Review: 'How far have we really come...real or fake...love or hate...'
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 7, 2012
Aenas Mays wakes up to news that Hip Hop has been banned and is subject to punishment equivalent to the selling of drugs.  Stunned and in disbelief, he calls his son, Naashon, and they converse on this matter.  Aenas is a young black man that has changed his lifestyle to ensure his presence in his son's life and defies statistics as he attends college.  The day spirals out of control as the adage, driving while black becomes ludicrous as people watch living while black is dangerou , lethal and deadly.  African Americans find themselves encaged like animals if not murdered for no reason other than their lives are considered nothing.Ricky Teems II has spun a very disturbing tale filled with outrageous, ridiculous, and downright disrespectful scenarios.  This novel challenges your perception of present day race relationships versus prejudices endured in the past.  I found it to be unrealistic with just a bit too much of truth riddled with each unfolding scene.  It spurs anger, disgust, bitterness, and revelation to what some may not recognize but more of us do recognize as reality to a certain degree.  We've come so far yet we have so much further to go...and it matters not what people think of us but what we think of ourselves.  I truly believe he was trying to portray a painful picture of how much we take for granted, how African Americans are our very own worst enemies, how the other races relish the thoughts that they are and will always be better than AA...truth or fiction...that is indeed the question. I struggled to complete this read, it took me places that I pray that we as a people never have to see.  Because it will be alot of dead people...friends or foes...dead or alive...genuine or phony.... 3.78