Black No More

"Getting the Negro leaders together for any purpose except boasting of each other's accomplishments had previously been impossible."

As a fan of Ishmael Reed's early novels, George Schuyler's Black No More, an excellent piece of satire in a 1930s America where blacks can become white, shows some of the brilliant tradition of satirical fiction by black writers before Reed. Schuyler, who, at the time of Black No More was not a "total" conservative, had spent time with socialists, mainstream black civil rights organizations, and reveals an astute understanding of the racial and class politics of the 1930s. Indeed, much of the novel consists of Schuyler's acerbic one-liners on the ignorance of the white working-class, the vanity of the black misleadership class (including humorous satirical versions of Du Bois, Walter White, and Garvey), the horrid obsession with race and status in a society in which most whites lack the power and privilege of the tiny "pure" Anglo-Saxon elite, and a jolly good science fiction story of how race-obsessed we are. Indeed, the scientist responsible for inventing the process of artificially inducing vitiligo to turn Negroes white, Crookman, is a proud Race Man who believes in the black race's potential, yet has no problem turning the black race white for our benefit...these kinds of contradictions on race, from blacks and whites, are at the heart of this rather hilarious novel, which concludes in a rather intriguing way that reminds one of the "cosmic race" theory of Vasconcelos or Frederick Douglass's belief in amalgamation as the solution to the "Negro problem."

Despite its science fiction premise, as Dr. Buggerie makes clear, quite a few white Americans are tarnished by the taint of Ham and "passing" has been ongoing since 17th century Virginia, but to posit a world in which the vast majority of African-Americans can "pass" into whiteness while tying it together with the general farce of American politics, intellectuals, white supremacist lynch mobs and Knights of Nordica, co-founded by an ex-colored man, labor, and religion was too much. One cannot read this novel without rolling over in laughter. Even if one finds the critique of the NAACP and Garvey too harsh, I suspect black leftists of today will find it resonates with the persistence of race relations administration or management class of African-Americans, and white America's obsession with its darker-hued neighbors. Any fans of Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, Japanese by Spring or Reckless Eyeballing will appreciate this, although Reed, from my memory, is not so scathing on the race men and civil rights leadership class for their arrogance, colorism, and corruption as Schuyler.