The title of this graphic novel for middle schoolers is generally understood within the connotation of describing someone who behaves in an admirable way under circumstances that might be expected to provoke the worst in some people. If one changes which word in the title is accented, the resulting inflection insinuates a different meaning into the title. Instead of it being about a class act, it becomes a story about class act. And, ultimately, that seems to be what this book is suggesting about the treatment of race and privilege in America.
In other words, much of the narrative presents events that strongly hint that the race problem in America may have as much to do perception as with reality. The young African America protagonist, Drew Ellis, begins the story by having already established a strong friendship with a white student named Liam. The relationship between the two is an easy one in which neither Liam’s race nor his economic status has much impact. This remains the case until one fateful day when Drew gets his first look at Liam’s home and lifestyle over the Thanksgiving break. The very fact that it is Liam’s “driver” Mr. Pierre who is the first to confront Drew over his newfound discomfort with their friendship pretty much sums up Liam’s lifestyle. It is like stepping into another world for Drew; a fantasy world that he knows can never possibly exist for himself except under the most statistically unlikely of possibilities. In other words, Drew can take the advice he’s heard all his young life that blacks have to work twice as hard as whites just to be thought of as equally good at what they do and apply it diligently every day and there is still no way in heck he is ever going to wind up living a life like Liam. For that to ever happen will require about six or seven little ping-pong balls to pop out of a machine in the just the alignment of numbers. And so this constant reiteration that in American stepping up in class requires little else than a commitment to working harder than the competition is reveal to be a magic act designed solely to get more hours out of workers.
Systemic thought processing is represented in the character of Andy who is a MAGA-hat wearing classmate who simply can’t over the fact that he lost his QB position to a black kid. The MAGA hat connects Andy to several generations older than himself in its projection of the idea that racist ideology is passed down from parents to children and thus becomes very difficult to break. But when Andy accidentally turns himself green following a prank gone bad, he is forced to stand in Drew’s shoes metaphorically speaking. He is mercilessly taunted and teased for no other reason than the color of his skin. He was never taunted and teased for being a jerk with white skin, but now that he’s a jerk with green skin, it is open season. Except he’s still not being attacked for his jerkiness. This experience creates a new awareness for Andy that is simply not open to the generations before and to come. Attacking racism is not as easy as turning every white person’s skin a different color and then attacking them for it. The metaphor is therefore imperfect—Andy is just one green person alone whereas Drew is one of a handful of black kids in school and one of billions outside of school—but that flaw seems to be exactly what the author is saying is the problem. All our attempts to impose racial understanding is merely acting out a class difference because the realty is that no matter what the attempt, white people can never truly understand what it means to be black in America.
Later in the book there is another more realistic “act” designed to show class differences when black students from an economically underprivileged school are invited to Drew’s school. The difference in privilege and opportunity is too stark to even try to ignore and ultimately nothing of any genuine value is accomplished and no change is afforded that will prove the conditions of those kids from the visiting school.
Almost every event which takes place in the book becomes an act of good faith and good intentions aimed at developing a better understanding of race relations in America, but they all wind up being just another example of acting out attempts to foster a better understanding of class differences. It is all on the surface because there is no real emotional investment. It is only at the very end when Drew and Liam have made a genuine effort at really understanding their friendship relative to their diverse placement in status that the story becomes one about a class act rather than a class act.
