I feel like my, and probably most of the class’s first impression of Angry Black White Boy could’ve been better. I found the prologue jarring, and that followed by the baseball section, and then finally the first chapter made for a particularly confusing first reading. However, now that we’re several chapters in, I’ve noticed some pretty interesting elements of the book, and in particular chapter six.
One prominent thread that we see throughout our time in Macon’s head is just how hard he’s trying all the time. It seems like at every moment he’s either internally berating white people (like at the poetry slam), trying to get black people to like him (like at Nique’s dorm), or explaining to the reader something about which he has vast and endless amounts of knowledge (“vast” and “endless” being sarcastic). Throughout all this time we also get glimpses into Macon’s insecurities (not being liked, being “exposed”, etc.), and this element is highlighted in chapter six.
Because Macon gets off at the wrong stop in chapter five (another example of the limitations of his knowledge), he has to walk through the park, which he knows is a particularly bad part of town, to get back to his dorm. Macon tries to fool himself into thinking it isn’t actually that big of a deal, but the passage reads, “He wanted to emerge unscathed and be able to say, People are tripping. The park is fine at night. And then he’d never set food there after dark again.” This is a really good example of how almost everything Macon does seems to be so he can prove he’s “cool” to other people, particularly black people, by doing things he really doesn’t want to do.
Another interesting/bewildering/hilarious element of chapter six is Macon’s recruitment to the People’s Cooperative Guerrilla Theater. I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of this when I first read it (I mean, they make him wear a dress and play Nora in A Doll’s House, what the hell are we supposed to make of it?), but I think there are elements of it that are significant. The sentry explains that the group had to go underground because they wanted to perform plays by playwrights who weren’t African-American, and they lost support after that (the sentry notably states “I ain’t just a raisin in the sun. I’m a tomato in the rain forest.”) Macon doesn’t seem to have a lot of experience with black people who aren’t super involved in black nationalism or black power movements (for example he seemed to get on way better with Nique than he did with Andre), and so these black men who want to do a diverse range of theater are almost an enigma to him. I think it’s also important the book emphasizes that while Macon is “the wokest white boy” (or trying to be, at least), he still is operating within his own prejudices (scared to walk through a “bad neighborhood”, assumes that the black guy is going to hurt him), and won’t be fully accepted until he recognizes and overcomes those prejudices.
Overall, I still think this book is really weird, but I’m starting to enjoy that weirdness. I definitely feel like an outsider looking in, because I’m not very familiar with the history of hip hop and the Five-Percent Nation, but honestly find the dynamics of the book very interesting. I hope the book continues to surprise me!
