In a time when conversations surrounding race can feel tense, as though both parties are carefully working through highly sensitive feelings and concerns, writer and screenwriter Philippe has created a tongue-in-cheek, side-eye worthy contribution to documenting what it means to be a Black man in the U.S. This book is flat-out funny, and it is meant to be. Readers should feel free to laugh at all of it, even the sections in which it seems wrong to be amused, because Ben, your "Black friend," has given his permission. In this often-frank memoir-in-essays, Philippe chronicles his experiences growing up, learning, and working as the only Black person in predominantly white spaces. But he also uses his personal encounters to provide wisdom on subjects ranging from racial stereotypes to Beyoncé to the rise of the Karens. This is a great next-book for fans of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker (2019) and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life (2017), but if a reader hasn't yet turned to either of those, Philippe's disarming, illuminating, and hilarious chronicle is a great place to start.

Philippe reflects on his role as "the Black friend" (the person white people turn to for insight into Black life), pop culture, and the immigrant experience.