A few days ago, Jenna Bush Hager revealed her December pick for her book club Read With Jenna. This month, she and her book club members will be reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Now, this isn’t a surprising book club pick considering the huge wave of anti-racism education happening since the riots in June after the murder of George Floyd (#blackbooksmatter on Instagram was overrun with white folks showing off their new Black books, but that’s another conversation). After Jenna announced her book club pick, there was outrage.
Why are people so mad about a white woman reading a prolific book about racism and the trauma of a little Black girl? There’s nothing wrong with Jenna Bush Hager wanting to bring attention to this great work of fiction that has been banned in several schools. This is not about policing who gets to read the books by Black authors; it’s about who profits off of the “rediscovery” of Black art.
The outrage is due to Hager’s reprint with her book club sticker. Jenna Bush Hager is literally taking up space meant for Black women. Toni Morrison said herself that she writes for Black people. Black people have been singing her praises for decades. We never needed a white woman’s seal of approval.
The Bluest Eye was so important to me in my formative years in high school. I couldn’t remember why it moved me so, but reading it again as an adult, I realized I read it during a time before I really needed it. While I didn’t quite want blue eyes to be beautiful, I definitely rejected notions of what I was force-fed as “blackness”. This wasn’t just a book where I was “walking in Pecola’s footsteps.” I was Pecola (to a certain extent).
When talking about her intention for writing The Bluest Eye, Morrison states in an interview [when talking about prolific writings written by contemporary black men at the time] “No one is going to remember when [Black] wasn’t beautiful. No one is going to remember how hurtful a certain kind of internecine racism is.”
We are in a “post-racial” moment. Of course, we know racism is bad. Of course, we know Black is beautiful. But none of this means racism is dead or that all Black people know they are beautiful. Toni Morrison is speaking to hurt little Black girls in this book, who rarely have center stage. For Jenna Bush Hagar to slap her sticker on this book, is like her taking that stage away from that hurt, little black girl.
In the same interview, Toni Morrison talks about a white woman’s critique of her work. Morrison quotes the woman as saying: “she’s too good to limit her canvas to just black folks. If she really wants to be competitive, she has to move out of that area.” Morrison continues to talk about how this angered her, as if white is a broader, more universal audience worthier of her work more. As if Toni Morrison being talented transcends her Blackness. As if appealing to white audiences is the only way to be valuable. Jenna Bush Hager’s sticker is that critic revived.
No one is saying white people should not read books written for and about Black people. If fact, they should read more of them. However, reading one book does not mean you value Black people. Having a book reprinted with a sticker that serves as a self-congratulatory participation ribbon isn’t doing anything for Black lives.
Yes, I know Oprah and others place their stickers on their book club books (I know how marketing works), and yes, I know this isn’t the first Black book that has been featured in Read With Jenna. This situation is different.
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Well, I am sorry you feel this way.
I am a 60 year old white woman. And yes, I read The Bluest Eye for the first time, partly (admittedly, mostly) because of Jenna Bush Hager’s endorsement.
I follow her book club & for the most part like her recommendations. Some are hit or miss. I think she is in a tough position & she cannot please everyone.
I admire her love of reading and in my book, (pun intended) any promotion of reading is a very, very good thing.
Interestingly, I had also read Morrison’s Beloved after another well known person endorsed it.
That other person happened to be Oprah Winfrey.
Is Oprah allowed to endorse Ms. Morrison because her skin is black? She had also chosen The Bluest Eye as a selection for her book club, many years ago. And I am sure many, many copies sold with the Oprah’s Book Club sticker on it. You mention this, and for the life of me, I cannot see the difference between Oprah promoting the book and Jenna promoting it!
I am sure Jenna Bush Hager’s recommendation was made out of the he goodness of her heart and because of her love of the book & not for any politically induced motives. Jenna has always claimed The Bluest Eye to be a favorite book of hers.
She probably even ran it by Oprah and got her whole hearted approval.
And just a side note. I read my daughter’s copy of the book, that had no Read with Jenna sticker on it, or Oprah sticker for that matter.
Bottom line is, with Read with Jenna’s urging, I read the book.
I do not think having a Read with Jenna sticker on copies of the book took the stage away from that hurt, little black girl.
On the contrary, it just helped cast the stage light even farther.
Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison does not need anyone’s endorsement. Her work stands on its own. I see no harm in it though.
So don’t pick on Jenna’s sticker. I think she and Oprah and all the other book clubs out there do a darn good job of promoting books of all kinds.
Kudos to Oprah and Jenna for promoting a more serious read, which is not always a popular choice.
As Oprah says: Keep spreading the word!!!!!!!!!!!
We are all entitled to our opinions, but I am so sorry you feel the way you do.
While you may have been a 60 year old white woman, but your opinion about a book you *just* read at the time is unnecessary and almost racist. Your need to try to silence a Black woman for her rightful essay basically explaining how it is harmful not only to Black people but Toni Morrison is a little disgusting. And “I’m sorry you feel that way” reeks of toxic white femininity.