I would've liked what Macon stood for if he wasn't so rude in the way he did it. Besides the robberies, he's constantly disrespecting everyone he gets into interviews with. For example, when he makes Kim Sheffield cry and run off set by using the n-word. Who gave him the right to throw that word around like it was a joke? He needs to conduct himself with respect if he wants to be seen as a greater leader than Malcolm X and MLK. I'm sorry if this post just sounds like a rant but the way he tries to "fight white privilege" infuriates me so much. In the end I honestly think that if he used his vast knowledge of black history to support black culture constructively instead of robbing innocent people, I'd have no reason to be so upset with him. Do I seem too harsh in my hypothetical confrontation with him or do you guys think that I go to far? What would you say instead if you could meet with Macon Detornay in person?
Monday, May 11, 2015
If I could talk to Macon...
The first thing I would do is tell him to shut up. I'd follow that up by asking him to explain to me what gives him the right to demonize white privilege then use that same privilege to go and rob people. By this time he'd probably spout something about being a leader and saying that someone needed be the martyr for black rights. I'd calmly respond by saying he actually needs to watch what he's doing to these innocent people before he gets hurt. He probably call me ignorant for not seeing the what he stands for and that white people needed to take responsibility for their privilege. At this point I'd ask him "Then why hasn't anyone robbed you for your white privilege?". No one and that's because robbing people for their privilege doesn't make sense.
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I guess you're not as on the fence about Macon as some people are ... I agree with all of your reasons to dislike him. I can respect his goals, but he seems to go about them in a really jerk-ish way. Specifically, I don't like his discounting of the efforts of other Civil Rights leaders (of course, "other" here is subjective, b/c is Macon really a civil rights leader at all?) I really didn't like the part where he was at the BSU, and he mentions being "blacker" than all the "bourgeois motherfuckers" in there. I didn't know that there was a certain code of behavior you had to follow to earn the right to your race.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with both you and Katie in the sense that I can understand Macon's goals, but his execution is questionable. He seems like he always feels like he has to prove himself, so he elevates himself by putting others down (like in the BSU meeting). I think the robberies were also using way more force than necessary to get Macon's point across, and I didn't find them heroic at all.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I try to believe in Macon, he does something new to keep me from siding with him. Like Katie mentioned, the BSU meeting was where I was really turned off by his character. He has a lot of good ideas, and seems to have a great deal of knowledge of how race relations in America work, but he has yet to put any of that to use and seems way too focused on trying to gain the approval of the black community.
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ReplyDeleteI think Macon is doing too much. He is going too far. He just needs to calm down, be less abusive, and approach the issue more respectably. His robberies, as Grace mentioned, prove Macon to be an anti-hero more than anything else. I think as the book progresses, Macon will become a disastrous character, perhaps a villain. Michael you are right, he really does need to shut the f up.
ReplyDeleteThe questions you ask here nicely reflect why I think Nique and Andre are such crucial presences in the novel--not just as "sidekicks" but as characters with their own points of view that are part of the narrative fabric. You're raising a number of points that they also raise, and the novel itself asks tough questions of Macon even as it chronicles his sudden rise to influence (and just as sudden fall into invisibility).
ReplyDeleteThe armed robberies, in his mind, don't seem to be primarily about the money but more an effort to shock these people out of their complacency (as chapter 1 puts it, to make them regret the color of their skin, for the first time). But you make valid points, that these subtleties of motive maybe don't matter much, and it's hard to endorse armed robbery as a means of "consciousness raising."