Kantolope reviewed Amiable with Big Teeth by Claude McKay
The Most Middle Class Activism Story
2 stars
When you read a book published many years ago, you have to be prepared for some of the prejudices of the past. However, this book is bad even for the time. When I call it the most middle-class activism story that I've read, that is not a compliment. Working-class people are portrayed as either lazy and thus deserving of their poverty, or as too stupid to understand basic concepts. Intellectuals are treated as either mouthpieces for evil commies or too inexperienced with the real ways of the world. Only the upright middle-class of labor aristocracy and petit-bourgeoise, who want to assimilate to white upper-class society are worthy of praise according to this book. Critiquing that society or wanting to make a new and better one that doesn't have segregation just means that you're an evil commie who wants to monopolize any mass movement. Further, this book is for one thing, …
When you read a book published many years ago, you have to be prepared for some of the prejudices of the past. However, this book is bad even for the time. When I call it the most middle-class activism story that I've read, that is not a compliment. Working-class people are portrayed as either lazy and thus deserving of their poverty, or as too stupid to understand basic concepts. Intellectuals are treated as either mouthpieces for evil commies or too inexperienced with the real ways of the world. Only the upright middle-class of labor aristocracy and petit-bourgeoise, who want to assimilate to white upper-class society are worthy of praise according to this book. Critiquing that society or wanting to make a new and better one that doesn't have segregation just means that you're an evil commie who wants to monopolize any mass movement. Further, this book is for one thing, and one thing only; helping Ethiopia survive against the Italian invasion. This in itself is an admirable goal, but the book is so ardently against any and all forms of intersectionality that it ends up being self-sabotaging. Fascism, the ideology that empowers racism and imperialist militarism is treated as a wholly separate issue from that of the military conflicts brought on by fascism. There are other examples of this, but I don't care to re read this book to find the specifics. And yet, this book isn't wholly devoid of good content. Under the mountains of bad takes, one can find some lessons to learn or reaffirm. Specifically they are:
Don't monopolize race-based liberation discourse for the purposes of intersectionality Black people aren't a monolith, so you can't limit your activism to just listening to black voices, because those voices will eventually and inevitably disagree. Although certain issues might be emblematic or a result of other struggles, don't lose sight of the specific issue at hand. You're a part of "The Masses". Don't separate yourself from them in your praxis.
Overall, I like books published posthumously because they often contain content too radical or countercultural for the publishing sensibilities of the time. This book was not published during the author's lifetime because it's just bad.