The Sellout

How does a white, late 50's, Australian come to read a satire on race relations in the USA, an area he has little knowledge about in said subject?

I had recently read the brilliant A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James and was telling “all and sundry” what a superb read it was. I could recall a fair bit of the heady days of Marley and the powerful political fallout in Jamaica back in the late 70's. I had got Exodus on release so was not in new territory subject wise. The writing and presentation was so powerful as to be mesmerising and I was hooked. But in conversation “all and sundry” began to tell me about this book by Paul Beatty called The Sellout. “All and sundry” finally became the final push to read The Sellout in the shape of a new dad at a suburban one year old's birthday party, you know the type of event, the mums all go gah gah at the kids and the dads talk about other things while their kids gorge themselves on cake. The “all and sundry” new dad, I am not a new dad by the way, just kept shaking his head about this book The Sellout. He had various ways of saying read it:- “you have to read it” “by the sound of it if you liked that Marley book you have to read this” “if you like satire you have to read this” “sounds like a little bit of humour in that Marley book but this is entirely satirical humour so you have to read it” “I did not understand a lot of the references but I got the gist to the point that you have to read it” and so on and so forth. And so I did.

About 70 pages in, I discovered a few things. As mentioned above I knew little of US race relations and a fair few of the references towards that thorny subject were beyond me. So with that I started afresh and while reading marked each not or little understood reference and referred back to them with an internet search after each chapter. With that all I can say is “what a journey”. The journey has been a slow read as the enormity of my lack of knowledge loomed large. I read each wiki (or other) link as I went on a weird and wonderful journey into both a political, cultural, and most of all, satirical look at the subject at hand. My copy says that one review said the “......longer I stared at the pages...” the smarter I would get. Nice! And with that new intelligence all I can say is what a book, what a hilarious learning curve it all was for this little white boy.

What more can I add? I mean there are more meaningful dissertations on The Sellout than the drivel I am writing but just maybe anyone from a non US background, who is white and sheltered from US race issues can use the links I used to assist them along in this riveting read. And my apologies for missing any. I put in what I did not know, know little about or just did not recall.

Enjoy.

Prologue
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys
Supreme court “Courtroom friezes: The South Wall Frieze includes figures of lawgivers from the ancient world and includes Menes, Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Lycurgus, Solon, Draco, Confucius, and Augustus.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi

The Shit You Shovel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget's_theory_of_cognitive_development
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v.Fergusonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Campbellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEChAhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Bloomhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromisehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Albert_experimenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effecthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovesehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwagon_effecthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enter_the_Wu-Tang(36Chambers)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_and_Mamie_Clarkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Horse_Whisperer(novel)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1107024.The_Planning_Of_Change
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Still_of_the_Night_(The_Five_Satins_song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash
http://blog.press.princeton.edu/2016/10/28/daniel-hack-the-sellout-and-a-tradition-of-black-anglophilia/
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=willie%20lump%20lump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student's_t-test
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Russell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gabriel_Mountains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaseolus_vulgaris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chia_Pet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Kangaroo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Brannum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjKtPau8HTk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataxia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia
Page 66. My best effort at translation of the following:-

yo soy el gran pinche mayate! julio cesar chavez es un puto

I think it means

“I am the great dung beetle servant. Julio Cesar Chavez is a fucker” See comment 20 below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Gang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Switzer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Thomas
ol' Remus http://www.woodpilereport.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darla_Hood
http://ourgang.wikia.com/wiki/He-Man_Woman-Haters_Club
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Ross_flag
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Chodorow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFnJa9Tlk0k
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9b%C3%A9's_Kids
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shonen_Knife
https://teikokublog.com/2014/05/14/traditional-handicraft-of-kyoto-kyo-ningyo/
Hambone? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juba_dance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_‘n'Andyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Chappellehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-dunn/dave-chappelle-hartford_b_3844742.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Slave_Revolt_of_1712https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Amistadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Strasberghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5150(involuntary_psychiatric_hold)
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0032774/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Best
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beulah_(series)
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/reference-entries/21225862/dissociative-reaction
libidinal dyslexia. https://www.appi.org/products/dsm-manual-of-mental-disorders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_Mountains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pharcyde
Postbellum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=doobage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotty_Beckett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulatto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Morrison
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Scully
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Guide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sure%C3%B1os

The Dum Dum Donut Intellectuals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8(2008)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_187https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash(1996film)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Eggers Exact Change, or Zen and the Art of Bus Riding and Relationship Repair.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Larochehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakkar_Noir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_Oil_Fieldhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiece(TV_series)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wake%20n%20bake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-N-Out_Burger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_Factory
http://florentinehollywood.com/
I Threes. Marleys back up singers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristy_McNichol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_Teaszer
I never knew Prince was called His Royal Badness before.
https://www.dennys.com/food/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Richter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hammons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Murray_(artist)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba_Music
I need to read Kafka as I never have.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphaloskepsis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Eisenstein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchotchke
and how to pronounce Tchotchke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd5iji93too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Reginald_Denny
I admit to never having heard of this book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38462.Giovanni_s_Room?ac=1&from_search=true
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni's_Room
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar_store_Indian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door
George Wallace was a sanga short of a picnic
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=get%20like%20me&defid=2627522
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_in_the_Box
In 1981, horse meat labelled as beef was discovered at a Foodmaker plant that supplied hamburger and taco meat to Jack in the Box. The meat was originally from Profreeze of Australia, and during their checks on location, the food inspectors discovered other shipments destined for the United States which included kangaroo meat.[23][24]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w8-lXBtJlk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Carrillo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra
http://asia.christianlouboutin.com/au_en/
The Color Of Burnt Toast. page 142. ?????
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ten_Commandments_(1956film)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalupe-Nipomo_Duneshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6llersheimhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varosha,_Famagustahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokor_Hill_Stationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouham-Pend%C3%A9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Bola%C3%B1oToo Many Mexicans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Real(California)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Califas
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/765172.Cane?ac=1&from_search=true
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fast_and_the_Furious
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charro!
http://www.themijachronicles.com/2010/12/how-to-make-ponche-the-traditional-mexican-christmas-punch/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iqvrNM58vg
101 muertes del jaripeo (The 101 deaths of jaripeo)
1,000 litros de sangre (a thousand litres of blood.)
si chingas el toro, te llevas los cuernos ( If you fuck the bull, you get the horns)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_Duds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_Sing
http://www.dict.cc/german-english/Fliegenschutz.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994Northridge_earthquakehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_the_canhttp://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/sensing_games/rl_gl.htmHorchata complexion. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=White%20Mexican&defid=4228583Page 165. Spanish translates to:- “Every day of my professional career I think the same thing. Of these two hundred and fifty children, how many will finish high school? Forty percent? Orale, and of that lucky hundred, how many will go to college? Online, junior, clown college, or whatever? About five, more or less. And how many will graduate? Two, maybe. What a pity. We're nuts.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93raleMy thanks to Antonomasia from https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18191001-2016-winner-the-sellout for that translation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Care_Bear_characters#Funshine_Bearhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry(folklore)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheezer ???
I see Paris I see France. ????
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10331.Ishmael_Reed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_United_States_Congress#Reconstruction_and_Redemption
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Earnhardt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Whitney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uno_(card_game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitlin%27CircuitApples and Oranges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Howard_Latimerhttp://www.sunnylevine.com/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_bird_dinnerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Universityhttps://www.google.com.au/#q=arschloch+in+english&*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conferencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8(beverage)
http://www.lowrider.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patek_Philippe_%26Co.http://www.ticker.com/МОИ ТРУСИКИ МОКЫЕ (Translates as My panties are wet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crip_Walkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baptiste_Point_du_Sablehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Overton(Portland_founder)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Brothers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Coles
http://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2bucbu1.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W.Bubblesun millar de muchachos mexicanos (translates as a 1000 mexican boys) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_N%C3%A1jerahttp://www.nevadawolfpack.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/tahnee_robinson_974686.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Watsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoni_Schimmelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_M%C3%A9ndez-Valdezhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo(game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Passage
https://www.holtsauto.com/simoniz/support/carnauba-wax/
Polynesian gardens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Gardens,Californiahttps://unitedgangs.com/2014/12/22/varrio-hawaiian-gardens/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Smhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Walkerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Battlehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Ewinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_of_Sheephttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Morganhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran_Rosshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Otishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuart_Theatrenu iota gamma ???https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepin_Fetchithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boophttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Fleischerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Groundlingshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_CityTambo and bones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christy%27s_Minstrelshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_300_SLhttps://newrepublic.com/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Treasure_of_the_Grand_Canyonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_Canyon(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orval_Faubus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasunari_Kawabata
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Mayakovsky
DFW ??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace ???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sag_Harbor,New_Yorkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!_Teen_Tournamenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresienstadt_concentration_camphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibe(magazine)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act covers the lot.

Unmitigated Blackness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12Angry_Men(1957film)https://www.google.com.au/#q=to+kill+a+mockingbird+movie&*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Few_Good_Men the overacting of Cruise made this a difficult watchhttps://www.google.com.au/#q=co%C3%B1o+spanish+meaning&*chupa mi verga, carbon (suck my dick) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rockhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaculahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boba_Fetthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomorihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rubinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantichttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Universityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Genethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Black_Teenagershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_World:_Back_to_New_Yorkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Smithhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_TurtlesThe Skreeches. ???? (“It's the Turtles, the Skreetches, the David Schwimmers and the George Costanzas of the Group” refers to the meek / lovable losers / good guy characters from the following TV shows:1. “Entourage”, in the case of Turtle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle... ;

2. “Saved by the Bell”, in the case of Screech (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...) ;

3. “Friends”, in the case of Ross (David Schwimmer); and

4. “Seinfeld”, in the case of George Costanza. ) as per comment posted Chivdog 20/6/17
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Schwimmer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Landsberger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moms_Mabley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Goines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Himes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Lincoln
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Garvey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfre_Woodard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiparillo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitterlings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Cooper the judge or the author?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Parker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pryor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Deren
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Ra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Mizoguchi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Godard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gong_Li
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation
Hip Hop Cop. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/12/08/the-rap ????
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roslag
Vara Modig (Be Brave in Swedish) When I translate this later and reread the context it adds to my consideration that this is one very witty book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amandla_(power)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Winters

Acknowledgements
The negro to black conversion experience

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E.Cross,_Jr.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Cross,_Jr.#The_Negro-to-Black_Conversion_Experience.281971.29_.5B10.5D