New York-based freelance writer Sam Forster recently released his self-published book, “Seven Shoulders: Taxonomizing Racism in Modern America,” to well, less than favorable reviews. According to a copy that was sent to The Independent, basically, Forster puts on some makeup and colored contacts, dons a curly wig and poof, a Black man is made, but refuses to show what he looks like as inward.
The Book Overview states, “[s]ix decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, award-winning journalist Sam Forster performs a daring transformation in order to taxonomize the various types of racism that persist in modern America. Seven Shoulders is the most important book on American race relations that has ever been written.”
Wow, that definitely does not look like Forster wrote that book overview at all.
Imagine the self-awareness you have to lack in order to think that a white man, who does not actually experience racism and does not even have a measurable academic or professional career on the subject, will be able to craft the most important book on American race relations that has ever been written.
While Forster has been somewhat diplomatic in his responses to the backlash, he has still continued to display the failure of his project’s goals via his heated exchange with the CEO of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson. When called out for his book by Johnson, Forster responded with a screenshot of his attempt to interview Johnson, whom he snarkily refers to as an “ACTUAL Black person,” in his retort. Forster also likens his work to that of Ray Sprigle, John Howard Griffin and Grace Halsell, all white journalists who donned some sort of Black face/costume and wrote about it.
The most recent book, by Halsell, was published more than 50 years ago, and while Griffin’s work was the most celebrated of the three, they all have received some pushback from Black people, whether then or now.
Sorry! I assumed @DerrickNAACP was an ACTUAL Black person. Let me know if there's someone Blacker than him who is willing to speak with me. https://t.co/89o9SYCTqC pic.twitter.com/KVDAZCko4c
— Sam Forster (@ForsterSam) May 30, 2024
Even so, Griffin actually worked for a Black publication and did many years of resistance work before he shaved his head and darkened his skin with tanning oil and a drug to treat vitiligo and set out on a journey of hitchhiking down country roads in the American south like Forster claimed to have mimicked. Considering the blind spots in Griffin’s pursuit of knowledge, it is still hardly a fair thing to compare Forster’s accomplishments, whether in third person or not, to Griffin’s. Despite the criticism that it has received, Black Like Me is still widely heralded as an important book but it is quite a juxtaposition to assert that one form of Blackface is more acceptable than another.
The exception is that Forster should at least know that in the time he wrote his book, donning Blackface is absolutely a bad thing.
It is fair to argue that white people speaking on behalf of Black people does more benefit than harm; the problem comes when those same white people, like Jane Elliott or Time Wise, speak over Black people or disagree with Black people about our experiences or take away our opportunities. It can easily become a dehumanizing experience for the same people whose humanity they are advocating to be recognized. Essentially, white freedom fighters can become no better than the people whom they seek to inform, thus confirming that the Black experience is not something you can pick up in the haircare, makeup or book aisles.
Whether misguided or not, it is hard to fathom that Forster’s intentions are purely altruistic and not mostly self-serving, seeing as how the only time the words Black or racism are ever mentioned in his Xweets are as early as this week, yet he has had the account since 2011. There were millions of Black voices whom he could’ve interviewed instead of trying to fix his trachea to have one, interviews he claims to have done in a book which he also states is mostly written from a first-person account.
Oh, so you didn't think your voice was Black enough? Let me know if anything has changed! My DMs are open. https://t.co/23RTTj4gL5 pic.twitter.com/q21aazCUmw
— Sam Forster (@ForsterSam) May 30, 2024
The saddest part about the book is that it is quickly climbing up the charts and is, as of May 30, 2024, #19 in the Sociology of Social Theory category and #93 and #97 in Discrimination & Racism and African American Demographic Studies categories, respectively.
The pure audacity of conceptualizing, “researching,” and ultimately authoring a book where you center yourself in a Black experience has led to its success.
Now, ain’t that some white privilege if I’ve ever seen it?
