We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. We

Left school. We

 

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

 

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

 

Jazz June. We   

Die soon.

 

“What’s cooler than being cool?” - Andre 3000

 

What does it mean to be cool? What does it mean to be you? They say the Black man is the coolest man on the planet. But how can we go from real cool to just real? What makes us enough? This episode we dive into a conversation on what's cool and Black manhood with Jason Rosario. We talk about about our "cool" heroes and interrogate if we still think they're cool or not.

 

This episode is heavily inspired by bell hook's book entitled, "we real cool" which shares the same name as the Gwendolyn Brooks poem. In "we real cool" bell suggests that real cool is...”defined by black males daring to self define rather than being defined by others.” Do you agree?

 

We also talk about how because of how Black men are positioned in media, is that level of coolness possible for all of us? Is cool available for just anyone? What does cool even mean? Tune in and then tell us what you think.

 

Watch this episode on our youtube channel: From We Real Cool to We Just Real | What Makes Us Enough as Black Men?

 

Do you have any questions for us? Did you learn something during today's episode? Did you change your mind about a particular topic?

 

Let us us know. Email us your questions/comments/feedback at [email protected] and we'll read and respond to your email on an upcoming episode.

 

Resources for you:

• we real cool - bell hooks
• Andre 3000 on being cool: “Even just the origin of the word hip-hop; first you have to be hip. The older you get, you get further away from the hipness.”
• Black People: Naturally Cool? - NPR
• Mental Health Resources for Black Men - Let's Talk Bruh
• Mental Health Tips Right now - Let's Talk Bruh
• Taking Action Following the Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade and more protests - Let's Talk Bruh

 

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