Jamile "Nick" Adams

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Jamile "Nick" Adams (born 1974) is an American comedian and author who is Black. He is almost exclusivey referred to in public as "Nick" rather than "Jamile." He recently wrote his only book to date "Making Friends with Black People" which he describes as a humorous but potent "how to guide" to bridging racial divides [1]. Adams has published articles for various Los Angeles area magazines and has also written for BET Live: With John Salley. As of April 2006, he lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, who is of Native American descent (Adams).

[edit] Views on Racial Descriptives

In the book "Making Friends with Black People" Adams discusses many themes pertinent to the Black community. For example, Adams prefers the term "Black" to "African-American" as indicated on page 17 of his book. He writes "Which brings me to my personal favorite: Black. It makes more sense than the others in every way. Phonetically, it's no contest. One syllable versus multi-syllabic hyphenates. Black wins hands down. Although initially it doesn't conjure the lofty bourgeois imagery of the other terms, it depicts a more realistic portrayal of who we really are" (Adams 17).

[edit] Interview with National Public Radio

In his interview with National Public Radio interviewer Ed Gordon, who is also Black, Adams says "boredome" was the impetus that drove him to write his book [2]. He was living in Tucson, Arizona at the time and said that not a lot of "our people" live there, apparently referring to the fact that Tucson does not have a prevalent Black community. Adams notes that the comedic tone of his book allows people to be more "open" to some of the things he has to say, which if he had used a different tone might have come across as offensive. For example, in the NPR interview he notes that in his book he expounded upon the difference in "compassion" levels exhibited by the mainstream media and other vocal advocates towards the vicims of the Columbine High School Massacre versus everyday Black victims of violent crime. He notes that the latter do not get nearly as much sympathy as they deserve, and whereas with the former people were calling for "stricter gun control laws" for the latter people call for punitive measures such as "three strikes laws". He rhetorically states, "Why is it that the lives of white kids are more important than the lives of Black kids?" [3].

Adams also has stated that while he believes caucasian rapper Eminem is genuine, he has gotten more media coverage than he deserves, and that undue attention Adams believes is due to the fact that Eminem is white.

[edit] Sources

Adams, Nick. "Making Friends with Black People." New York. Kensington Publishing Corp. 2006.