correcting for white people

Andrea Thornton Bolden

Andrea is an Atlanta native who began her education at Hampton University. She studied marketing on a full academic scholarship and graduated Summa Cum Laude. Even though Andrea spent her years in college building expertise in marketing, PR, advertising, and event planning, she knew her true passion was in television.

Andrea received a Masters in Entertainment Industry Management with a focus on Television Development at Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating with honors in 2011, she began working at Jerry Bruckheimer Films where she was assist KristieAnne Reed, EVP of TV Development.

She went on to work on Lucifer as the Writers’ Assistant for Seasons 1 and 2, as a staff writer on Superstition (Syfy) and writer on The Spanish Princess (Starz), Tell Me A Story (CBS All Access), and L.A.’s Finest (Spectrum). She is currently working on Nancy Drew (the CW).

Andrea and her husband Earl live in Sherman Oaks, CA. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Fiction

Correcting for White People

written by Andrea Thornton Bolden

Recently in America, issues of race have dominated the news. This short, powerful essay is a reflection on all of the small adjustments and considerations Black people make to keep themselves alive — what author Andrea Thornton Bolden calls “correcting for whiteness.”

 

© 2020 Andrea Thornton Bolden | Recording © 2021 Rivercliff Books & Media. All rights reserved.

Read by Andrea Thornton Bolden

“I wish my husband’s shoes looked more expensive. Yesterday we were walking up into the hills of Royal Oaks in L.A. His jacket is Arcteryx on Burrard, but it is black and simple. I’m worried that people won’t know how much we paid for it. If I dress Earl up in expensive things, maybe they won’t hurt him. Maybe they won’t kill him — this time.”

“That lady don’t want this smoke. Not from me, or from my sleeping giant of a husband, traumatized by years of mean White faces and angry White words.”

“I am Southern, so my first impulse is to be polite. When I was growing up, there were rules of engagement that don’t exist anymore in Trump country.”

Andrea Thornton Bolden is an Atlanta native who began her education at Hampton University. She studied marketing on a full academic scholarship and graduated Summa Cum Laude. Even though Andrea spent her years in college building expertise in marketing, PR, advertising, and event planning, she knew her true passion was in television.

Andrea received a Masters in Entertainment Industry Management with a focus on Television Development at Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating with honors in 2011, she began working at Jerry Bruckheimer Films where she was assist KristieAnne Reed, EVP of TV Development.

She went on to work on Lucifer as the Writers’ Assistant for Seasons 1 and 2, as a staff writer on Superstition (Syfy) and writer on The Spanish Princess (Starz), Tell Me A Story (CBS All Access), and L.A.’s Finest (Spectrum). She is currently working on Nancy Drew (the CW).

Andrea and her husband Earl live in Sherman Oaks, CA. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Q&A with Andrea

Tell us about your story...

It’s a reflection on all the small adjustments and considerations Black people make to keep themselves alive. We spend a lot of mental and emotional energy correcting for whiteness.

What was the inspiration for this story?

I’m a screenwriter by trade, so this was me trying my hand at prose. I have always carried a lot of rage about the systematic destruction of Black people and I wanted to see if I could write about it in a way that made other people feel something. I wrote this after Ahmaud Arbery died and six days before George Floyd was murdered. Black lives are never far from my thoughts, but I think my husband and I both sensed something bigger was coming. We never could have predicted that summer.

What are you looking forward to, post pandemic?

Day parties. We moved during the pandemic and have yet to hold a housewarming.

What have you read recently that you loved?

The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, by Sarah Lewis.

Tomorrow I absolutely refuse to...

Surrender my own power.

Anything else you'd like to share?

Black lives matter.

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