at the Equator,” in which homosexuality as taboo
in Colombia is the central theme. Racial and class
conflicts are explored in Reginald Shepherd’s
“Summertime, and the Living Is Easy”; their jux-
taposition allows Shepard to reveal their insidi-
ous impact on a friendship that lacks historical
connection. Readers inevitably conclude that in
certain cultures, race, like homosexuality, must
be concealed. A few stories explore the domestic
boundaries of tradition, which are often grounded
in myth. For example, “Spice,” by A. Cinqué Hicks,
challenges the mild flavors of acceptance, while
“Nobody Gets Hurt,” by Bennett Capers, juxta-
poses lifelong, homosexual friendship against the
conventions of marriage.
Perhaps the most powerful story is Delany’s
“Citre et Trans,” which, set in Athens, submits
readers to a brutal homosexual rape, the conse-
quence of the protagonist’s attempt to transplant
his American–based socialization, relative to gen-
eral free association, to Greece, whose citizens can
be equally as uncomfortable with dogs as they are
with Negroes (309). In the end, Delany’s American
black male protagonist, whose travel from Athens
to Munich to London is dominated by thought of
the rape, can only make his experiences his own,
singular, individual: “But I used my waking up with
a sailor beside me, his leg against my arm, his hand
between his legs. I did it first with fear, then with
a committed anger, determined to take something
from them, to retrieve some pleasure from what,
otherwise, had been just painful, just ugly” (330).
Delany never openly addresses the rape, yet the si-
lence speaks to the experience of a black man who,
unable to conceal his race, is further oppressed
by the dominant class in an international setting.
However, Delany’s closing address on barbarism
and torture, generalized according to race, creed,
or type, incorporates deeper notions of the diffi-
culties individuals face in a world ignorant of love.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hogue, Lawrence W. The African American Male,
Writing and Difference: A Polycentric Approach to
African American Literature, Criticism and History.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003.
Morrow, Bruce, and Charles H. Rowell, eds. Shade:
An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African De-
scent. New York: Avon Books, 1996.
Lawrence T. Potter, Jr.Shakur, Tupac (2PAC) (1971–1996)
Although born Lesane Parish Crooks in Brook-
lyn, New York, on June 16, 1971, his mother and
stepfather raised him as Tupac Shakur. He never
knew his biological father. Members of the Black
Panther Party, his parents nurtured him on a
strong dosage of social consciousness, political
radicalism, Marxist ideology, and black pride. By
the time he was a young adult, Tupac displayed
the degree to which he had learned his lessons
by rebelling against society, the music industry,
and anything and everything that attempted to
box him in, even the hip-hop culture in which he
was becoming a major icon and player. He made
it clear that no one could dictate to him, define
him, or marginalize him. Tupac defined himself
with his own words. Rap music, particularly the
lyrics of his songs, was his conduit for this per-
sonal celebration.
Although Tupac began his career as a dancer
and guest rapper for the rap group Digital Under-
ground, he released his first solo album, 2Pacalypse
Now, in November 1991. This album immediately
placed him on the charts as an emerging rapper.
Two years later, his second album, Strictly 4 My
N.I.G.G.A.Z, which included the hit singles “Keep
Ya Head Up,” an inspirational song for the black
community, and “I Get Around,” a track in which
he celebrates his promiscuity, became his first
platinum album.
Tupac’s turbulent and “thuggish” lifestyle,
which was, for him at least, an integral part of hip-
hop culture and the music industry he was help-
ing shape, direct, and define, caught up with him
in 1994, when he was shot five times in a record-
ing studio lobby. Soon after, he was sentenced to
prison for sexual abuse. However, Tupac became
the first artist to release a platinum album while
incarcerated when sales of his third LP, Me against456 Shakur, Tupac