Makes Me Wanna Holler

Nathan McCall’s Makes Me Wanna Holler offers a unique perspective on race in America. A first person account of a life on the streets, McCall showcases the lesser-known side of racial conflict. Through masterful storytelling and insightful narrative, McCall effectively explains his beginnings. Part one of his book specifically focuses on his childhood and young adulthood in Portsmouth, Virginia. Throughout this part he highlights the many influences on his character and his resulting actions up until his ultimate arrest.

Throughout this section, his life is thoroughly laid out, detailed, and analyzed. From the first time he shot a gun and stole something to his thoughts throughout, his voice is clear and powerful. The one thing, however, that isn’t as clear is his organization of time. With much of the book jumping back and forth with chapters focused on themes rather than linear organization, it is easy for the reader to get lost in time. Despite this hurdle, the book stands powerfully descriptive.

McCall’s book is an effective explanation of otherwise inexplicable people, but yet it still deals with similar concepts to MLK and Malcolm X’s famous speeches. These two conflicting ideologies intertwine and clash throughout McCall’s book. In his life his father represented the MLK ideology as a passive man who wished for change to come, but did not push the barrier. On the other hand, he and his friends were Malcolm X’s embodiment—taking no flack from the white man, justifying their violence with the violence that was always shown towards them. This young, radical generation, however, was not spurred by politics but by their everyday lives being put below the whites on the hierarchy. 

Most overwhelmingly this story was sad. It is about a man, namely a generation of men, who felt trapped by his peers and his society into poor decision-making. It is clear throughout the book that McCall knew right from wrong; he wanted to stop. He had to drown out his conscience by taking drugs and alcohol simply to get through the day.

In this way, Makes Me Wanna Holler is a powerful narrative of a life most have never seen. It showcases the factors that led to delinquency and offers an explanation for it where otherwise there are none.