If you need a personal copy of the book, contact Damon Nance. Limited supplies are available!
At a time when disinformation, hate crimes, inequality, racial injustice, and white supremacy are on the rise, Brown Enough, part memoir and part social commentary, emerges, asking readers to proudly put their bodies, and their identities, into the conversations of race. Brown Enough is a roller coaster of finding one's true self while simultaneously having a racial awakening amidst the struggle to be "perfectly" Latinx, woke, and as Brown as possible to make it in today's America. From world-renowned actor John Leguizamo: "Brown Enough is a celebration of Brownness and a manifesto about the magic, beauty, and heartbreak that comes with being Brown in America. Brownness is more than our skin color or language or where we grew up; it's also about the common threads that connect us all. I'm excited to see Christopher's impact continue to grow as one of the key voices of his generation." Its pages are full of honest explorations of love, sex, fake-it-till-you-make-it ambition, bad Spanish, color, code-switching, white-washing, scandal, Hollywood, and more. This memoir navigates these necessary and often revealing topics through fourteen chapters, each a distinct moment where Rivas explores his Brownness and how to own it. Brown Enough opens with a moment that forever changed Christopher Rivas's life, the night Ta-Nehisi Coates shared, in an intimate gathering in downtown L.A., the Brown man's role in the race conversation. "All I hear is black and white. As a Brown man, a Latin man, where does that leave me?" Coates took a short breath and responded, "Not in it." Like a reprimanded child, Rivas took his seat and remained silent for much of the event. But the effects didn't end there. This conversation pushed Rivas to contemplate and rethink how whiteness and Blackness had impacted his sense of self and worth. "Why is Brown not in it?" became the unspoken question for the rest of his life and a thread moving through this collection. Eventually, in every conversation, during every date, and at every job, Rivas began to ask, "What are the consequences of not being in the conversation?" "What does it take to be in it?" Brown Enough is the quest to find an answer.Events will be held in person in CSS 217 and online.
September 21, 2023 - Book Discussion - 12:50-1:50 pm
October 19, 2023 - Student Panel - 12:50-1:50 pm
November 16, 2023 - Author Appearance - 12:50-3:00 pm
Born and raised in New York City, Christopher Rivas has been acting since the 5th grade. He made his first debut at the famous DUKE theater on 42nd Street. He attended California Institute Of The Arts (CalArts), where he majored in acting and has since been working with leading networks in Film and Television. He is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after multi-hyphenates as an actor, author, podcaster, and storyteller. He recently released his debut book, Brown Enough, which explores what it means to be Brown in America. The book is part memoir and part social commentary, a roller coaster of finding one's true self while simultaneously having a racial awakening amidst the struggle to be "perfectly" Latinx, woke, and as Brown as possible to make it in today's America. In the last year, he's also developed two podcast series with SiriusXM's Stitcher: Brown Enough, which explores the parallel themes of this book through interview-style episodes, and Rubirosa, a 10-episode documentary-style investigation of Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican diplomat, race car driver, soldier, and polo player who is believed to be the inspiration for the famous character ‘James Bond.’ On-screen, Rivas is known for his work on the Fox series Call Me Kat, opposite Mayim Bialik, Leslie Jordan, Kyla Pratt, and Cheyenne Jackson. He is a Ph.D. Candidate in Expressive Arts for Global Health & Peace Building from The European Graduate School and a Rothschild Social Impact fellow. Rivas resides in Los Angeles, CA.