A Mississippi native, she explained in her strong southern accent how her books came to be based in Cleveland. It was that family-like structure that Cleveland’s own Bone Thugs N Harmony provided on their records that would prompt the divorced mother of three and first Black postal worker in her office by day to turn into a multi-book author almost overnight.

By FELICIA C. HANEY

Staff Reporter

Hot off a phone call with her State Representative in Gulfport, Miss., and I do mean hot, CP2 caught up with author Black Coffee to discuss her visit to Cleveland for the Ohio Black Expo.

Still riled up by the Rep.’s comments on how “we need to use softer language when talking about these drive-by shootings,” Black Coffee proceeded to take charge of the interview. She immediately moved right into the topic of gangs, something she explores in her three-part book series titled “Time Will Reveal,” which I intended on asking a little later in the interview, but it became obvious that the “time to reveal” was now.

“I’m just not for sale,” the author began in rebuttal to her previous conversation. “I’m not impressed by what you say. Don’t tell me what you’re going to do, just do it. We’ve got 16 year olds going to court now on capital murder charges. You want to tell me how powerful your organization is, show me. There should be some Mason guys in every one of our communities, That’s what’s going to change it. They have enough resources, and there are some Masons that are gangbangers or have been. People think that it’s an accomplishment for me to have three sons and none of them are in the system or have children. And I’m like no, that’s just my job. I don’t see it as an accomplishment; I see it as a rule. I think we should be actionary instead of reactionary.”

Speaking with an obvious passion for community, youth and the “It takes a village…” mentality, the former basketball star has always had an affinity for team efforts and strong family-like structures, which, believe it or not, was something she lacked.

“I played basketball since I was 8 years old,” said Black Coffee. “Through basketball I met people from both sides of the fence. I was around the people who had it made and people who made it any way they could. Seeing that is how I came up with the concept of ‘the crew.’” The crew is portrayed in her series as a third generation batch of teens ranging in age from 12-20 whose families have been close knit for decades. Trying to escape the prejudice of the South, both Ebony and Ajay’s (the main characters who are also a couple) grandparents were members of a singing group who settled in Ohio. Far from selling songs, Ebony and Ajay’s generation - the crew – indulges in drug trafficking, homicide and sexual activity. “Yeah, they see what’s happening in their generation and although they are dabbling in that, they still have a foundation,” Black Coffee said in her characters’ defense. “It’s this whole thing of where if you don’t know where you came from, then you won’t know where you’re going. Myself included. I didn’t find out who my father was until this millennium. I found that out after I started writing this story and that’s when my series really started to make sense to me.”

A Mississippi native, she explained in her strong southern accent how her books came to be based in Cleveland. It was that family-like structure that Cleveland’s own Bone Thugs N Harmony provided on their records that would prompt the divorced mother of three and first Black postal worker in her office by day to turn into a multi-book author almost overnight.

“I always tell people, my favorite music group was Bone Thugs N Harmony,” she said. “I first started writing this story in 1998 and then I stopped. But, at that time, Bone Thugs had an album out called ‘Family Scripture.’ I listened to the lyrics all the time. Words have always been what move me. So, even though people claimed that they couldn’t understand what they were saying, I could. And, I never heard in one of those records where they were calling a woman out of her name or bragging on materialistic things. They were one of the first rap groups that I knew of that actually went back and put their family on with them and sold a million records talking about family loyalty. That’s where I got it from and that’s when I knew, it’s got to be Cleveland. I thought that that was a really cool movement and I wish that it would have stayed. I think I got a lot more from it. That may not have even been what they intended but that’s what I got from it. That made me really think about the city of Cleveland a lot because that’s something I never had and something I always wanted. So, Bone Thugs N Harmony really is the reason I chose Cleveland as the backdrop of my book.”

Although Bone’s bond didn’t last as long as Black Coffee and some others may have liked, the movement made for some good reading material that you can pick up online by befriending her or joining her Black Coffee’s Crew Nation on Facebook for up to the minute reports. Black Coffee’s recent visit to “The Land” helped her gather info about the Cleveland experience that she will use as material for future writings including her new short story series.

In closing the author added, “The message that I’m trying to send with this series is family, love and loyalty. Why don’t we have these crew mentalities when it comes to our legacies, our children, our future? In the end you know that you have to succeed at all costs.”