MAGICALLY BLACK AND OTHER ESSAYS

A Black professor analyzes the ways in which race shapes his life.

When Walker, the author of How To Make a Slave and Other Essays and Street Shadows, was a child, his parents became enthralled with the Radio Church of God, accepting their dubious biblical evidence that Black people were inferior to white people. “Along with accepting the myth of white supremacy,” he writes, “I had been denied meaningful exposure to Black traditions and culture.” This strange inheritance led to the author’s complex relationship with his Blackness. The essay “Master of the Lawn” is a second-person, choose your own adventure–style story that begins with a decision about whether a passing motorist yelled a racial slur or a benign pleasantry. Walker urges readers to “beware of racists, paranoia, self-pity, anger, and white privilege,” all of which the author examines in “Lost,” which describes how his son’s tardiness caused the author to spiral with visions of his possible death at the hands of white police. Walker contends with these feelings in less serious situations as well. In “Combat Mode,” another second-person essay, the author writes about how he and his wife decided whether to kill a cockroach before potential buyers visited their house. “This is not to say that the presence of one or more roaches means the presence of one or more Blacks, or vice versa,” he writes. “Nor is it to say that the presence of Black homeowners means the presence of neglect and disrepair. But these are persistent stereotypes that, with so much at stake, you cannot risk falling victim to.” Walker’s humor is cuttingly circumspect, and his observations are poignant and insightful. The author’s talent for identifying small but powerful moments is sometimes overshadowed by over-the-top self-deprecation. Nonetheless, Walker is a witty, talented writer.

A funny and perspicacious essay collection about Black life in America.