In this post: A story about the proper way to interact with racism (I think). *Trigger warning*
Category: Black in America + Short Story Collection
*Trigger warning* This story includes a character who has experienced sexual abuse as a minor. Reader discretion is advised.
Ramiah Recommended?
No. While this story can provoke interesting thought and provides thoughtful commentary at times. The story feels like jigsaw pieces from multiple different puzzles were forced together. There was no purpose for the story.
A Black professor named Coleman, who is unsure about his teaching ability, attends a book reading of his peer, 'famous black writer' (verbatim, that is how the peer is referred to as). Famous black writer -- or FBW for short -- pairs his memoir on being a Black, queer, man with a Q&A from his mostly-white audience. FBW seems annoyed with having to answer questions and teach the room about his black identity; FBW is openly irritated with one specific question "'So you’re black, but oftentimes, because you know, you move through different spaces, and stuff, like, how do you negotiate race and power in all of the spaces you inhabit?'" FBW and Coleman meet up after the book reading and a man experiencing homelessness ask them for change - FBW tells others that the encounter was racist and FBW disagrees. Throughout the story, readers learn that Coleman was sexually assaulted by his pastor when he was younger. And that's "Prophets".
If it seems like my summary isn't doing the story justice, and this will sound harsh, it's because the story doesn't have much.
While I was reading, I was so confused about what the point of everything was. Why do we need to know that Coleman didn't feel confident in teaching? Why are we seeing Coleman and FBW both despise each other? What does Coleman's upbringing add to the story?
I wish this story was a narrative about the damaging effects of childhood trauma and how it can disrupt one's adult life, that Black people must endure become a source of entertainment or study when simply sharing facts of their life, or that racism is (or isn't) truly everywhere. Any of those would make for compelling plots.
Instead, Taylor seemed to want to take aspects of each of those possible narratives, piece them together, and give readers no clue as to why they were included or the significance they held.
Sticking with even one of those narratives would have been stronger than trying to combine all three.
Worse, a new purpose of the narrative was introduced in the final passage: that those we hold high as 'prophets' are not prophets at all and abuse their power and respect. The 'prophets' here could be the pastor Coleman and his church community respected but ultimately abused that respect by sexually assaulting children entrusted to him, and FBW who used his influence as a black writer to mislabel events as racially targeted and have his supporters believe him and condemn others unchecked.
If that message was intended, it was lost in the scuffle of other events introduced.
'Lost' accurately described how I felt as a reader. I couldn't understand what was happening and therefore couldn't understand the story.
All this being said, a few parts did strike me as interesting.
One of the ways Coleman condemns FBW for making a non-racist event racist was by saying that FBW embellishing the story with the man experiencing homelessness was his revenge: "this particular breed of black people who had once harbored dreams of being white." It's worth saying that this scene is weird and I have follow-up questions (i.e. why did FBW say the man experiencing homelessness was racist? Did he actually believe it or was it fabricated?). The story is told from Coleman's perspective, so perhaps because Coleman did not believe it existed, readers are influenced to believe it also didn't exist. Regardless, if we ignore whether or not the racist incident happened at all, I don't agree that someone reacting negatively to a racist event means they 'harbored dreams of being white' and want revenge for having those dreams shattered.
Whether or not the racist event happened is not critical to the story, but without it, there isn't really a story at all.
Ramiah Reflects
Questions to Ask Yourself (and answer!):
If you read this story for yourself, what do you think this story is about?
Ramiah's Re-read When
Re-read when:
You want a story to mull over
No book notes this time, folks!
Check out my other posts and book notes here.
Until next time!
Montana Houston
