Hi! My Name is Loco, and I'm a Racist.

Do we really live in a post-racial America, or is it something we simply say to appease our eternal quest for evolution and self-validation?

Who doesn’t want to believe his or her point of view is not just? And if not, who’s willing to admit it?

In the book, Hi! My Name is Loco, and I am a Racist, author and blogger Baye McNeil explores in a self-reflective, raw and comical manner the roots of his own push-and-pull struggle with racism and racist feelings, while living in Yokohama, Japan.

As an African-American born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, McNeil’s own journey from growing up a Black Nationalist baby of Brooklyn to a self-imposed American refugee/blogger living in Japan (where he still resides today) has unearthed an array of dissonant feelings about race and racism, reconciled mostly by one belief: Admitting the truth is the only path to recovery.

Is the book a provocative, honest look at America’s best-kept secret (racism), or the counter-intuitive ramblings of a Loco? At worst it’s a tongue and cheek look at one man’s observations. At best, it’s a conversation, perhaps, we all need to have.

Bed-Stuy Patch: What is your memory of Bed-Stuy growing up, versus how you view it today?

Baye McNeil: Bed-Stuy is rich with memories for me. I grew up on in a brownstone on Decatur Street between Marcus Garvey Blvd and Lewis Avenues. And my first school, Uhuru Sasa Shule, on Claver Place between Putnam and Jefferson, was a part of the Pan African/Black Power Movement (this was post Malcolm/Martin and pre-Disco and Jheri Curls). The neighborhood was not only a hotbed of political activism, it was ground zero of cultural awareness and creativity. My school, in fact, was essentially a station on the circuit that African, and African American artist traveled, from Gil Scott Heron and Donald Byrd, to Max Roach and Pharaoh Sanders. I mean, I really can’t say enough about this time in Bed-Stuy…if it weren’t for the urban decay, escalating crime, deteriorating schools and education, mental health issues and drug/alcohol addiction that surrounded us as well, I’d be tempted to call it the Golden Age of Bed-Stuy.

Nowadays, that Bed-Stuy is dead. No, more it’s been reconstituted and revitalized. Some might say good riddance, for in its place, from the rubble of rebellion and revolution, a more entrepreneurial and economically empowered Bed-Stuy is rising, replete with goods and services and bling-bling that my Bed-Stuy couldn’t even imagine was in its not-too-distant future. But, every time I go home I cringe, half-expecting Magic Johnson to have opened a Starbuck’s on Fulton Street and Tompkins as a symbol of community empowerment.

BSP: Racially, how did your childhood in Bed-Stuy shape your view of the world?

BM: Well, when I was a kid in the Stuy, it was at the tail end of the White Flight to the greener pastures of St. Elsewhere, so it was already a predominantly black neighborhood, reeling from all the redlining and blockbusting that had gone on previously. At the time, though the residents were mostly black, the businesses were still mostly white owned and operated: the butcher, the baker, the ice cream maker on the corner of Lewis and Decatur. But I guess you can say my “view of the world” was impacted by this. I came to expect white people in certain roles and blacks in others. Ironically though I wasn’t even aware of this until, as an adult, I made my first trip abroad, to St. Lucia, and encountered for the first time in my life blacks in roles I’d come to expect to see whites. The discomfort I felt informed me of the trauma I had experienced, as a result of this world view-- particularly when I realized that the pilot and co-pilot of the plane we were taking from island to island were black. I almost wanted to get off the plane. Lol. Seriously…

BSP: What brought you to Japan, and how long do you plan to stay?

BM: A good friend of mine invited me to come stay with him for a couple of weeks here. To me, it offered a respite and escape from the post-9/11 New York that had swallowed the NY I knew and loved and had grown up in. But it didn’t have to be Japan. If my friend lived in the South Pole my blog would be Loco in Antarctica instead of Loco in Yokohama. Any place was better than NY. I needed to get away! I suppose I’ll stay here until I can afford to leave. Hopefully my writing will help me reach that goal sooner than later.

BSP: What was your impetus for examining racial stereotypes while in Japan?

BM: It was as a direct result of constantly being defined by racial stereotypes by people who clearly didn’t know any other way to define people. I don’t think everybody is racist, but I think there are a good number of people out there who are, but who aren’t aware of it or unwilling to admit it. What we do instead is end up tolerating certain things from people, because we don’t expect much from them.

BSP: But the book is about how YOU are a racist. Are you expressing frustration and impatience for the very behavior you’re admitting to holding? Explain to me how you work that out in your book.

BM:  Well, because of my bitter responses to the behavior of people here in Japan (whether it is due to their racism, xenophobia, or any other fear-based feeling my presence inspires), which tended to include people who had no part in the offense, I knew in no uncertain terms that I was a racist. I realized that if I wanted to be rid of this dark social virus -- that I believe many of us are afflicted with whether we're aware of it or not -- then I had better locate its source and confront it head on!

BSP: How long did it take for you to write this book?

BM: It took me about two years or so to write, six months or so to edit. Three years total.

BSP: What are you hoping people take away from your book?

BM: Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist is essentially a mission statement. I AM a racist. There's no doubt in my mind of that, but that's not the end of my story. And I don't think it needs to be the end of anyone's story. So what I would like people to take away my book is this: If you have some racism in you, deal with it! It isn’t just going to go away on its own. And having these feelings and thoughts doesn’t make you a bad person. But denial doesn’t help, and lurking in the shadows is for pedophiles or some other kinds of degenerates. That’s all I’d want people to walk away from reading this book doing: Thinking for themselves.

Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist is available on Baye McNeil’s e-bookstore here, as well as on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. The book retails for $17.99 USD for Trade paperback and $9.99 USD for E-book version.