The author of I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America speaks virtually on Fri., Sept. 17th, at 8 p.m. (EDT)!
In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a black man in America. He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural community and realizing that he wasn't always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that's where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn't). Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping and why you don't cross black mamas. He teaches readers about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today.
By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black paints a portrait of black manhood in America and enlightens, illuminates, and entertains — ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society.
Tyler Merritt is an actor, musician, comedian, and activist behind the Tyler Merritt Project. For over 20 years now, he has spoken to audiences ranging from elementary school students to nursing home seniors. His television credits include ABC's Kevin Probably Saves the World, Netflix's Messiah and Outer Banks, Disney/Marvel's Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Apple TV's upcoming series Swagger. Tyler's viral videos "Before You Call the Cops" and "Walking While Black" have been viewed by over 60 million people worldwide, with “Before You Call the Cops” being voted the number-one most powerful video of 2020 by NowThis Politics.
Merritt is in conversation with Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. He is the author of Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda, which is a call to arms for grassroots America, and co-author of The Recovering Politician’s Twelve Step Program to Survive Crisis.
Hosted by Politics and Prose in Washington, DC. Click here to register for the virtual event!
