Sure, I'll be your Black friend Notes from the other side of the fist bump

Ben Philippe

Book - 2021

In the biting, hilarious vein of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life comes Ben Philippe's candid memoir-in-essays, chronicling a lifetime of being the Black friend in predominantly white spaces. From cheating his way out of swim tests to discovering stray family members in unlikely places, he finds the punchline in the serious while acknowledging the blunt truths of existing as a Black man in today's world.

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Subjects
Genres
Autobiographies
Essays
Humor
Published
New York : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers [2021]
Language
English
Main Author
Ben Philippe (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xvi, 300 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-300).
ISBN
9780063026445
9780063065062
  • Sure, I'll be your Black tell-all writer
  • Ten things to know before befriending me, or "which Black guy are you getting?"
  • The first gift
  • Sure, I'll be your Black Canadian
  • Sure, I'll be your Black foreign kid
  • Sure, I'll be your anchor baby
  • Sure, I'll be your Black son
  • Sure, I'll be your Black boyfriend
  • How to go through life without drowning, part I
  • Sure, I guess I'll be your classic name-brand cookie
  • How to go through life without drowning, part II
  • Boomerangs come back
  • From another mother
  • I was promised ballplayers and rap stars, addicted to the limelight
  • Sure, I'll be your woke Black friend
  • Sherman Klump v. Buddy love
  • Ivory skin, eyes of something green
  • Sister, sister
  • Sure, I'll be your Black guy : emphasis on Guy
  • How to go through life without drowning, part III
  • Song of the South
  • Sure, I'll be your accessory to larceny
  • Sure, I'll be your one that got away
  • Black ghost goes "boo!"
  • Sure, I'll be your Black sidekick
  • Sure, I'll be your 2016 shithole rescapee
  • Smile through it
  • How to live strictly in common grounds
  • Sure, I'll be your Bl--RACE WARS!!!
  • One of the good ones
  • Conclusion. How to thrive in a Black body at any age
  • Lexicon to a Black experience narrative.
Review by Booklist Review

In a time when conversations surrounding race can feel tense, as though both parties are carefully working through highly sensitive feelings and concerns, writer and screenwriter Philippe has created a tongue-in-cheek, side-eye worthy contribution to documenting what it means to be a Black man in the U.S. This book is flat-out funny, and it is meant to be. Readers should feel free to laugh at all of it, even the sections in which it seems wrong to be amused, because Ben, your "Black friend," has given his permission. In this often-frank memoir-in-essays, Philippe chronicles his experiences growing up, learning, and working as the only Black person in predominantly white spaces. But he also uses his personal encounters to provide wisdom on subjects ranging from racial stereotypes to Beyoncé to the rise of the Karens. This is a great next-book for fans of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker (2019) and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life (2017), but if a reader hasn't yet turned to either of those, Philippe's disarming, illuminating, and hilarious chronicle is a great place to start.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

Philippe reflects on his role as "the Black friend" (the person white people turn to for insight into Black life), pop culture, and the immigrant experience.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.