By T. Aaron Cisco
As a child of the 1950s and early 1960s, Doctor Who has just made its debut on the horizon, but T. Aaron Cisco’s Black Nerd Blue Box resonated with me, especially since I was seen as a Nerd and a brainiac growing up.
Alternating between external dialogue and the internal dialogue of the Doctor Who universe, Mr. Cisco takes us on a journey of the eclectic, and the pitfalls of putting people in a “box.” All too often, African Americans are placed in a “box” of stereotypes via ignorance, bias, or prejudice, seen as one monolithic front, even from within. Then, someone like Cisco comes along who challenges this way of thinking, his presence calling out the hypocrisy. I remember well this slogan as a college student in the early ‘70s: “Do your thing.” The subtext, however, was “as long as it conforms to our standards and definitions of what that is,” which I discovered when I put that slogan to the test.
His road wasn’t an easy one, but it was his path to his authentic life. He was blessed with supportive parents during his formative years in Chicago. The ordeal of his mother’s breast cancer taught him valuable lessons. His peers, however, were a challenge, judging him for his love of Doctor Who, science fiction, his taste in clothes and music, etc. Being a Nerd, he was seen by them as “other”; as, in his words, a “cappuccino-colored oddball,” he didn’t fit the “box.” Dealing with racism, he breaks down his experience with its various degrees, from the overt and blatant to the subtle microaggresions from his own truth and take on the world.
I loved his take on Chicago, the term “schmooey,” and his memory of “Vanilla Bean.” In his journey, being a Black Nerd put people on notice, and at the end of the day, his qualities proved to be his strengths. He never gave up.
As one who has come up through the ranks of Nerdiness, I thank you, T. Aaron Cisco, for sharing your story.
W.D. Foster-Graham
W.D. Foster-Graham is a native son of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a B.A. in psychology from Luther College, and he was an original member of the multi-Grammy-Award-winning ensemble, Sounds of Blackness. He has also been recognized by the International Society of Poets as one of its “Best New Poets of 2003,” is a guest writer for journalist/author/entertainer Wyatt O’Brian Evans.
