family and neighborhood are changed by the times, from the War on Poverty to race riots and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., from “Black Is Beautiful” to Black Power. Against this remarkable backdrop, Stevie makes the sometimes harrowing, often comic, always enthralling transformation into a young adult—socially aware, discovering her sexuality, and proud of her identity. “Whether she’s dealing with a subject as monumental as the civil rights movement or as intimate as Stevie’s first sexual encounters,” writes the Los Angeles Times, “Sinclair never fails to make you laugh and never sacrifices the narrative to make a point.” Winner of the Carl Sandburg Award from the Friends of the Chicago Public Library and named a best book of the year in young adult fiction by the American Library Association, Coffee Will Make You Black is an exquisite portrait of adolescence that will resonate with readers of all ages.

From Eric Jerome Dickey comes the New York Times bestselling book that stirred up controversy with its bold portrayal of racial identity and subtle understanding of sexual intimacy. Jordan Greene is in culture shock when he arrives in Manhattan from his Tennessee hometown. Still, he manages to keep the pace and stay in the race, with a Wall Street job, a Queens apartment, and a very sexy girlfriend named J'nette. But when Jordan meets Kimberly Chavers, what starts as a shared cab ride turns into something more. This girl is funny, fiesty, fine...and white. And for a man with Malcolm X's picture hanging on his office wall, that's a definite problem.... This brightly entertaining and emotionally complex novel demonstrates why Eric Jerome Dickey was “one of the most successful Black authors of the last quarter-century” (The New York Times).

'If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light, If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you.' Henry Rollins, renowned spoken-word performer, musician, actor and author of several books, has a unique, hard-edged view of the world. This collection of writings from 1989 - 1991 is the classic Rollins book. From dramatic fiction shorts detailing stark, disturbing realities to gut-wrenching tour journals destroying all misconceptions of the glamour of fame and the music industry; from the challenging poetry to revealing dream sequences, Rollins' writing is unflinching in its honesty, uncompromising in its truth and irresistibly addictive.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The unapologetic, laugh-your-ass-off military memoir both vets and civilians have been waiting for, from a five-tour Army Ranger turned YouTube phenomenon and zealous advocate for veterans Members of the military’s special operations branches share a closely guarded secret: They love their jobs. They relish the opportunity to fight. They are thankful for it, even, and hopeful that maybe, possibly, they’ll also get to kill a bunch of bad guys while they’re at it. You don’t necessarily need to thank them for their service—the pleasure is all theirs. In this hilarious and personal memoir, readers ride shotgun alongside former Army Ranger and private military contractor and current social media phenomenon Mat Best, into the action and its aftermath, both abroad and at home. From surviving a skin infection in the swampy armpit of America (aka Columbus, Georgia) to kicking down doors on the outskirts of Ramadi, from blowing up a truck full of enemy combatants to witnessing the effects of a suicide bombing right in front of your face, Thank You for My Service gives readers who love America and love the good guys fresh insight into what it’s really like inside the minds of the men and women on the front lines. It’s also a sobering yet steadying glimpse at life for veterans after the fighting stops, when the enemy becomes self-doubt or despair and you begin to wonder why anyone should be thanking you for anything, least of all your service. How do you keep going when something you love turns you into somebody you hate? For veterans and their friends and families, Thank You for My Service will offer comfort, in the form of a million laughs, and counsel, as a blueprint for what to do after the war ends and the real fight begins. And for civilians, this is the insider account of military life you won’t find anywhere else, told with equal amounts of heart and balls. It’s Deadpool meets Captain America, except one went to business school and one went to therapy, and it’s anyone’s guess which is which.

A coffee table book that catalogs the research of Howard Conyers, PhD through visual imagery of investigating the contributions of blacks in barbecue from 2013 to 2020. There are several essays that explains various perspectives of barbecue culture.

The weight of the words "I love you" to "I can't be with you". Loving someone that just doesn't love you the way you think you should be. Wanting someone that's with someone else. Hurt and pain consequences. You may need to mix and sip this book slow, either with black coffee or tan tequila, to cope with the poetic situations written here or even your own love life experiences.