With the celebration of former U.S. president George Washington’s birthday approximately a month away, a book has been released that depicts a highly disturbing narrative. The title of the book is A Birthday Cake For George Washington. In the book, readers will almost be immediately discover that the main characters in the book are Melanoid house slaves who are scrambling throughout the book to bake a cake for Washington, whose birthday is the occasion.

The featured characters are named “Hercules” (the first White House chef), his daughter Delia (who narrates the story), and a goofy little child simply named “Kitchen Boy” who follows Delia around for the duration of the story. The book was written by New York Times food writer Ramin Ganeshram, and it has already received rave reviews from organizations such as the Children’s Book Council.

The premise of the book emphasizes the featured characters’ sense of urgency to appease their slavemaster, which in this case involves them attempting to bake a cake.As it relates to the topic at hand, the question for those in Black Society should be: Are you ok with your Black children consuming literature such as A Birthday Cake For George Washington?

While much concern has been expressed over the need for more empowering Black narratives (especially for our youth), you can be sure that a solution is right around the corner.

B. Clark