Tamar picked up the novel from the table and flipped through it. “Actually, I think this book is sort of racist,” she said.
“Oh, yeah,” I said. I’d heard people say that before, and I knew they were probably right, but I never understood what they were talking about. I thought Heart of Darkness was a classic and pure genius.
“I haven’t read it,” Ellen said.
“What?” I said. “It’s Heart of Darkness.”
“I tutor math,” Ellen said. “But I saw Apocalypse Now.”
“You should read it, but it’s really full of white supremacy,” Tamar said. “Maybe it was racist to even assign it for our class.”
“Do you really not like it?” I asked, feeling hurt.
“No, I liked it,” Tamar said.
“Why is it racist?” I asked. I grabbed a pencil and prepared to take notes. Maybe we’d come up with the thesis for her paper.
“Well, the black people in the story never get to talk except for once, when that guy tells Marlowe that Kurtz is dead, but Conrad doesn’t even let him say it normal but like he’s a slave on a plantation. ‘Mistah Kurtz he dead.’”
I wrote that down on a piece of paper.
“And the chick who’s Kurtz’s girlfriend never gets to talk either, and she’s just running around looking exotic. And then she gets shot while she’s standing out on the beach with her arms wide open while they all point their guns at her, when what she’d really be doing is hauling ass out of there.”
I wrote that down too.
“I mean, it’s sort of like your story,” Tamar said. “Everybody in it who gets to talk is white and the POCs are just totally enslaved and controlled.”
I wrote that down as well, but not for her paper but more for my own literary purposes, like an edit.
“Point taken,” I said.
“How would you write it?” Ellen asked.
“Well, for Sandra’s story, I would write it from the point of the view of one of the SubD kids,” Tamar said. “And I’d show how the testing schemes of the white supremacists were all super biased and that my SubD hero was actually incredibly intelligent and that if he’d just taken a different test, he would have scored in the ninety-ninth percentile.”
I didn’t say anything. I was just writing it all down.
“And then I’d have this kid who’s really in the ninety-ninth percentile, I’d call him Malcom, and make him a black gay kid,” she went on. “Malcom would fall in love with another kid called Lance, and then the white supremacists would find out, and they’d punish the boys by separating them. They’d move Lance to the F building, so that maybe Lance was going to get killed and made into Waste.”
“What’s Lance?” I asked.
“What do you mean, ‘What’s Lance?’” Tamar said.
“Like, is he black?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe he’s Asian. He can be Asian or black. Or Latinx. Or white. The important thing is that they’re in love, but Lance is captured, and so Malcolm knows that he is going to have to save Lance, because he loves Lance so much. So Malcom starts leading a rebellion in the SubD building.”
“How?” I asked.
Tamar had two braids on each side of her head, and she pulled on one, thinking. “Well, one of the things that the white-supremacist tests would not have picked up on was that Malcolm is a computer genius. And because he is a genius, he secretly reprograms the ‘I Am’ computer protocol thing so that instead of seeing scary mind-control pictures on their computers, the kids start seeing messages that say things like, ‘You Are Not Alone’ and ‘You Are Loved’ and ‘Meet Me in the Basement Tonight So That We Can Plan a Rebellion and Be Free.’”
“And then what?” Ellen asked.
“And then the kids read the messages, and one by one they take the needles out of their arms and rip the little rubber thought-control caps off their heads. And then later that night they all meet up in the basement and plan their rebellion.”
Ellen and I sat there and just listened.
“And then the kids race through the SubD building yelling and crying and screaming with happiness because they have finally stopped listening to the terrible computer that was telling them to hate themselves and to obey. And the guy George and that lady Melinda run away because they are outnumbered. And then the guards get scared, because now Melinda and George aren’t there to tell them what to do. Either that or the guards take off their jumpsuits and start running around with the kids too. And so then Malcolm and everybody in the SubD building run out to the Failure/Waste building, still screaming and crying and yelling with freedom and happiness. And the guards in the Failure/Waste building get scared like in the SubD building and run away or join in. And then Malcolm runs through the jails breaking them open—”
“With what?” I asked. “What does he use to break the jails open?”
“He uses his computer smarts and finds a control box in the building that controls all of the locks. And he reprograms it, and then all of the jails open up. So then all of the kids who were Failures and Waste rush out and hug each other and grab each other’s hands and run outside to where the trees and the fresh air is. And now they’re just kids and not F/Ws.”
“And then what happens?” Ellen asked.
“Malcom continues running through the jail cells until he finally finds Lance. He finds Lance in the last jail cell. Lance is extremely terrified and really thin from starvation and torture and is shivering in a corner. And Malcom comes in and say, ‘Lance, Lance, I came to get you out. You’re safe now. You’re with me.’ And Lance looks up at Malcolm and is barely able to believe his eyes because he has suffered so much in the prison. Lance has forgotten what it means to be free and have feelings and to have hope. But when Malcolm wraps his arms around Lance, then Lance suddenly remembers that he is human and a good person. And he knows that Malcom loves him and that being able to love somebody is the most important thing in the world, and so he’s going to be okay.”
At this point I was pressing my balled up fists into my eyes and Ellen was sniffling.
“And then do they kill all the white supremacists and start a new society?” I managed to ask.
“No,” Tamar said. “Malcolm and the other kids decide to love the white supremacists instead.”
“What?” Ellen rasped out. “Why?”
“Because if we love them hard enough, then someday they’ll have to love us back,” Tamar said.
“Oh, Tamar,” I said.
“I think it’s a better ending,” she said.
“But the world doesn’t work that way,” I said.
“I know, but it could,” Tamar said.
Ellen and I were still just sitting there with tears brimming in our eyes and me stuffing my fists into my face to calm down.
“Yeah, maybe it could,” I finally said.
From the TV room, we could hear the kids watching their TV show. The theme song continued playing: Ta deee ta dooo ta deeee. Heart of Darkness still sat on the table in front of us. The paperback had a terrifying cover, showing a picture of a shirtless white man crawling on all fours on the ground. I looked back up at Tamar and smiled at her and picked a piece of lint off her sleeve.
“See what I mean?” Ellen said, gesturing at her.
I rubbed my face furiously and worried that if I answered, I’d start crying in a strangely and overreactively cathartic way. So I just looked down at my notes, which were illegible.
Tamar gazed at us for a moment. She shook her head and laughed gently.
“You guys,” she said.*
Additional Sources
Miss USA 2015
Katie Reilly, “Miss USA Contestant: Donald Trump Walked in on Naked Women in Dressing Room,” Time, October 12, 2016, https://time.com/4528075/donald-trump-miss-usa-naked/ (“‘He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked,’ Tasha Dixon, former Miss Arizona, told CBS Los A
ngeles on Tuesday. Dixon competed in the 2001 Miss USA pageant when she was 18.”).
The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Barry Lank, “On the Market: $1.7 Million Angeleno Heights Victorian; $390,000 Boyle Heights Starter Home; $729,000 Glassell Park Bungalow,” Eastsider, February 7, 2019, https://www.theeastsiderla.com/real_estate/on-the-market-million-angeleno-heights-victorian-boyle-heights-starter/article_00f19594-b34e-5247-ad10-6b7e5070e36c.html (“Boyle Heights: 3-bedroom ranch home. First time back on the market since it was built in 1966. $390,000.”).
Defend Boyle Heights, “About Self-Help Graphics Accountability Session and Beyond,” Alianza Contra Artwashing, July 2, 2016, http://alianzacontraartwashing.org/en/coalition-statements/dbh-about-the-self-help-graphics-accountability-session-and-beyond/ (“All new art galleries must immediately leave Boyle Heights and . . . those buildings should be utilized by our community members the ways we best see fit, which may be converting them into emergency housing, shelters or centers for job training.”).
Alexander Nazaryan, “The ‘Artwashing’ of America: The Battle for the Soul of Los Angeles against Gentrification,” Newsweek, May 21, 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/2017/06/02/los-angeles-gentrification-california-developers-art-galleries-la-art-scene-608558.html (“‘Hopscotch Los Angeles and their art, their performers, their supporters, their capital, are not welcomed in Boyle Heights,’ [BHAAAD affiliate] Serve the People Los Angeles wrote after that day’s confrontation in a blog post studded with quotations from Mao Zedong. That was the last time Hopscotch came to Boyle Heights.”).
A. W. Tucker, “The Mathematics of Tucker: A Sampler,” Two-Year College Mathematics Journal 14, no. 3 (June 1983): 228–232, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3027092?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (“Clearly, for each man the pure strategy ‘confess’ dominates the pure strategy ‘not confess.’ Hence, there is a unique equilibrium point given by the two pure strategies ‘confess.’ In contrast with this non-cooperative solution one sees that both men would profit if they could form a coalition binding each other to ‘not confess.’ The game becomes zero-sum three-person by introducing the State as a third player.” [228]).
After Maria
Yxta Maya Murray, “‘FEMA Has Been a Nightmare’: Epistemic Injustice in Puerto Rico,” Willamette Law Review 55 (2019): 321–393.
Acid Reign
Every character in this story is fictional except for Senator Joni Ernst, Donald Trump, and the Administrator, who is based on Scott Pruitt. The scene in which Pruitt appears never happened; it is part of the fiction. However, the cites that follow refer to the documented background facts on which this story was based.
“Chlorpyrifos; Order Denying PANNA and NRDC’s Petition to Revoke Tolerances,” 82 FR 16581-01, April 5, 2017 (“EPA has concluded that, despite several years of study, the science addressing neurodevelopmental effects remains unresolved and that further evaluation of the science during the remaining time for completion of registration review is warranted to achieve greater certainty as to whether the potential exists for adverse neurodevelopmental effects to occur from current human exposures to chlorpyrifos. EPA has therefore concluded that it will not complete the human health portion of the registration review or any associated tolerance revocation of chlorpyrifos without first attempting to come to a clearer scientific resolution on those issues.”).
This is the history of the proposed revocation as per the April 5, 2017, order, as relayed in “Chlorpyrifos; Order Denying PANNA and NRDC’s Petition to Revoke Tolerances,” 82 FR 16581-01:
On June 30, 2015, EPA informed the court that it intended to propose by April 15, 2016, the revocation of all chlorpyrifos tolerances in the absence of pesticide label mitigation that ensures that exposures will be safe. On August 10, 2015, the court rejected EPA’s time line and issued a mandamus order directing EPA to “issue either a proposed or final revocation rule or a full and final response to the administrative Petition by October 31, 2015.”
On October 30, 2015, EPA issued a proposed rule to revoke all chlorpyrifos tolerances which it published in the Federal Register on November 6, 2015 (80 FR 69080). On December 10, 2015, the Ninth Circuit issued a further order requiring EPA to complete any final rule (or petition denial) and fully respond to the Petition by December 30, 2016. On June 30, 2016, EPA sought a 6-month extension to that deadline in order to allow EPA to fully consider the most recent views of the FIFRA SAP with respect to chlorpyrifos toxicology. The FIFRA SAP report was finalized and made available for EPA consideration on July 20, 2016. (Ref. 2) On August 12, 2016, the court rejected EPA’s request for a 6-month extension and ordered EPA to complete its final action by March 31, 2017 (effectively granting EPA a three-month extension). On November 17, 2016, EPA published a notice of data availability (NODA) seeking public comment on both EPA’s revised risk and water assessments and reopening the comment period on the proposal to revoke all chlorpyrifos (81 FR 81049). The comment period for the NODA closed on January 17, 2017.
Hannah Gold, “Scott Pruitt Twice Proposed Anti-Abortion Legislation Granting Men ‘Property Rights’ over Fetuses,” Jezebel, May 24, 2018, https://theslot.jezebel.com/scott-pruitt-twice-proposed-anti-abortion-legislation-g-1826314010.
Randy Krehbiel, “State AG Scott Pruitt Is ‘Head Bully’ on Transgender Bathroom Issue, LGBT Advocate Says,” Tulsa World, May 27, 2016, https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/state-ag-scott-pruitt-is-head-bully-on-transgender-bathroom/article_43785b0d-9caa-5530-b650-96d433ca8b77.html (“Pruitt, on the state’s behalf, joined 10 other states on Wednesday in filing a lawsuit to block implementation of Obama administration guidance on school policy regarding transgender students’ use of restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities typically separated by gender.”).
Samantha Page, “Trump’s Pick for EPA Admits Acting on Behalf of Oil and Gas Interests as State Attorney General,” ThinkProgress, January 18, 2017, https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-presents-fundamental-conflict-of-interest-between-epa-and-oil-companies-cf83f394fdc5/ (“In 2014, he wrote a letter to the EPA on state letterhead that was later found to have been written by Devon Energy. The letter opposed the agency’s Mercury Air Toxics Standard.”).
“Senator Merkley Asks Scott Pruitt about Asthma & Air Quality,” CSPAN, January 18, 2017, https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4648588/senator-merkley-asks-scott-pruitt-asthma-air-quality (“Senator, let me say to you with respect to the program when you look at to the nonattainment, we have in this country is precisely around 40%. Increasing attainment is [an] important role of the EPA and we should take those marginal and moderate areas that are nonattainment and work with local officials and counties through monitoring and assistance to help move the nonattainment to attainment.”).
Gregory Wallace, “EPA Paid $1,560 for 12 Fountain Pens, Emails Show,” CNN, June 1, 2018 (“A close aide to Scott Pruitt last year ordered a set of 12 fountain pens that cost the Environmental Protection Agency $1,560, according to agency documents. Each $130 silver pen bore the agency’s seal and Administrator Pruitt’s signature, according to the documents, which were obtained by the Sierra Club through a Freedom of Information Act request. ‘Yes, please order,’ an aide wrote.”).
NRDC, “The Case for Firing Scott Pruitt,” 2018, https://www.nrdc.org/case-firing-scott-pruitt (“In order to shield his secretive actions from scrutiny, Pruitt has reportedly banned some agency staff from bringing cell phones to meetings with him or from taking notes.”).
Brendan McDermid, “Scott Pruitt’s Staff Asked for a Bulletproof Vehicle and $70,000 in Bulletproof Furniture for His Office—The Request Was Denied,” Business Insider, April 7, 2018 (“A request for a $100,000-per-month private jet membership, a bulletproof vehicle, and $70,000 for furniture that included a bulletproof desk for an armed security guard was made.”).
EPA, “EPA Revised Chlorpyrifos Assessment Shows Risk to Workers,” January 5, 2015, https://archive.epa.gov/epa/newsreleases/epa-revised-chlorpyrifos-assessment-shows-risk-workers.html (“This as
sessment shows some risks to workers who mix, load and apply chlorpyrifos pesticide products.”).
National Pesticide Information Center, “Chlorpyrifos General Fact Sheet,” http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/chlorpgen.html, accessed on January 25, 2020 (“Some people have suffered delayed nervous system damage if they were exposed to very large amounts of chlorpyrifos. This is very rare, and scientists and doctors do not understand it very well.”).
Julien Josephen, “Cancer: New Chlorpyrifos Link?,” Environmental Health Perspectives 113, no. 3 (March 2005): A158, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253789/ (“About 3.8% of the applicators developed malignant lung neoplasms.”).
Abundance
Eman A. Emam, “Gas Flaring: An Overview,” Petroleum & Coal 57, no. 5 (2015): 534, http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/miller1/docs/emam.pdf (“Gas flaring is one of the most challenging energy and environmental problems facing the world today. Environmental consequences associated with gas flaring have a considerable impact on local populations, often resulting in severe health issues.”).
The Perfect Palomino
Tara Law, “Here Are the Details of the Abortion Legislation in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Elsewhere,” Time, July 2, 2019, https://time.com/5591166/state-abortion-laws-explained/ (detailing “heartbeat” abortion bans in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio, which do not contain exceptions for rape and incest).
Option 3
Jeff Sessions, “Zero-Tolerance for Offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a),” Office of the Attorney General, April 6, 2018, https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1049751/download (“Accordingly, I direct each United States Attorney’s Office along the Southwest Border—to the extent practicable, and in consultation with DHS—to adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy for all offenses referred for prosecution under section 1325(a). This zero-tolerance policy shall supersede any existing policies. If adopting such a policy requires additional resources, each office shall identify and request such additional resources.”).
The World Doesn't Work That Way, but It Could Page 21
