Essential black study by a young white sociologist/law student.
Feelings abound under the clear surface of Duneier's debut book as
he weighs his four years of research on a group of poor,
working-class blacks in the Valois "See Your Food" Cafeteria on
Chicago's South Side - with some whites included. Duneier explodes
stereotypes and shows these ghetto men as "respectable" while not
conforming to middle-class black (or white) stereotypes. Slim, a
car mechanic, is more or less the respected bachelor master of the
table where the diners meet once or twice a day for anywhere from
45 to 90 minutes a meal. We watch Slim as he substitutes an elderly
white diner, Bart, as his father figure and cares for him, although
Bart still has a southerner's belief in racial superiority and is a
tight-lipped recluse. Bart tells a southern visitor that Slim is
his friend, but when Bart is hospitalized he cannot bring himself
to thank Slim for some candy - he'd rather refuse the gift. The
diners form a moral community that transcends roles and images.
Duneier is good at building a sense of their masculinity as they
disclose personal weaknesses and fail to dominate women or even to
coexist with them. Ozzie, a regular, tells of having to give up
dating a woman who is too well known on the street, has five
children by five different men, likes reefers and coke, and seems a
sitting cluck for AIDS. The author shoots clown many otherwise
sensitive landmark black studies of the past half-century for
generalizing about working-class blacks, often from essentially
middle-class studies and unsatisfactory evidence, thus confirming
inaccurate black stereotypes. The media get bashed as well. Fresh
fieldwork on innocence and racial stereotyping in the ghetto.
Rewires your thinking. (Kirkus Reviews)
At the Valois "See Your Food" cafeteria on Chicago's South Side,
black and white men gather around formica tables finding
companionship over hot coffee and steam-table food. Mitchell
Duneier spent four years at Valois writing this moving profile of
the black men who congregate at "Slim's table". They take center
stage in stories that illuminate a new image of black masculinity
and respectability. Duneier introduces us to Slim, a car mechanic
living in the ghetto, who shows his concern for Bart, a prejudiced
white senior citizen. In this story of black masculinity and the
possibilities of racial integration, Slim treats Bart with care and
affection, which moves the old man to the limits of his own
potential for tolerance and respect. We meet at Valois a group of
men who are firm, resolute, sincere, and sensitive. There is Ted,
retired from the army and working in a photo lab, whose
pronouncements about American society and politics illustrate the
standard of respectability in black America. And Jackson, a
semi-retired crane operator and longshoreman who lives in a
ramshackle apartment without a telephone. In his old age, he
struggles lifting boxes at the docks to pay off overwhelming
medical bills. Slim's Table helps demolish the narrow sociological
picture of black men and the simple, media-reinforced stereotypes
which restrict blacks to one of two groups - the ghetto underclass
and the so-called middle-class role models. In between is a
"respectable" citizenry, too often ignored and little understood.
Duneier demonstrates that a proper understanding of the men at
Slim's table calls into question fundamental assumptions that have
long dominated discussions of urban poverty. This leadshim to
fashion a new way of looking at role models and at the exodus of
the black middle class from the inner city. In a pioneering,
revisionist analysis of many classic works in black studies, he
also argues that some of the most "enlightened" books ultimately
confirm the basest stereotypes. We see the men at Slim's table
living with pride and principle, respect for age and wisdom, and
devotion to civility. They are a model, not only for other blacks,
but for middle-class white manhood as well. They act and speak
candidly in an impassioned book that has the power to change the
way we talk to and think about one another, across the racial
divide.
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