The Crack in Space is one of those lesser known but intriguing Philip K. Dick novels. Reading it today, one can see how Dick was struggling to see solution to the second-class citizenship reserved for African-Americans and other people of color. Set in the late 2000s (ca. 2080, I believe), this world is currently overpopulated but the Cols ("Coloreds" or POC) outnumber whites. Whites, however, have dominated US politics and the first Black man with a chance of becoming president, is running on the Liberal Republican ticket (The States Rights Democrats are clearly descendants of the Dixiecrats, while the other party represents a fusion of liberal Republicans and Northern Democrats).
The Liberal-Republican party supporters willing to vote for Jim Briskin, the black candidate, sound a lot like the stereotypical white liberals who supported Obama in 2008 and 2012, while the States Rights Democrats have ties to a white nationalist group, CLEAN, and resembles the GOP under Obama's presidency. Dick even understands the mentality of the 'lower fringe' of white America, which is more supportive of CLEAN.
The Liberal-Republican party supporters willing to vote for Jim Briskin, the black candidate, sound a lot like the stereotypical white liberals who supported Obama in 2008 and 2012, while the States Rights Democrats have ties to a white nationalist group, CLEAN, and resembles the GOP under Obama's presidency. Dick even understands the mentality of the 'lower fringe' of white America, which is more supportive of CLEAN.
Long story short, the novel twists and turns in surprising directions (accompanied by hilarious dialogue and frustrated realistic personalities of workers in the 21st century) and contact with a race of hominids from an "alter-Earth" forces humans to rethink the divisions of race. Their brush with these 'Peking Man' types ("Pekes") helps the humans come to terms and do the unlikely: vote for a black man. However, Dick is too clever to let it end on these optimistic terms. The problem of overpopulation and lack of work continues, and electing a black president will not save the world.
In this regard, I find Dick's novel fascinating since it conflicts so much with what I believe happened after Obama's first election. The hopes, fervor, dreams of a post-racial America were omnipresent back then. However, while Dick shows in the concluding chapter some degree of interracial solidarity with Cols and Caucs celebrating Jim's victory, the absolute uncertainty of the world continues. Thus, despite this novel's structural problems, it provides a fascinating science fiction prediction of the travails of the first black president.
In this regard, I find Dick's novel fascinating since it conflicts so much with what I believe happened after Obama's first election. The hopes, fervor, dreams of a post-racial America were omnipresent back then. However, while Dick shows in the concluding chapter some degree of interracial solidarity with Cols and Caucs celebrating Jim's victory, the absolute uncertainty of the world continues. Thus, despite this novel's structural problems, it provides a fascinating science fiction prediction of the travails of the first black president.
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