Dreams from My Father: Authenticity

Reginald Askew

CMLT 2600: Rothacker

Dreams From My Father: Authenticity

In Dreams From My Father the theme of racial authenticity is present in many instances. The first occurrence worth noting happens in the Origins section of the book. At this point in time young Barack Obama is searching for his identity, specifically his black identity that neither his mom nor his grandfather could help him with. A high school aged Barry befriends Ray, one of the only other black kids on the island. Ray is from Los Angeles, listens to rap music, and plays basketball; all qualities a young Barry values as authentically black. As a product of this perceived value, Barry begins to explore and question Ray's philosophy on being black.

Ray's brand of blackness has a particular edge to it; brash, unapologetic, reminiscent of an uneducated juvenile Malcolm X. Barry explores this mentality as he leaves a party, "I had begun to see a new map of the world, one that was frightening in its simplicity, suffocating in its implications. We were always playing on the white man's court, Ray had told me, by the white man's rules. (36)" This dead ended thought process leaves Barry searching for answers in black literature but they all too eventually fall victim to this self-defeat, except for Malcolm X. Malcolm's ideas of transformation gave Barry some hope of future reconciliation, even if he still felt it impractical. One day at the basketball courts Barry brings these ideas up in a forum to mostly positive responses. He then questions Ray about his opinion and knowledge on the subject to Ray's dismay. Ray responds by lashing out at Barry, proclaiming, "I don't need no book to tell me how to be black.(37)" The same brash, know it all mindset that Ray believes protects him in this white man's world is the same hard headedness that keeps him trapped, not allowing Ray to escape or advance his own mindset. Realizing this, Barry becomes frustrated with his search for authenticity and stops caring, turning to drugs and alcohol to fill the void.

Barry does resume his search though, most notably when he is at Occidental College in Los Angeles, ironically Ray's hometown. Here, Barry meets a cast of black peers who shake up his idea of authenticity: Joyce, Marcus, Tim, and Regina. Joyce fails to be authentic in Barry's eyes because she choses to distance herself from the trials and tribulations of the black community by denouncing herself as "multiracial". She says that she feels suffocated by the pressures of her black peers to choose sides, the black side, to display her loyalty to the struggle. Joyce wanted no part of this and so she was labeled a sellout by Barry and others who believed, in Barry' words, that, "It remained necessary to prove which side you were