NONFICTION - Sept. 3, 1995

WHITE BUCKS AND BLACK-EYED PEAS: Coming of Age Black in White America by Marcus Mabry (Scribner: $23; 303 pp.) I had a co-worker once, a homosexual African American, who drove a car with a handicap-designation placard, although he did not appear to have any disabilities. After a few months, I timidly asked about his handicap. The man smiled bitterly, and replied, only half joking, “My handicap? I am gay and black in America.”

That is a story that would, no doubt, strike a chord with Marcus Mabry. His book is chiefly concerned with explaining how it feels to live in mainstream, white society as a black man from a poor family. Mabry recounts, in a conversational tone, how a scholarship to a prestigious prep school, followed by Stanford, and later, a journalist position with Newsweek, have made him simultaneously happy, miserable and infuriated. In spite of some good writing, many readers may find aspects of this book frustrating. Mabry is livid about the small number of minority journalists, enraged over how few get promoted, annoyed by the fact that an educated black man is regarded an an oddity and sulky because when he is offered a job in Newsweek’s Washington bureau it is, no doubt, due to the chief needing “a black body.” Obviously, these are valid points. However, rather than expressing his ideas with an eye toward possible change or growth, Mabry’s style is reminiscent of a child stomping his foot and yelling, “That’s not fair.” No, it is not fair, but presumably anyone who buys this book would already know that. Is racism an inherent part of human nature? What exactly should be done on a societal level to effect change? What can each of us do as individuals? Instead of addressing even one of those pertinent questions, Mabry’s entire focus is on the telling of his life and the venting of his righteous indignation.