"The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman."
This quote from the great civil rights figure precedes the text proper by appearing in the Introduction. The significance of Malcolm’s assertion here is a force driving everything that follows. This is a text that very deeply considers the role of the male in black society, but above all, that analysis is its focus on the enormous role—by comparison—of the female in black society. A role that, as Malcolm X expresses, has historically been undervalued, underappreciated, and under-analyzed.
“A lie ain’t a side of the story. It’s a lie.”
The wise old black woman is a trope that has been around so long and used by so many white writers that it has inevitably come to be identified as racist. Throughout the novel, the author quotes this beloved figure and identifies them collectively as “Nannyisms.” They amount to a compendium of proverbial advice expressed mostly through metaphor. The above case is one of the few cases where metaphor isn’t engaged. Also, the above example is pretty self-explanatory.
"Many white boys from a very young age are taught to shoot, hunt, and believe that guns are their birthright…It can’t be lost on us that in this country, a Black boy with a gun is equal to his death."
This quote illustrates that there is a distinction in America between the Second Amendment as it applies to whites and how it is applied to blacks. A white American teenager can run wild through the streets of a metropolis firing off multiple rounds from an assault weapon at will and killing innocent people in the process and be completely exonerated of wrongdoing by a jury. A young black boy can be playing with a toy gun and be mowed down within seconds of police arriving on the scene without any repercussions against law enforcement. Few essential truths about America are as irrefutably clear.
