|
Phillips,
probably best
known as the
straitlaced
son-in-law on
the Bill
Cosby Show,
but lately a
columnist and
commentator on
public radio,
reflects on his
life and
politics from
the perspective
of a black
conservative in
Hollywood. He
offers an honest
look at his
personal
journey,
exploring areas
of character,
family, faith,
idealism, and
identity.
Phillips
is not your
typical
Republican: he's
a television
actor, a
sometime
stay-at-home
dad?and a proud
black man. At
his best,
riffing on the
difficulties of
not conforming
to stereotypes
in a nation that
refuses to shed
them, Phillips
is thought
provoking and
moving. With a
memoirist's eye
for incident, he
writes about
sitting out
eighth-grade
pickup football
games, caught
between the team
of white boys
he'd grown up
with and the
team of black
boys who
complained he
lived in "Honkyville."
He's acute on
the absurdity of
racial
perceptions, as
when he gets
scripts that
call for "an
African-American
neurosurgeon
with street
smarts." |
