Posted: Thu 23 Aug 2007 19:14 Post subject: C. Byrd makes New Jersey appearance to promote new book!
From the prepared press release:
Quote:
Charles Michael Byrd, author of "The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness" (Backintyme Publishing) will be speaking at Watchung Booksellers, 54 Fairfield Street, Watchung Plaza in Montclair, New Jersey on Thursday, October 4th from 7 to 8 p.m.
In addition to reading from his book and holding a Q&A session on racialism from the Vedic perspective, Mr. Byrd, along with bookstore owner Margot Sage-El, will conduct a drawing afterwards. Regardless of state of residence, individuals who purchase "The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness" from the Watchung Booksellers website(click the preceding link) between now and October 4th -- as well as those folk who buy the book after they arrive that evening -- will be eligible to win Watchung Booksellers Gift Certificates!
A student of Vedic scriptures, Mr. Byrd believes that individuals of mixed racial backgrounds quickly begin searching for a higher spiritual truth, something that allows them to make sense of the madness behind lumping human beings into separate and distinct "racial" groupings.
Boston native Margot Sage-El is interracially married with three children and was interviewed by Mr. Byrd for Interracial Voice back in September 1995. Additionally, she has been in the forefront of the effort to promote literature geared toward "mixed-race" children and their families.
Order "The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness" from Watchung Booksellers today, and come to Montclair on October 4th. (Telephone 973-744-7177 if you need directions or more information.) See you there!
Hope to see as many of you as can make it. Should be fun
Last edited by chasbyrd on Fri 24 Aug 2007 00:45; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 30 Mar 2005 {Posts: 1046 } Location: New Jersey
Posted: Thu 23 Aug 2007 20:14 Post subject:
I'm only a half-hour away from Montclair, so I'll try to make it! I already called the book store to order a copy of your new book. They said they should be getting some in soon.
I'm only a half-hour away from Montclair, so I'll try to make it! I already called the book store to order a copy of your new book. They said they should be getting some in soon.
That's great, man. I look forward to seeing you. You'll enjoy meeting Margot, too.
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I'm only a half-hour away from Montclair, so I'll try to make it! I already called the book store to order a copy of your new book. They said they should be getting some in soon.
Some years ago, the now-defunct Interrace magazine named Montclair the best city in the nation for interracial couples to live and raise their families. I recall that Frank also kept data on which states were more accepting of interracial unions, though I'm not certain how such acceptance was measured or tracked. Here's a link that references a Los Angeles Times story -- in which the writer mentions Montclair -- entitled "Interracial unions have a ripple effect on families, society."
Posted: Sat 25 Aug 2007 17:18 Post subject: Watchung Booksellers
chasbyrd wrote:
William wrote:
I'm only a half-hour away from Montclair, so I'll try to make it! I already called the book store to order a copy of your new book. They said they should be getting some in soon.
Some years ago, the now-defunct Interrace magazine named Montclair the best city in the nation for interracial couples to live and raise their families. I recall that Frank also kept data on which states were more accepting of interracial unions, though I'm not certain how such acceptance was measured or tracked. Here's a link that references a Los Angeles Times story -- in which the writer mentions Montclair -- entitled "Interracial unions have a ripple effect on families, society."
Do you think Margot would accept some more Backintyme books - such as PASSING FOR WHO YOU REALLY ARE and LEGAL HISTORY OF THE COLOR LINE?
Posted: Mon 27 Aug 2007 06:24 Post subject: Watchung Booksellers
I also emailed Margo offering to send her some free copies of Lawrence Tenzer's book, THE FORGOTTEN CAUSE OF THE CIVIL WAR: A NEW LOOK AT THE SLAVERY ISSUE (I have 10 left) to sell in her store. He also lives in New Jersey. I haven't heard from her yet.
Joined: 30 Mar 2005 {Posts: 1046 } Location: New Jersey
Posted: Tue 28 Aug 2007 15:04 Post subject:
chasbyrd wrote:
William wrote:
I'm only a half-hour away from Montclair, so I'll try to make it! I already called the book store to order a copy of your new book. They said they should be getting some in soon.
Some years ago, the now-defunct Interrace magazine named Montclair the best city in the nation for interracial couples to live and raise their families. I recall that Frank also kept data on which states were more accepting of interracial unions, though I'm not certain how such acceptance was measured or tracked. Here's a link that references a Los Angeles Times story -- in which the writer mentions Montclair -- entitled "Interracial unions have a ripple effect on families, society."
I can say that I personally have seen many interracial couples there, and I have a Black friend from there who has been married to his White wife for 48 years. He can confirm what you've said from personal experience. He has often mentioned that the town is accepting of such unions.
Posted: Mon 03 Sep 2007 14:51 Post subject: “Talk For Food” podcast on WebTalkRadio
Adam Abraham hosts the weekly "Talk For Food" podcast on WebTalkRadio. He recently interviewed me about my new book, "The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness." Click the below link to hear that conversation (approximately one hour):
Some bi/multi-racial people feel they have a choice of colors, options for selecting how they define their racial/ethnic identities. Between a decades-long movement to create a separate census category and an increasingly blended United States population bursting the seams of traditional definitions, the issue is on more peoples’ minds than ever before.
Charles Michael Byrd, who describes himself as being “of black, white and Cherokee heritage,” made a name as the editor and publisher of Interracial Voice Web site from 1995 to 2003. Byrd has taken his personal quest for identity beyond physical labels to a whole ’nother level.
In his first book, “The Bhagavad-Gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness,” (Backintyme, 2007) Byrd, whose Krishna name is Charukrishna, said he has found the answer to his lifelong quest of transcending race, ethnicity, religion and other physical categories to ascend to a higher, universal identity.
“The subtitle reflects my thinking over the years, my journey,” he said. Born and reared a Southern Baptist in Southwest Virginia, Byrd said he “came up buying into society’s notion that I was just a very light-skinned black kid. But over a period of time, when you keep looking at yourself in the mirror [and see that] there’s a disconnect there, I think you grow past the first level of identity that society gives you.”
“I went from black to being mulatto because one of my great-aunts used to tell me about back in the early days when the newspaper would list people as being black, white and mulatto,” he said.
“I don’t feel either black or white,” Byrd said, “but the racial identity crisis that this country causes, especially for people of mixed background, pushes you to search for a higher spiritual truth, something that makes sense of the madness behind lumping people into separate and distinct racial groupings.”
Now, when asked his identity, “I tell them I’m a human being, that I don’t racially identify anymore,” Byrd said. “Krishna Consciousness transcends identifying with the physical body. I no longer push for a multiracial identity because I’ve gone beyond that.”
Byrd’s turnaround from multiracial/mulatto crusader to the man who is above any race but human came in the form of a book. Seven or eight years ago, someone gave him a copy of “The Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God,” which is widely considered to be sacred by many of the Hindu traditions, especially by followers of Krishna.
“I thought, ‘it’s a cult,’” said Byrd, who was familiar with the bald-headed, saffron-robed, chanting so-called Hare Krishnas who were often seen on street corners and in airports in the 1960s and 1970s. Then, curiosity drove him to read the book.
“It’s the deepest thing I’ve ever read in my life,” he said, inspired to learn more about the philosophy behind it. Today, he attends a Krishna temple in Brooklyn, and has gone through the first stage of initiation.
His leap from wrestling with black/white/other categories to transcendent Eastern theology is at the heart of “The Bhagavad-Gita in Black and White.”
“The book gives a pretty good outline of what’s been going on in this country the past few decades regarding ra-cial identification, and freedom of association, such as interracial marriage,” Byrd said.
“Krishna consciousness is defined as the revival of our natural original consciousness of complete harmony with God, or Krishna,” he explained. “It changed me in the way I viewed myself, and it changed me in terms of how I view everything else. I see everyone else as emanating from the same source.”
Having fond a context and framework that work well for him, “I’d like to share it with others,” Byrd said.
“This book is primarily aimed at the multiracial population in America, and any American who wants to avail him or herself of the Vedic knowledge and how it might apply to the current situation of race consciousness in the United States,” Byrd said.
If you go
Charles Michael Byrd (Charukrishna) will discuss, read from and sign copies of “The Bhagavad-gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness,” on Thursday, Oct. 4, 7 to 8 p.m., in watchung booksellers, 54 Fairfield St., Watchung Plaza.
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