THE URBAN SOURCE BOOK REVIEW
“Can’t Knock the Hustle” Nate “Nati” Holmes By: Tina Clark
“In order to be a go getta, you have to have a solid plan. We as humans have all said that we are going to do something and never did it at one point or another” - Nate “Nati” Holmes Nate Holmes is the CEO of Hustle Hard Publications. Hustle Hard Publications is an urban entertainment company that thrives on producing and publishing real life material with a message which will always include a street twist. Mr. Holmes is an Author, Poet, and Activist for inmates, it was while incarcerated on a five year penitentiary bid that Nate stumbled upon his own gift as a writer. Having no financial support from family or friends on the outside to provide for his daily needs, he entered a short story writing contest. Holmes was awarded third place in the “Hear me Project HIV/AIDS Campaign 2006 Contest” which inspired him to write a full novel. With the release of Mr. Holmes debut novel
“Can’t Knock the Hustle” the idea was born to start his own publishing company that would also seek to assist men and women in prison with the opportunity at exposure for their work. Tina- How does your writing style differ from the next author? Nate- My writing style differs from other’s because I write with a more conscious mind-set, yet I do not preach to my audience Tina-What are you currently working on right now?
the Hustle”? NateThe inspiration from “Can’t Knock the Hustle” comes from my life. The way I used to live was worth words. When you experience the things that some people in the inner cities around the world experience, I think that anyone could agree that you went through enough trials to share with the next person.
major book and television deal with Augustus Publishing and co-founded “Hustle Hard TV” where he host open discussions on some of the latest urban novels. Mr. Holmes has two authors under the banner of Hustle Hard Publications and is seeking other writers to add to the publishing house, to contact Nate send emails to: nate.nati.holmes@facebook.com
Tina- Where can we find your books and where can you be reached?
Nate- My latest book entitled “Prison Poetry & Politics Revolutionary Minded which is due to release this summer.
Nate- You can find my books on my website www.hustlehard.com I tried to do the Amazon and Barnes and Noble thing for my first project but man that shit cost a lot of money. But, you can go into any bookstore and tell them my name and have the store place an order for you.
Tina- What inspired you to write “Can’t Knock
On December 7,2010 Nate Holmes signed a
URBAN SOURCE TEEN ADVICE
I Ain’t No African…
Why Do Blacks Hate Being Called African Americans? By: Tina Clark
I
spent a lot of my childhood wondering why so many white people hate Black people. I wondered why all the other colonized, brainwashed people of color (who white folks also despise) hate Black people. Most of all, I wondered why so many Black people hate being Black and presumably/most likely descended from Africans. I cranked my brow at the fact that my mama not only wastes money on red, white, and blue paraphernalia but, most importantly, my mama has said all my life over and over again– “I ain’t no African.” I’m descended from dark-skinned Indians. I ain’t that black. We got Italians and Germans in our family. Your great granddaddy on your grandfather’s side was Mexican.
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You’ve got Native American cheekbones, see there? Your great grandparents on your grandma’s side are both mulatto. Africans are old nasty, stuck-up, greedy folks–they don’t like Black folks over here no way and won’t say a word to hep you. Those are some of the words that encouraged me to pursue the harmful, brutal, stunting environment of a predominantly white international institution ofhigher education. Literally, it nearly killed me. When I set off for college, I thought, It doesn’t matter that I’m Black. I can go out into the world and be what I want to be. America
can defy its history if I try hard enough. My sister always called me white anyway. I wasn’t “like the other Black folks“. I liked to read and write. Being black to some people means anti-education. This is wrong for two reasons: 1. Black people in this country were intentionally and lawfully barred from being educated (which means as an oppressed and enslaved group they were not allowed to read or write therefore they were not taught or allowed to go to school generally). 2. The American education system is a white supremacist education system on the whole and
it seeks to hide, misrepresent, and outright lie about its violent racist history. Look no further than HB 2281 in Arizona for some evidence. Can you hear a cynical laugh? Why is it so wrong to be Black? What’s wrong with being Black? I always thought as a child, in school watching videos of brutality against protesters by police and racist whites, reading testimonials of violent rapes and lynchings of Black women who were enslaved and even after slavery, looking at photos of lynched Black peoples, men, women, and children beaten, broken, dismembered, tortured bodies. America was not going to protect us when it could get away with it. Why does blackness inspire so much hatred and violence from other races? I was born Black and female. I didn’t ask to be. Its part of who I am. Why does everybody want to be anything other than Black? “I ain’t no African.” Despite those words from
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