The title of this book is taken from the 19th-century vignettes entitled, “Heads of the Colored People, Done With a Whitewash Brush” by the African-American physician and abolitionist, James McCune Smith. Smith's sketches centered on ten different people identified by trade - the point being that these people bootstrapped from slavery to working-class through their labor, integrity, and thrift.
James McCune Smith
Rather than the working class, Nafissa Thompson-Spires focuses her book on the black upper middle class. In an interview, Thompson-Spires noted: "America has had its first black baseball player, its first black astronaut, its first black president, but after the firsts, the world is still full of onlies - like the only black student in a private school...or the only black woman in a yoga class. Because you are sort of a representative of what people see as black, these are additional pressures on top of the standard pressures of being black in a white world." In this collection of stories, Thompson-Spires' characters show us how they deal with those pressures, as well as other aspects of black racial identity.
Nafissa Thompson-Spires
*****
Some of the tales are connected by a recurring character named Fatima, whom we first meet in a story titled "Belles Lettres." In this tale, Fatima and her classmate Christinia are the only black students in a private elementary school. Hostility sprouts up between the girls and spreads to their mothers - both of whom have doctorates. Thus Dr. Monica Willis, PhD (Fatima's mother) and Dr. Lucinda Johnston PsyD (Christinia's mother) exchange increasingly hostile letters via their children's backpacks.
The notes include nasty comments about each other's daughter, including cracks about killing a hamster; breaking a classmate's nose; reading below grade level; having a smelly backpack; being obese (Fatima); etc. This escalates to the women insulting each other directly, with insinuations about sanity and questionable paternity. The letters are below the belt, but hilarious.
Later, in "The Body's Defenses Against Itself" we meet Fatima as a adult, when she's one of two black women in a yoga class - the second woman having just joined. Fatima, overweight and sweating heavily from hyperhidrosis, starts to think about Christinia - who used to call her "Fatima Sweatima" and made fun of her for years. Perhaps as a reaction, Fatima now feels competitive with the new black yogi, who's much better at the poses than she is.
Finally, in "Fatima, The Biloquist", we go back to Fatima's high school years, when 'she feels ready to become black' after always attending 'white schools' and living in 'white neighborhoods.' Fatima meets Violet, an albino African-American girl, at the mall - and Violet teaches Fatima how to talk and act like people in the hood. The vocabulary lessons are wonderful. For example, black expressions for rating hot men are:
Foine
Dang Foine
Hella Foine
Bout it, bout it
Hot Diggity
Dizam
Hot Diggity Dizam
Ooh, hurt me, hurt me
Phat
Ooohweee
Fatima starts to date a white boy, Rolf, whom she introduces to her parents but tries to hide from Violet. When Rolf accidently meets Violet, he blurts out, "Even your black friends are white", which seems insensitive, but may be Rolf's attempt at humor.
*****
In the titular story, "Heads of the Colored People: Four Fancy Sketches, Two Chalk Outlies, and No Apology", a young black man named Riley - sporting blue contact lenses and gelled blonde hair - is on his way to a comic con convention dressed as a Japanese manga character. Riley brushes off a black artist distributing pamphlets on the street, who takes offense and starts a tussle. The story is lighthearted until the police get involved.
*****
"The Necessary Changes Have Been Made" is set in a historically black college with a largely white faculty. A black English professor called Randy is assigned a large office with big windows, which he likes because fluorescent lights give him migraines, and he can leave them off.
When a Latina Spanish professor named Isabella becomes Randy's office mate, they clash over the lights. Randy starts to seethe inside, and embarks on a campaign of microaggression by sneakily squashing Isabella's trail mix and eating her yogurt covered raisins. Isabella retaliates by clandestinely pressing her fingers into Randy's sandwich. The situation escalates from there....until it's resolved. I think the story paints a realistic picture of human nature, regardless of color or ethnicity.
****
Other stories highlight a variety of characters.
- A filmmaker is making a reality show about a fruitarian couple who practice detachment parenting. The subjects have no furniture, but their house stinks from 18 storage tubs of mangos, coconuts, and durians.....all of which attract buzzing fruit flies. The wife has a blog, where she likens breast feeding to baby vampirism and cannibalism. 🍉🥑🍍
The reality show isn't going well because the husband seems to be pulling away from his wife.....and taking his daughter with him. I enjoyed the voyeuristic peek into an 'alternative lifestyle.'
*****
- Jilly is obsessed with social media, and continually tracks her likes and comments. She has thousands of Facebook friends and Twitter followers, and analyzes everything she does - eating, drinking alcohol, losing weight, cutting herself, etc. - in terms of how it would look online and how much buzz it would generate. 👗👓🥤
Right now Jilly is considering suicide, and analyzing how various methods (pills, sticking her head in the oven, etc.) would look to her followers. Morbidly funny story that shines a light on living your life in the public eye.
*****
- Raina is a teenager who posts ASMR videos, which are meant to induce a feeling of pleasure and relaxation in her viewers. For her productions, Raina creates soothing sounds and tells stories in a whispery voice, but she doesn't show her face. Raina incessantly checks her hits and comments, anxious to build up her subscriber base. 🎵📃📀
The teen loves her hobby but is bothered because her mother disapproves; a boy from school - who sexually harasses her - knows who she is and is sending messages; and her online boyfriend is distancing himself from her.
Raina dreams of running away and finding a group of people who would accept her, regardless of her chubby body; unfashionable hair; and wealthy family. A semi-humorous story with an undercurrent of sadness.
*****
- Marjorie has a temper problem but has to go to the DMV, which always has big crowds; long lines; and convoluted procedures. Marjorie's been working with a therapist to control her anger, which she feels is un-Christian, but the DMV proves too much for her. (The DMV in a big city could drive anyone nuts.) 🤔🤨😆
*****
- Kim has a fetish for amputees who've lost their legs, and dates one after another.....all of whom she calls 'Todd.' Kim encourages the Todds to use wheelchairs so she can push them around, and maybe skip the line at Disneyland. When the amputees prostheses are off, Kim continually stares at their scars, bruises, skin discoloration, etc. When the men catch on to Kim's obsession they dump her, so she makes a bizarre grand gesture for her current disabled beau. I found this story kind of creepy. 🙁😔😒
*****
- Eldwin is a graduate student who's writing a true story for an assignment. The story is about a boy called Junior who loved 'white people food.' Junior would bring potato bread, croissants, brioche, and bagels to school - to share with his friends. Junior's pals loved the potato bread and croissants, but drew the line at brioche. A white girl surreptitiously listens to Eldwin and his friend Brian discuss the story, and Brian accuses Eldwin of writing like a white anthropologist. (I think we're all curious about the trappings of other cultures.) 🍩🍞🎂
*****
- Alma is a nurse who makes extra cash by singing at funerals. Upset by the death of a boy who was shot 13 times - her fifth funeral in two months - Alma thinks about her infant Ralph. Alma worries about letting the baby grow up in a world where so many black boys are killed, and considers drowning him. Sad story that reflects the current state of our society. 😪😞🤕
*****
This is a well-written, thought-provoking collection that addresses black racial identity in America with humor and perception. When asked about her characters, Thompson-Spires noted, "They are all dealing, in some way, with the burdens of both their privilege (as middle-class black people with access or proximity to the privileges of whiteness) and the realization that privilege doesn’t necessarily guarantee happiness. Each of these characters feels unseen, invisible in the traditional racial sense as outlined by Ralph Ellison, but also invisible as people beyond race, reduced to their bodies or their superficial descriptors."
As with any collection, I like some stories better than others, my favorites being the funny ones. I'd recommend the book to fans of literary fiction and short stories.
Rating: 4 stars
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