Good Saturday to you, Story366!
Today is the best kind of Saturday, I think, because I don’t have any plans. I slept in—which, nowadays, for me, means eight-thirty—had a bagel, and talked to the Karen about how we weren’t going to set up any expectations for today. Yesterday, I outlined how it’d been a rough couple of weeks, how much I was looking forward to a free weekend. We’ve made good on our promise, not planning any excursions or goals. Usually, we get a lot of the basic housechores done on these days—dishes, laundry, gargabe, recycling, etc.—which seems almost pleasurable when you have all day, nowhere to be, and some of that stuff is piling up so high you need mountain-climbing boots to navigate the house. I found the floors around three p.m. today, planted a flag, and took a nap. Perfect day.
I also got to read for a while, making the day even better. Today’s book is Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, out in 2018 from Mariner Books. Today is the sixth day of Black History Month Week here at Story366, and again today I’m reading a book by an author with whom I’d not been familiar with before cracking the cover today. This is a book I knew about, though, one that has garnered a lot of attention since its release. About time I caught up, so here we go.
“The Finkelstein 5” centers around Emmanuel, a young black man living in a troubled world. Race relations have disintegrated to the point where a middle-aged white man can chainsaw the heads off of five black youths in front of a public library; it’s the Finkelstein Library, by the way, giving the five, and this story, their name. Worst of all, the decapitator is found innocent in a court of law and released. His defense? Self-defense. They were coming after him—including a seven-year-old girl—he insists from the witness stand, and it works. This incident, having already happened at the outset of the story, sets the tone and environment for Adjei-Brenyah’s world.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel is trying to figure out what he’s going to do. Firstly, he’s trying to keep his “black” down, as there seems to be some sort of meter to gauge how black he’s being—listening to rap music, for example, raises his black. Wearing baggy pants raises his black. Et cetera. I’m not 100 percent sure if this is a real thing in this world or if it’s something Emmanuel does internally. But in any case, given all that’s happened, Emmanuel starts the story, and his day, trying to get his black down in the 2 range, which of course means stripping most of his identity away. He really doesn’t want to get attacked in the streets, however, and with the climate the way it is, someone ranging too high on the black meter will likely get lynched.
We also meet Boogie, Emmanuel’s friend, who is more on the offensive side of the conflict. There have been several attacks on white people in recent days, people murdered while their assailants scream the names of the Finkelstein 5. Boogie meets Emmanuel on a bus and works to convince him that the time to act is now, sensing Emmanuel’s hesitation. Emmanuel agrees to meet him later, and as he gets off the bus, watches as Boogie punches a white lady in the face, repeatedly, screaming the name of one of the 5. Boogie boogies while Emmanuel calls 911, but is still looked on by the bus riders with suspicion. Things are coming to a head.
Adjei-Brenyah intertwines scenes from the white killer’s trial with Emmanuel’s present-time scenes throughout the story, skillfully depicting how a guy—who, again, chainsawed the heads off of five kids—could get off. The defendent’s rhetoric is steadfast and simple, repeating the names of his own kids, swearing he was only providing defense. Even when the prosecutor suggests alternatives, such as simply driving away, the defendent claims he was protecting his children, repeating their names, drawing tears from the naive gallery.
Emmanuel meets up with Boogie later that night, which is as far as I’ll go with the plot. Adjei-Brenyah sets us up for a violent, gripping climax and delivers. Will Emmanuel join in Boogie’s attacks? Will he take the high road? But really, at this point, after what’s transgressed, what even is the high road?
As much as I love “The Finkelstein 5,” I love “The Era” just as much, a story set in an alternate future/reality where kids can be given boosts, of sorts, upon conception, chemicals that make them more athletic, ambitious, etc. This story centers around Ben, a kid who didn’t receive any boosts, by accident, not by choice, who realizes he’s not keeping up with his genetically enhanced peers at school. He’s offered sanctuary by a family of Antis—people who choose not to boost—but society has trained Ben to be too honest and he insults his possible saviors instead of embracing their outreach—he literally calls them poor and stupid when they invite him over for his birthday and make him a cake. I’m teaching a post-apocalyptic/alternative-future lit class in the next intersession and I know my students will be reading “The Era” as part of the syllabus.
I’m really stoked about Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, one of the best collections I’ve come across this year. The stories are inventive, complex, and have something to say about the world, things I’ve never quite heard put this way before. Adjei-Brenyah is a helluvah talent. So glad to spend time with his stories today, knowing I’ll be coming back to them in the future.
Story366 