I just finished reading Midnight: And the Meaning of Love, the second installment to the Midnight book series by Sister Souljah. I have to first of all say, much love to Sister Souljah for her travels in writing this book. She had my full attention through the entire book as I not only continued to love Midnight, because lets be honest, I loved him from The Coldest Winter Ever, but I also received an education. Through the eyes of Midnight and Souljah's words I was taken to Japan and Korea without having to leave my sofa. I learned so much about the Japanese and the Korean cultures and people.
As we left off in the last book with Akemi's capture, Midnight is determined to find his wife. He traveled 7,000 miles to go find her. He traveled to the unknown. He is a young man who definitely loves real hard. A man in love goes after what he wants with no questions asked. The way he remains discreet, protective, and silent makes you have nothing but respect for him.
The love he has for the women in his life touches my heart in a major way. Every single man and woman needs to go out and read this book. I had to keep reminding my 27 year old mind that this is a teenager who is loving so hard. This young man went through so much in the this book, and only he said it best when he returned to Brooklyn that he his now a man in full. If you thought he was mature and an adult before, he went through so much. My fear for him, and for Souljah's next book, c'mon you have to give us more, is that he has so much to protect now. I just got married last year and started reading prayer books. I've been praying about my husband and his protection from the out side world. I've been praying not only to protect him, but our marriage from the outside. There are so many temptations, and Midnight is well aware of all of them. Even in the end as he's headed back to Brooklyn from Korea, he had to get his mind right. The US is no joke. I'm happy though that Souljah allowed us to see his vulnerable side when he was with his wife. And even as he fell in love with Chiasa and made her his second wife. I knew the whole time that he was loving that girl. And it was all so subtle the things he loved about her. He knew it too. And now he has to protect his women. His Umma, his sister Naja, and his wives.
As a woman, we have no idea how hard it is for the men to protect and take care of us. Even Bangs, who didn't understand why Midnight wanted her to not "show off" as much. Young ladies need to learn how to protect themselves by not being so "out there" until a man comes to protect them. Especially women who are without fathers. I know this may sound sexist, and not my higher self because as an independent woman, I know its difficult to think of a man being the only one in charge of you. But that is the problem with our African American society. We women don't know that you need to be submissive. You need to let you man be a man. And listen to him. And know that he is the one who will protect you. And be able to trust him. In the same breath I know it is inherent in what we've observed in our families and the men in our lives that perhaps they can't be trusted. And perhaps we women have to take control because they won't. It is something that my husband and I have struggled with. But this is just our first year of marriage, and I have become more submissive. After reading this book, I see that Midnight's women trust him and love him. They allow him to take control. That is why he is so happy. His wives changed everything about themselves just about to be with him. They changed the way they dressed, by still keeping some of their personal style, but in their respect for him, they did it willingly. When I seen how much struggle it took Bangs to change for him, even though she did it, and how easy it was for his wives to change, it showed the major difference between African American women.
It would be easier for us to unite as a race if we could submit to the men in our lives. To respect them, and ourselves more by not dressing like hos or hoochies out in the streets. A man can and will respect you more if you cover up. I think Midnight, who never seemed interested in American women because of how "easy" they were knew that he could have never married Bangs or any other American woman for that matter. I see now that him and Winter could have never been together, as much as I wanted him for her. I wanted him for her then because she wanted him so badly. But Midnight would have never went for her. She reminded him too much of Bangs. When he was younger he couldn't control his "manhood" around Bangs, but through discipline and prayer I'm sure, he was much more able to control himself around Winter without even looking her direction. I would like to think that every man could control himself like that. I would like to think that even if a girl walked by naked, he wouldn't even turn to look out of respect for himself and her. But women don't respect or love them selves that much. Especially a woman like Bangs, trying to trap Midnight. She knew exactly what he was doing. And he knew he had love for her, but she could never be his wife. That goes for all the women waiting for a ring. You have to read this book.
I already know that Souljah is going to do another one. She not only has much love for Midnight, and his loves but she also loves her fans. We are keeping this story going, so please go pick up a book. And if you can't afford one, pass it around. I'll send you mine!
JB Rossi
