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There are the theme-park vigilantes of Zimmer Land, and the title storys vicious zombie shoppers.
Morgan: The Finkelstein 5 took me out.
I almost missed my train stop.
It made me so sad because I can see all of that happening right now.
Maris: The justifications for violence.
Morgan: And how black kids arent really children.
Hillary: The chainsaw bit was jarring but in a very meaningful way.
Maris: How do you hang on to your humanity in situations like that?
I couldnt help but think about watching theTrayvon Martin verdict, or even the coverage of Mike Browns shooting.
Hillary: George Zimmerman was all over this collection a massive indictment of Stand Your Ground laws.
Mitchell: I was really moved by the courtroom arguments they were making.
He really got at the heart of it: Who deserves to be safe?
How far can one go to protect their safety?
[The defendant] wanted to protect his kids.
I remember speaking to a black man about this.
He told me so much emotional energy in public is expended on making everyone else feel comfortable and safe.
Boris: The protagonist, Emmanuel, is constantly dialing up or down his internal Blackness Scale.
Morgan:I know that Blackness Scale.
Toning it down, as my mom would say.
I have not seen it written about this way before.
Its part of every tiny decision he makes about his appearance.
I guess in a way the murders were a lynching.
And just like lynchings, no one is held accountable.
Yes, you honor.
But I didnt feel safe.
Maris:Subtlety is getting us nowhere.
Hillary: I think, as a society, weve become unshockable.
Though I thought the chainsaw bit wasveryshocking.
Morgan:I didnt find it shocking, honestly.
I found it like a mirror or even a premonition for whats to come.
Im sorry, yall!
That seemed unthinkable too.
Maris:I get that Im privileged to even feel shocked.
Hillary:Maybe thats why Adjei-Brenyah pushes it to a point that isalmostbelievable.
He wants us to know that this can (will?)
happen, but give us just enough of a shove past where we are now.
Mitchell: It doesnt seem like we are very far off at all from that being more common.
Now well have some YouTube footage of it and well have to watch an ad before we see it.
Hillary:Can we talk about Emmanuels transformation his backing off from the violence?
Are they rewarded for it?
Mitchell:I wasnt surprised by his transformation since he was repressing so much of himself.
I cant imagine getting my blackness down to a 1.5.
Hillary: It felt like a daring move to create these roving gangs of vengeance seekers.
Morgan:And to have them saying the names of the dead before killing?
Very, very clever.
Mitchell:He figured that at the other side of the tunnel after the Naming he might he happy.
But as he thrashed and yelled and saw it all, he felt nothing leaving him.
Who is Adjei-Brenyah writing for?
Great writing works for so many groups in different ways.
This is a book I want to hand toa lotof white people.
Mitchell:Id love to hear him explain to whom he felt he was writing.
Boris:What about the three stories narrated by a mall salesman?
Theres been lots of fiction, dystopian and otherwise, critiquing capitalism.Whats new here?
Hillary:Apparently Adjei-Brenyah worked in a mall as a teen/young man.
Morgan: I like morbid humor.
Hillary:OMG Mitchell.
I dont know if I should laugh or cry.
Morgan:I laughed.
Hillary: Thanks, Morgan.
Adjei-Brenyah does have an early-2000s conception of retail though, right?
They really had the human touch …
Morgan:Yep.
Im from South Jersey.
I miss how much shit would happen in malls.
Maris:But I think fewer people are now being trampled?
Hillary:Although hes also making the point that humanity has been missing from shopping for a long time.
Hence the zombies, and the utter inability to communicate in anything but grunts.
Hillary:We have to talk about Zimmer Land, too.
I really loved that he owned it with that name.
Yep, talking about that exact murderer.
I feel like I have a lot of relatives who would think Zimmer Land is a great idea.
Which made me queasy the whole time I was reading it.
you’re able to work out your anger in a safe place!
Morgan:This story reminded me of aBlack Mirrorepisode.
Mitchell:First, great title.
Second, theres that rage again.
But this time, it felt much more about how George Zimmerman worked himself up to unjustified rage.
Also, how he kept doing wild stuff even after he was found not guilty.
It was like he had been given license to be the arm of white supremacy.
People become monsters without consequences, only to be angels the next day.
Mitchell:The Loop.
We are living in the Loop, where even a blue sky is a taunt.
And also, where the women are most levelheaded but also the most dangerous.
Maris:Groundhog Day, but more torture.
Boris:Is there a unified grand theory to this book?
Morgan:The false sense of safety?
How there really is no such thing as a safety net.
Maris:Despite everything, I think that people really are good at heart.
Anne Frank.Friday Blackloads us up on the everything.
Boris:Mitchell, you have a book coming out on the black community in Portland.
Any resonances withFriday Black?
Mitchell:Im in that city right now.
Portland was made white by writ literally, in the state constitution.
What resonated with me was Nanas double consciousness.
One can do it from a place of empathy, or one does it from a place of necessity.
That consciousness is at the heart of these stories.
I mean, I think they are?
But why is likability important here?
Hillary:I didnt care about liking them at all.
Am I supposed to not like her but like that I dont like her?
Maybe this is how dudes feel all the time?
Maris:There is such clearly defined evil inFriday Black.
Not much is ambiguous, morally.
The situations werent ambiguous.
But the people were.
Mitchell:Well, we are living in evil.
So we could just take notes.
Its so obviously about both, and all of American history.
Hillary:That was the false promise of Obamas America right?
That wed be post-race.
Mitchell:Its the Loop.
Obama made what we have now, like Reconstruction made Jim Crow.
Boris:Maybe the Loop is the unified theory.
Hillary:Im wondering if people think fiction like this can coerce.
Does it change minds?
Mitchell:I think fiction can be part of an influential chorus.
Hillary:you should probably trademark that phrase.
