Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

Nigeria “Geri” Jones is a young Black girl living in Philadelphia. Her father is Dr. Kofi Sankofa Jones, the leader of the Movement, a Black nationalist group that he describes as “revolutionary freedom fighter(s)” (367). He has preached to a following of 300 people for the last 15 years about the oppression Black people face at the hands of white people and their need to fight back for their place at the “table.” Members of the group hold beliefs about the importance of keeping the traditional Black family, the duty of procreation, and avoiding white “oppressive” institutions like schools and the food industry.

As a result of her father’s beliefs, Geri has been home schooled for her entire life, is vegan, and faces pressure from her father to attend a Black university—despite her desires to go to Columbia and be a paleontologist. In particular, she has repeatedly watched the show Friends and she both idolizes Phoebe and has a crush on Ross—despite her father’s teaching that white people solely exist with the goal to oppress people of color.

With her best friend Kamau, who is gay, she makes plans to sneak away from the Movement and take a train to New York City. She desires to sit in a café near Columbia University—similar to the Central Perk in Friends—and read The Great Gatsby, pretending to be a freshman paleontology student. Other than her one night of freedom, she and Kamau plan to remain with the Movement until they turn 18, when they will then leave it for good.

On the bus to the city, Geri looks around at the people of all different ethnicities around her. She thinks of what would happen if the bus broke down, wondering if the people would all work together and help each other—contrary to her father’s beliefs that everyone seeks to oppress Black people like her. Throughout her journey, her father’s teachings continually infiltrate her thoughts, such as her analysis of how poor or wealthy someone is based on what they own, or how the civilization around her was white man’s creation.

Her disenchantment with the Movement began five years ago when she was 12 and her mother became sick with cancer. Because her father did not trust “white doctors,” her mother did not seek appropriate treatment and passed away. Geri considers how the Movement could not save her mother, and she now feels that she must take control of her own life.

Geri gets off the bus in Brooklyn and goes to the café she had researched, ordering an iced latte and a cupcake and sitting to read her book. However, she realizes that she has left her bag, her phone, and her money on the train.

She looks around the café and realizes that she is the only Black person there, beginning to feel as though people are looking at her and judging her. She considers her options, from running out the door, to angrily leaving and “flipping off” the barista as she leaves, to confessing that she has no money and apologizing.

Ultimately, as Geri considers her options, she realizes that despite losing her bag, she has “actually pulled this off”—and managed to get away from the Movement and find the café (393). When the barista asks her if she needs anything else, she asks for another cupcake and smiles.