RACISM AND INJUSTICE A STUDY OF FRIDAY BLACK BY NANA KWAME ADJEIBRENYAH 2018 UNDER CRITICAL RACE THEORY

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gesr.2023(VIII-II).17      10.31703/gesr.2023(VIII-II).17      Published : Jun 2023
Authored by : AyeshaSajid Durrani , RizwanMustafa , RimshaSameen

17 Pages : 177-190

    Abstract

    Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) masterfully examines American racial injustice, particularly towards Black people. Short stories in the book examine present racial discrimination and injustice. This study analyses Friday Black (2018) short stories for racial injustice using Delgado and Jean's Critical Race Theory (2001). The study seeks to investigate racial prejudice and its effects on black individuals. The textual analysis describes the chosen writing. The proceeding, vocabulary, and tone show racial discrimination and unfairness. The study found that black individuals are degraded and marginalized in individual, social, and legal actions. Cultural, individual, and social racism creates mistrust in people, institutions, and social values and structures through tone, materials, stereotyped depictions, and underestimating of black people.

    Key Words

    Racism, Injustice, Discrimination

    Introduction

    In Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018), a hard-working and seasoned store employee observes a Black Friday rush from the perspective of a sea of desperate buyers who turn to rabid and incoherent animals in search of “newly obtained happiness.” A theme park called “Zimmer Land” promotes “justice” in simulations that involve defending a community against a stranger or preventing a school shooter (possibly a reference to George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin). The most horrifying and well-known is “The Finkelstein 5,” about a man who was exonerated after chainsaw-decapitating five young black children in self-defence in a society where "if you believe something, anything, then that's what matters most." These situations are exaggerated, which makes them even more uncomfortable because you’re familiar with them.

    American Black writer Brenyah wrote Friday Black, a short story collection. Friday Black is by New York Times bestseller Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. He graduated from SUNY Albany and Syracuse University and published this collection of short stories in 2018. He is a top contemporary writer. This century’s first writer. This short story collection is on black identity in America, hence it should be racially studied.

    American African writer Nana Kwame wrote Friday Black. Race theory allows analysis of these brief stories. This anthology gives black people’s struggle for identity spirit. It shows how black Americans are fighting racism.

    Race causes discrimination. Psychological recovery from racism's harmful wounds defines racial identity. Maintaining nonwhite racial inferiority is similar to hostage-taking in wartime. Banks (1988) describes the first stage as "ethnic psychological enslavement." Because of seclusion, deprivation, perceptual monopolisation, and brainwashing, one becomes dependent on the captor and feels inferior to survive or get better treatment.

    Recent research suggests race and gender are generated jointly (Zack, 1997a). Lerner (1986) says males of colour look like women. She argues that young girls have historically emulated ideal women. Paternalistic models also stereotype indigenous and non-white populations.

    Domestic violence against women and children resembles race relations. Economic, material, and psychological hostages are often women and children. The captor or head of the house must develop a high sensitivity to their wants and desires to survive. Inadequacy, wanting to be a guy, and undervaluing women could follow (Griffin, 1992).

    Healing is needed to establish a positive self-image that fosters a healthy racial and ethnic identity in the face of war metaphors and dominance abuse’s subtle psychological violence.

    Race and socioeconomic status affect depression, schizophrenia, and stress reactivity in modern society (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974). Depression and schizophrenia are frequent in all cultures, however, prevalence rates vary by nation, suggesting environmental variables may be involved. The US literature emphasises the stress caused by the racial system’s self-devaluation, which creates barriers to economic advancement like glass ceilings and few job opportunities, and by living in unsafe neighbourhoods, which are linked to low income, unemployment, and young people’s disillusionment (Wilson, 1987). Current study on racial stress and mental health emphasises the importance of cultural influences when assessing apparent personality disorders (Alarcon & Foulks, 1995).

    Friday Black (2018) highlights the racial dimensions of human position and feelings, as the protagonists still struggle in present times. Theory of Racism by Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001) explored human psychological differences depending on race, gender, and other factors to examine identical and racial concerns.

    Statement OF the Problem

    Nana’s Friday Black will be analyzed from a racial point of view in this study.  It will explore the aspects of racism such as Black people's identity in terms of American society's impacts on Black people. These stories clearly depict the condition of black people who are part of that society and are living in white dominant society. Through a racist perspective, the study will deal with the representation of racial factors on Black Friday.


    Research Objectives

    To highlight the racial discrimination and its effects on black people.


    Research Questions

    How do black people have to face racial discrimination in the shape of social injustice?


    Significance of the Study

    Friday Black is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most significant literary works that has ever been produced in the realm of literature. As a result of the fact that Nana is a very influential writer in this age. Because of his work, he became famous. An exhaustive and in-depth investigation of the Friday Black brings together all of the fundamental concepts of racial theory. According to the findings of this research, the investigation of “Friday Black” is all about the concept of the identity of individuals of African descent in relation to the actions of the characters.


    Delimitation of the Study

    The researcher chose Nana Kwame’s collection of short stories titled Friday Black in order to bring attention to concerns relating to racism and the behaviour of the characters in Friday Black as well as other racist features in the book. These problems are widespread among black people, who also struggle with racial discrimination. The aspects of the Friday Black that are most fraught with racial tension will be the focus of this investigation.

    Literature Review

    Coates (2008) studied "Covert Racism in the USA and Abroad". The study revealed that institutions, culture, preconceived conceptions, and tradition promote covert racism, which imperialists build to increase riches at the expense of coloured minorities. Racial blindness and coded language hide this hidden, subversive, and often undetectable racism. Covert racism is as harmful as overt racism. Covert racism causes greater disease rates, harsh punishments, limited information, and missed opportunities for racial nonelites.

    Harcourt (2018) described Friday Black's (2018) stories as amusing, tragic, and unsettling. It will reflect on the title story from “Friday Black,” which recasts Black Friday as a zombie pandemic and changed my view of the swarms of shoppers who flood retailers nationally the day after Thanksgiving. I spoke to Adjei-Brenyah on the phone about “Friday Black” and how our society encourages people to show gratitude and affection through purchasing.

    Mandelo (2018) says Friday Black (2018) has exploration stories. These stories combine the ordinary with the extraordinary, the dramatic with the fantastical, to comment on important, often tragic events in modern American culture. This melancholy, merciless debut pushes genre boundaries for art and critique. This challenging collection of short stories addresses the emotional dilemma of “business as usual” before using ennui to explore how far American culture may go in terms of racism and anti-blackness. Adjei-Brenyah takes current events three tiny steps further to create dystopic horror that seems familiar. Despite literary surrealism’s edge, Friday Black feels real. Constant violence is conceivable. Authority, power, and societal brutality are shown as horrific, linked webs with far-reaching effects. In a culture that tolerates and promotes anti-black violence in sophisticated, confusing ways, the protagonist’s community must deal with its trauma in every aspect of existence. This search for a useful or robust response forms the composition’s emotional core.

    Friday Black’s stories are mostly about people, and the reader’s emotional connection to the protagonists was nice. Adjei-Brenyah remembers that these men and boys are battling for their lives in a dangerous world but nonetheless participating in patriarchy in a complex web of power. Friday Black has fewer ladies, but his male protagonists’ interactions with women are sharp. In “Lark Street,” the main guy tries to cope with his girlfriend’s abortion, which is recounted in a violent fantasy. The narrative shows that she is struggling the most and that he has a right to his feelings, but not at the expense of her emotional labour.

    In “‘Friday Black:’ An Ingenious Assault on American Society,” Jeena & Bao (2018) state that several stories are set in a future that is both painfully close and all too plausible. In “Friday Black,” a hard-working and seasoned store employee observes a Black Friday rush from the perspective of a sea of desperate buyers who turn to rabid and incoherent animals in search of “newly obtained happiness.” A theme park called “Zimmer Land” promotes “justice” in simulations that involve defending a community against a stranger or preventing a school shooter (possibly a reference to George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin). The most horrifying and well-known is “The Finkelstein 5,” about a man who was exonerated after chainsaw-decapitating five young black children in self-defence in a society where "if you believe something, anything, then that's what matters most." These situations are exaggerated, which makes them even more uncomfortable because you’re familiar with them.

    Smith (2019) described Friday Black, his first short story book, as a darkly hilarious satire on the dystopian repercussions of an American culture that has been trained to accept capitalism, racism, and institutional brutality as normal. Unusual becomes normal. Adjei-Brenyah maintains hope. He warns that we will be doomed if we cannot understand how we have enabled the absurd to flourish on a huge and small scale.

    Blackman (2019) stated that racism and capitalism in America should foster literary fiction. The usual number of shootings and stabbings that added to this year’s death toll was compounded by the Black Friday shopping rush, which promotes environmental disaster. The list of things black people can’t do without being arrested or shot keeps growing, including exercising, moving into a flat, and buying Mentos. Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah struck me with its fresh, honest, and urgent take on these issues. In this book's debut collection of short stories, zombie-like shoppers fight over reduced apparel, a theme park where guests can shoot a black intruder and a white homeowner who chainsaw-decapitates five black children out of fear.

    If the setups sound excessive, they are. To stay abreast of American bigotry and capitalism, the satirist must stand up. Nana Kwame Adjei-remarkable Brenyah makes them credible and makes pointed political points without preaching. The best political fiction, like Friday Black, does it.

    “The Image of Black Masculinity as Portrayed in Dystopian Literature” by Krishna (2021) examines how Black men survive in a society where they must constantly compensate for their skin colour. Where suffering is fun and blackness is the height of depravity, worthy of death? Nana Kwame Adjei-Friday Brenyah’s Black short stories examine blackness through dystopian science fiction.

    Research Methodology

    A widely used research method in the field of literary analysis is qualitative research in which the sense of the text is presented under adopted theories. Gay (2012) calls the qualitative type of research in which textual illustrations are presented. The textual illustration is mostly explored under the identity, psychology, sociology or racial aspects in which the new meanings of the words and sentences are portrayed under the adopted theoretical framework. The presented study is a qualitative type of research conducted on Friday Black under the theoretical framework of racism.

    Critical Race Theory

    Critical race theory is 40 years old. Race is a social construct and racism is founded in law provisions, government policy, and human bias and prejudice.

    Differences are not as clear as they appear. Over the past decade, housing segregation, 1990s criminal justice policies, and Black American slavery have become more well-known. Yet, opinions differ on how the government should address these historical wrongs. Children and education spark intense debates (Education Week, 2022).

    Sociologists and literary theorists explore political power, social organisation, and language as part of CRT. Since then, humanities, social sciences, and teacher education have used their concepts.

    Academics view critical race theory differently from popular fiction and, more importantly, from conservative Republican critics. The theory has been criticised for encouraging group identification above universal, shared traits, dividing people into “oppressed” or “oppressor” groups, and inciting hostility (Education Week, 2022).

    Hence, CRT and other phrases like “anti-racism” and “social justice,” which are sometimes used interchangeably, are often misconstrued.

    Critical racial theory underpins all diversity and inclusion programmes, regardless of how much it really influenced them.


    Theory of Racism of Delgado and Jean Stefancic (2001)

    Notwithstanding movement participants’ diverse views, legal academics Jean Stefancic and Richard Delgado claim that many critical race theorists agree with several race and racism generalisations. CRT’s “basic tenets” are these claims.

    Race is socially constructed. In the second half of the 20th century, the biogenetic theory of race, which classified humans into groups based on physical and behavioural traits, was disproven. Social scientists, historians, and others agree that race is socially constructed. According to the CRT theory, race is a false association between a set of physical traits, such as skin tone, facial features, and hair texture, and a set of psychological and behavioural traits, either positive or negative. White people of Western European origin have formed and maintained associations in the US to justify their exploitation and subjugation of other groups by claiming their inferiority, immorality, or inability to self-govern.

    Second, most Americans of colour experience racism. Despite the fact that explicit racist laws and legal practises, such as the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation and denied basic civil rights to African Americans in the South, have been largely eliminated and that extreme racist attitudes and beliefs are less prevalent among whites than they were before the mid-20th century, most people of colour still face discrimination or other unfair treatment in both public and private spheres. Black Americans and Latinxs pay more than white people for a range of goods and services (including cars), are more often erroneously accused of criminal conduct by law enforcement or private (white) residents, and are more often victims of police brutality, including excessive force. African Americans, in particular, are sentenced to longer prison terms and imprisoned more often than white criminals. Zoning regulations in many predominantly white neighbourhoods keep Blacks and Latinos in impoverished, racially segregated communities. Black and Latino neighbourhoods frequently receive poorer public services, especially in education. Poor education makes it harder to escape poverty. Blacks and Latinos suffer shorter lives than whites due to inadequate medical care.

    Microaggressions, which are often unintentional, affect people of colour. These are verbal or nonverbal slights that reinforce racial stereotypes and show underlying racial bias. Women and LGBTQ people may also experience microaggressions. For instance, a white professor at a top institution was having a meeting with colleagues in a campus building when she saw a Black student walking down the hall and shouted that she should have secured her office door since she had left her handbag there. CRT literature discusses this real-life incident. Racial microaggressions are common, even among those who deny racism, and their cumulative effect on people of colour can be psychologically devastating.

    Finally, CRT researchers say “interest convergence” or “material determinism” means legal advancements (or setbacks) for people of colour usually benefit dominant white groups. So, despite apparent changes in oppressed or exploited people’s legal status, American society’s racial hierarchy may remain intact or even strengthen. Derrick Bell, one of the intellectual forefathers of CRT and the first Black tenured law professor at Harvard University proposed that the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which overturned the segregation-supporting "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), occurred at the time it did because elite whites and elite blacks were worried about the effects of segregation. The U.S. Secret U.S. communications influenced the Department of Justice’s desegregation support. State Department citing the desire to improve the country’s reputation overseas, reinforced Bell’s argument that the Brown decision was the result of interest convergence between whites and Blacks, despite widespread rejection at the time. Since then, several more legal disputes involving people of colour have employed interest convergence.

    Fourth, minority groups may undergo "differential racialization," or the imposition of negative stereotypes, depending on white people's needs or interests. News, literature, film, and other popular culture often use such clichés. They even shaped the public school history curriculum. Black people were regarded as simple-minded, weak slaves and labourers who were content with their servitude and segregation from white people before the middle of the 20th century. Blacks, especially Black men, were portrayed as violent criminals or lazy leeches living off social welfare programmes paid for by hardworking whites after civil rights protests in the 1950s and 1960s.

    Finally, the “intersectionality” or “anti-essentialism” thesis holds that no one group can adequately define a person. African Americans can be women, lesbians, feminists, Christians, and more.

    The “voice of colour” concept holds that people of colour are uniquely qualified to discuss racism’s causes and effects. Sixth and final point. The “legal storytelling” movement, which believes oppression victims’ self-expression illuminates the legal system, has grown from this consensus.

    Data Analysis

    The adopted theory of Critical Race Theory by Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001) talks about individual, social and institutional racism and injustice. These elements can be of the colour, creed, facial gestures, norms, values, discrimination, treatment, consciousness and unconsciousness, interest convergence, materials determination and stereotypical”. These are the elements, which are tended presented in the selected lines that how injustice, racism, and discrimination move from individual to social level and then become the interpersonal routine.

    Racism has been one of the most contentious and, for many readers, least appreciated literary criticism stances. In fact, the term’s past uses and definitions serve as an example of this. The term “race” was first used to refer to a collection of individuals and communities, much like how we understand ethnicity or national identity today. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when Europeans discovered non-European societies, Enlightenment scientists and philosophers offered race a biological explanation. Racial injustice is based on marginalization, tone, behaviour, social dealing and social marginalization and social meanings illustrations. Critical Race Theory (2001) tends to explore the inlaid social behaviour and injustice due to racism and social cognition.

     “The court had ruled that because the children were basically loitering and not actually inside the library reading, as one might expect of productive members of society, it was reasonable that Dunn had felt threatened by these five black young people and, thus, he was well within his rights when he protected himself, his library-loaned DVDs, and his children by going into the back of his Ford F-150 and retrieving his Hawtech PRO eighteen-inch 48cc chainsaw.” (The Finkelstein 5, p. 9)


    Analysis

    Race is a socially constructed phenomenon rather than of nature. It is an inlaid tendency in white people, which can be highlighted in personal, interpersonal and institutional ways. The lines depict the prejudiced proceedings of the judicial proceeding through a white person has to undergo. Critical Race Theory by Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001) exposed the inlaid biasedness and the prejudice of the persons and the institutions. Present lines are there for “accusing” five killed black people and the proceedings are conducted for the "right of protection". It explored that the judicial proceedings are biased and show institutional racism against black people while the "murdered" is shown as the "white person who tended to be in the state of "threatened". It explored that the judicial proceedings are biased and the statements of the presenting the crime are also racial based on the discrimination in which the blood of black people is considered as of no value. Institutional injustice is due to the institutional prejudice based on race and ethnicity, which is undertaken by the officials against the black and their voice, is kept as passive as that is not of any value.

    “Emmanuel started learning the basics of his Blackness before he knew how to do long division: smiling when angry, whispering when he wanted to yell. Back when he was in middle school, after a trip to the zoo, where he had been accused of stealing a stuffed panda from the gift shop, Emmanuel had burned his last pair of baggy jeans in his driveway. He’d watched the denim curl and ash in front of him with unblinking eyes.” (The Finkelstein 5, p, 10)


    Analysis

    Institutional, personal and social injustice can lead towards the destruction of the society and the society has to undergo a number of challenges due to racial discrimination. The preparation of the black people to protect "Blackness" shows that the roots of injustice are there in the society and the society has to face its consequences in the shape of destabilization and demoralization. Delgado & Jean Stefancic's proposed theory of Racism (2001) explored the elements, which show that racism is not the natural aspect rather than it is the social construction, which deals with inequality, and the subjugation of other ethnic groups based on colour and creed. Used words “learning the basics of his Blackness” denote that the social construction of injustice through colour leads towards one’s existence and understanding. The protagonist of the short story Emmanuel has to kill the white people based on the creed and colour. Previous incidents are also the constraints of the social construction of the biases and there is much evidence that “accused of stealing” presents the mental turbulence, which had led the protagonist towards the “racial” and “rascal” attributes and attitude. It reflects that American society is fully under division and injustice is there. This injustice is not natural but rather a social construct. Amenity and extreme thoughts are developed due to experiences, which are due to socially constructed injustice.

     “Instead, his father stood quietly beside him. “This is an important thing to learn,” his father had said. Together they watched the fire until it ate itself dead.” The Finkelstein 5, p. 10)


    Analysis

    Social and blackness are interlined in American society. Social constructions of norms and intentions make the social individuals prejudiced where the parameters to understanding other individuals are changed and are transformed into other standards. CRT (2001) by Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001)   presents the different forms of injustice, which can lead towards the destruction of society and create imbalance. Present lines are presenting the imbalance and biased attitude of a white father and claiming the situation in favour of his son. The prejudice is here of the social conduct structure which has become interpersonal where the black person is not intended to kill a person but is accused of watching it. The social construction of races can lead towards institutional injustice and racism. Depiction of an observer as guilty of not stopping the crime is the social construction, which is rooted in the laws and has made the person the criminal.

    "The fact is, George Wilson Dunn is an American. Americans have the right to protect themselves," the defence attorney says in a singing, charming voice. "Do you have children? Do you have anyone you love? The prosecution has tried to beat you over the head with scary words like 'law' and 'murder' and 'sociopath.'" The defence attorney's index and middle fingers claw the air repeatedly to indicate quotations. "I'm here to tell you that this case isn't about any of those things. It is about an American man's right to love and protect his own life and the life of his beautiful baby girl and his handsome young son. So I ask you, what do you love more, the supposed 'law' or your children?" (The Finkelstein 5, p. 11)



    Analysis

    The background of the line is the accusation of a white man on the charge of the crime. The defence is intended to safeguard his client while the prosecution is in the way of an allegation. The story constructed here goes against the law and order situation. The story is about the killing of black people by the white man Wilson. CRT by Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001) clearly elaborates the situation in a way that things are not favouring the marginalized segment, which is locally and legally called the accusers. Here the situation is quite different when the murderers are told to be offensive while the killer is presented as an innocent person in society. This social construction and deconstruction can lead towards racial injustice. CRT (2001) mentioned that injustice is based on race and it is not a natural phenomenon rather it is a socially constructed phenomenon. Here are the lines "I'm here to tell you that this case isn't about any of those things. It is about an American man's right to love and protect his own life and the life of his beautiful baby girl and his handsome young son. So I ask you, what do you love more, the supposed 'law' or your children?" this presents that the law is favouring the accuser and is intended to protect a person from the accusation of the six people's murders. Legal injustice is far beyond the reality where the majority of the people of some ethnic groups are killed while the minor person who is single is not given the sentence of death rather than protection under the umbrella of the law. This injustice arises when the characters are dealt with as others as they are black and not fit for equal rights in society.

     "Thank you, Your Honor. I do not know about you all, but I love my children more than I love the 'law.' In addition, I love America more than I love my children. That is what this case is about love with a capital L. In addition, America. That is what I am defending here today. My client, Mister George Dunn, believed he was in danger. And you know what, if you believe something, anything, then that’s what matters most. Believing. In America, we have the freedom to believe. America, our beautiful sovereign state. Don't kill that here today." (The Finkelstein 5, p. 11)


    Analysis

    The killing of black people is not a matter of fact for the reason of "defence" and it is clearly mentioned in the line. This situation has given birth to revising the social and legal construction but the majority of the people believe that the African and American people are not fit and they are frequently accused of the crime and those are crimes, which are not committed by themselves too. CRT (2001) explores that material and social segregation is there when the characters are kept with a biased tone and intentions. Institutional racism can be explored in the way of legal and social jurisdiction through which black people are tended to be mentioned in a way these are not the true part of the society. This scenario is disgusting when the above-mentioned lines, clearly state that the killer is hereby protected by the law and the legal language is used as "personal defence" which explores that the situation is tended to be one way and favouring the white people and the black people are given the second sphere of weight in the state.  The logic behind the killing of black people is mentioned in a way that the people are in danger so they can use the tools of power. The line "Mister George Dunn, believed he was in danger" describes that the tone of the lawyer is fully based on race and reverting the situation in favour by putting such blames that the black people are seemed to be killer and are suspected to be a threat for the white person so it is right of the person to kill others on the name of the defend.

    “By the time they were in high school, Emmanuel had learned to control his Blackness; Boogie had not. Emmanuel had quietly distanced himself from Boogie, who would become known for fighting with other students and teachers. By now, he’d mostly forgotten about him, but when Emmanuel did think of Boogie, it was with pity for him and his static personhood. Boogie was always himself.” The Finkelstein 5, p, 11)



    Analysis

    Racism is a socially constructed phenomenon rather than an inbuilt or natural aspect. Critical Race Theory proposed by Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001) describes that things are socially constructed. The social pressure and the social norms, which are produced by society, can lead towards thoughts of rights and the thoughts of revenge. School is the place where the lesson of peace and the lesson of harmony is taught. It is clear through the lines that the author intended to portray two of the different characters living in blackness. These thoughts can lead towards the marginalized and feelings of misery. Emmanuel is the person who seems to be the absorber of the so-called constructed situation and the so-called phenomenon of marginalization but it is difficult to stop and check others. The line "Emmanuel had quietly distanced himself from Boogie, who'd become known for fighting with other students and teachers" clearly explores the existence of the violent behaviour of the characters which was produced by the character and can lead towards the destruction and marginalization. Quarrelling with students and teachers denotes that the characters who have to face racial discrimination and who have to undergo different segments of marginalization can cause danger to society. This danger is due to the interpersonal and social construction of racial effects.

    “An elderly white couple, both in their sixties, had had their brains smashed in by a group armed with bricks and rusty metal pipes. Witnesses said the murderers had been dressed in very fancy clothes: bow ties and summer hats, cufflinks and high heels. Throughout the double murder, the group/gang had chanted, “Mboya! Mboya! Tyler Kenneth Mboya,” the name of the eldest boy killed at Finkelstein. The next day a similar story broke. Three white schoolgirls had been killed with ice picks. A black man and black woman had poked holes through the girls’ skulls like they were mining for diamonds. They chanted “Akua Harris, Akua Harris, Akua Harris’ all through the murder, according to reports. Again, the killers had been described as “quite fashionable, given the circumstances.” In both cases, the killers had been caught immediately following the act. The couple that killed the schoolgirls had carved the number 5 into their own skins just before the attack.” (The Finkelstein 5, p. 13)


    Analysis

    National institutes are the basics and the core pillars of the nation's buildings. Nation-building requires unification and a standardized system of manipulation. The lines depict the two ways of the illustration through which the situation is described. The situation is not favouring the people, as the situation requires the clear mentioning of the people as normal people rather than black or white. Critical Race Theory by Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001) clearly explores the reason and the intentions behind racial injustice. Injustice is not only regulated by the judiciary or by the law and order enforcement agencies but here it is the media who is playing such a rubbish game of presenting the people in a divided way. Black people in America are called second-generation people and are not called to be fit for the situation. The used words by media reporting as "Three white schoolgirls had been killed with ice picks" describe the biased and institutional biases of the media where the killing of the girls is labelled as white or black. This racial intention can be initiated to retrieve the sympathy of the majority of the people and there could be intentions that the "white" people would be preferred to mourn with. On the other hand, another incident occurred in which black people were killed, so in this regard, the killer is given other names. The line "Again, the killers had been described as "quite fashionable, given the circumstances" presents that the killer is called the developed and is not quite normal while it could be the effects of media and media playing games which put bad effects on his mind and he was intended to kill the people. Dual standards of depicting the murderers present that the institutional racial behaviour is not limited to the official institutes yet the private institutes are also encompassed here where the two different ethnic killers are presented in two different ways.

     "Can't be too careful," the man said and handed the receipt back. Emmanuel knew better than to wait for an apology. He turned and left the store and felt himself slide back down to a 7.6 in the eyes of the mall goers around him." (The Finkelstein 5, p. 16)


    Analysis

    The background of the incident is the involvement of a black person in the violent movement. As Emmanuel had been bearing all the miseries and the calling by society on the different stages so he is unable to be part of the violent movement of killing innocent people. In this regard, others like the stoppage from killing and hurting like other black people have made his attitude. CRT (2001) mentions that racial discrimination and the discrimination promoted by such an intention through which are quite different here. The theory presents the causes and the reason for racial behaviour, which are personal, interpersonal, social, and institutional. The diverse situation is there when a person is unable to maintain their behaviour of the violent aspects and is vigilant against the bad intentions of black people. Even the miseries and the biases of society recognised a man not as a person but as a badly intended man in society.

    "I beg of you, I implore you, not to consider anything but the facts," the prosecutor says to begin her closing. "Over the last several days, we have heard the accused try to wiggle out of one simple fact: he murdered five children completely unprovoked. He may think his chain saw some holy weapon or a sceptre bestowed on him by God, but don’t let him go on believing that. Please don’t let the blood of these five children—with all the potential in the world—spill into nothingness. Please show us that they mattered. These children were killed before they ever got a chance to know the world, to love, to hate, to laugh, to cry, to see all the things that we've seen, and finally to decide what kinds of people they might want to be. They mattered. Don’t let their deaths go unpunished.” (The Finkelstein 5, p.24)



    Analysis

    Critical Race Theory (2001) explores the existing situation of the society through which society has to pass. This is biases and the tendency of the people regarding self-intentions. Emmanuel is a black person who was with the group but not with the intention to kill others.  Segregation by white people in space of tone and behaviour is the main subject of study in CRT. CRT examines the intended behaviour of the speaker and the social construction of the meanings and understanding is meant. The lines present that the speaker who is the prosecutor of the killed white people is intended to accuse Emmanuel to be captured on the spot. Here the tone is emotional, in which the accuser is strongly needed to go for the sentence. This sentence is despite the fact rather than the emotional based. Speaking the prosecutors "These children who were killed before they ever got a chance to know the world, to love, to hate, to laugh, to cry, to see all the things that we've seen, and finally decide what kinds of people they might want to be", denotes that the emotional tendencies and the sympathetic view are clear of the prosecutor rather than of the legal and justification. Legal tendencies rules and aspects are not followed here due to the emotional setting and this setting can be of taking of legal orders and justifications in favour. On the other hand, the accused person is not given the right and their claim is not justified here due to the tendencies of the prosecutor as he intended to mention the things favouring and mentioning the things be positive as the accuser is the only killer. This social injustice and biased intentions of the institutions are due to the ethnic group as black while the killed people are white. This insecurity and the insecure tendencies while things are not clear here, tend to explore the situation rather than confining it.

     “Fela, Fela, Fela.” It was a trance. Emmanuel tried to look at the eyes of the young couple. He smashed his bat against the concrete several times while yelling the name. The bat bouncing off the ground sang a metallic yelp and shocked electricity into his veins. “Say it for me,” Emmanuel said suddenly. A screeching, crazy voice came from a part of him he was just discovering, but which he understood had been growing for a very long time. “Say her name,” Emmanuel said. He pointed his bat at the couple. “Say her name to me. I need to hear it.” He raised his bat, and both the white bodies flinched in response. He crashed the bat down. He felt the bark of the bat against the concrete. This is what it is to be the wolf, the bat screamed. You have been the sheep, but now you are the wolf. “SAY IT FOR ME. I BEG OF YOU,” Emmanuel screamed. This, he knew, was going all the way. He could feel the group feed on his fury. “Fela St. John, Fela St. John, Fela St. John,” they chanted in praise. “Tell me you love her,” Emmanuel said. “Tell me I’m crazy. I’m begging you. Say her name.” Emmanuel looked down at the tears and the red that seemed to be all that was left of the couple. They weren’t even people. Just pumping hearts and hormones. He wondered if his rage would end; he imagined it leaking out of himp.” (The Finkelstein 5, p. 25)


    Analysis

    Conflict based on race and ethnicity can lead towards conflict in thinking and perceiving things. The background of the text is that Emmanuel has to undergo such a situation through which a black has to pass. Violent behaviour and violent intentions can be observed in the lines where the white people are being screamed at and they are told to call the names to other partners as the calling of the names is to the black people. CRT (2001) mentions that interpersonal racial behaviour and intentions are developed due to the conflict between the people and the rooted aspects in their thoughts and perception. The lines depict the followings of the prior constructed theology through which a person has to pass and this theology can lead towards "revenge" when a person has been listening to the same things since his childhood or the time of maturity. As black people are alienated from white people and called "savage". These repeated intentions were carried and it resulted in the shape of the revenge and calling of the names. Such a situation can be prescribed where violent behaviour is there. CRT (2001) explores social injustice as socially constructed rather than the natural and the public places are not seen as secure and tend to put forth the insecure aspects for black people. Revenge is not discussed in the theory but is mentioned in the lines. The lines uttered by Emmanuel as “. “Tell me I’m crazy. I’m begging you. Say her name” and it can be said the socially constructed imbalance in the relationships and the biased attitude of the people had flourished in the society and it had made the biased attitude reflected the situation not favouring. Yelling at white people by using such words as "crazy, begging" denotes that the effects of the racial elements are far past and the revenge of the racial behaviour called others "below humanity".

    “Prosecution has failed to prove that he was not a hero saving his children from five monsters. That may sound harsh, but let’s be honest. We’ve seen this story before. A hardworking middle-class white man is put in a situation where he has to defend himself. And all of a sudden he’s a ‘racist.’ All of a sudden he’s a ‘murderer.’ No motive, no prior history, except for several ridiculous stories concocted by so-called ‘childhood friends’ and so-called ‘family members.’ It’s all very convenient, I think. That all these facts and testimonies suddenly align perfectly to incriminate a man who was spending an evening with his children. Before you make your decision, I want you to remember a single word: freedom. It sounds better than prison or death or fear, doesn’t it? Freedom just has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? Bring freedom. Please, please freedom." (The Finkelstein 5, p. 26)


    Analysis

    The life of Emmanuel is described as being black and was intended to save the people from the racial and attempted intentions by the black killers. Though Emmanuel was a member of the group and was there to attempt the murder, it can be said that the attempt of the murder was not undertaken and things were not as quite normal as had been observed. Elements of self-defence and self-orientation vanish when the accused person has to face the allegations. CRT (2001) says that race and ethnicity are the elements through which social justification and social norms can be explored. Present lines are describing that Emmanuel has not been there to kill the innocent people rather; he was there to stop the attempt. It is told, that things are not favouring where the defence is intended to accuse Emmanuel as the murderer. The line "Prosecution has failed to prove that he was not a hero saving his children from five monsters" presents that tone of racial aspects in which the killers are called "monsters" while Emmanuel is as kept as the accused person who is unable to justify his position. This illustration is clearer where the things are not favouring a black person who is not there to kill the people but was accompanied. Socially constructed racial behaviour where the “colour” is described as the same thoughts and intentions. These intentions seem to be of violation rather than support to "save the lives of the murdering people". Elements of race and tone of calling the person racial are there. Use of words such as "And all of a sudden he's a 'racist.' All of a sudden, he is a 'murderer.' No motive, no prior history, except for several ridiculous stories concocted by so-called 'childhood friends' and so-called 'family members"  define the situation which is not favouring the people as they seem different in concern and different in approach to presenting the situation be diverse. Cultural constructions of "black" people are there, in which an innocent person is labelled as the murderer of the people and keeps the status of “racial”. It is not told in the lines that the person is unaware of the situation yet the accompanied life and span of life is considered as the evidence. Institutional injustice can be seen when the lawyers are intended to call the "black" person the accused one and murder five people. This illustration presents that individual racial behaviour could have been developed among the people, which had led them towards institutional behaviour. Choice of words, tone, and justifications seem fully biased and the defence and themes of security and essential rights are deemed abandoned where the accused person's way of presenting the situation and justification of the state of being is not given weight and is said as the accused person and charge sheet is made done of attempt.

    ”Back in the store, there’s a new body in the body pile and in PoleFace™ a young woman is trying to kill Angela. She’s clawing and screaming, and even from the store entrance, I know what she wants. Angela is pinned against the wall where the SuperShells are. It looks like the girl is about to bite Angela’s nose off. Lance is rolling a teen toward the body pile, and Michel is helping a customer in the shoe section. Richard looks at me and points to Angela and the girl. I know what the girl wants.” (FRIDAY BLACK, p. 91)


    Analysis

    Racial discrimination poses a number of problems for society, including institutional, individual, and social injustice, which can ultimately lead to the dissolution of society. The actions taken by black people to defend “Blackness” demonstrate that injustice has its roots in society and that this injustice will have negative effects on morale and destabilize society. Delgado & Jean Stefancic's proposed theory of Racism (2001) explored the elements, which show that racism is not the natural aspect rather than it is the social construction, which deals with inequality, and the subjugation of other ethnic groups based on colour and creed. This can be said that the rights of sales increasing and sale management, is not also given where the black is presented as the "workers" while the customers are as "Zombies". This presents that the social differences and the social standards are quite different for black people. Getting back of the coat denotes that the values and standards are not given weight in American society and American society keeps the values different and based only on materialistic thoughts.

    “She rushes toward me. I dangle the coat out to the side like a matador. She runs toward it, and I let go and leap out of the way as she comes crashing through the parka. Then with the coat in her hands, she says, “Thank you,” in a raspy voice. I watch her at the register. “Have a nice day,” Richard says, as he rings her up. She growls, then says, “You, too.” I punch back in at the computer. Angela puts a hand on my shoulder.” (FRIDAY BLACK, p. 92)


    Analysis

    In American society, social class and blackness are related. Because of social constructions of norms and intentions, people develop prejudices because their understanding of other people’s perspectives is constrained by new standards that are subsequently created. The book CRT (2001) by Delgado and Jean Stefancic describes the various types of injustice that can cause an imbalance in society and contribute to its demise. "She comes crashing through the parka" is her tendency of Angela and she is intended to get back the coat. The lines show that things are not of the standards where the "sympathy is not there for black people even by the females". This can be said that institutional racism, social racism and individual racism do not let black people be considered on the behalf of their performance or the basis of their personality.

     “Reese had long skinny arms, and he always smelled like cigarette smoke. Often, he’d suck on his cheeks and move his mouth like something was stuck to his gums. I didn’t know anyone else like him. I would have liked to make him proud, even though, when I first started, Cato had put it in my head that Reese was some kind of racist. "He said something about niggers, man," Cato had told me during my third week working in the store. "I heard it, harder at the end of it, too. I’m 98 per cent sure. He didn’t see me. He was on the phone. I think he was talking to his wife or something." (THE LION & THE SPIDER, p. 97)



    Analysis

    The situation is clearly described in CRT by Delgado and Jean Stefancic (2001) in such a way that it is not in the interests of the marginalized group, who are referred to as the accusers both locally and legally. In this case, the situation is quite different because the murderer is portrayed as a victim of social injustice while the crime is considered offensive. Racial injustice can be reached because of this social construction and deconstruction. According to CRT (2001), racial injustice is based on race and is a social construction rather than a natural phenomenon.  The narrator is a black person and is socially prey to racism. "He said something about niggers, man," denotes that "education, and livelihood" are the main aspects but the institutional racism being presented by the people denotes that the young people have to live in the state of orphanage due to abandoned social values. This views that the voice of colour snatches the values and thinking process where the materialistic society put other names as "niggers" denotes that "blackness" is rooted where the characters have to pass through all these norms and traditions due to their state of existence.

    Conclusion

    Racism and prejudice skew court processes and criminal witnesses' statements. Black blood is devalued. Institutional bias against black people based on race and officials, who keep their voices silent because they have little significance, do ethnicity. America is unfair and divided. Society created this inequity. Extreme thoughts and amenities stem from systemic injustice.

    Black people are accused of seeing murder even though they didn’t do it. Social constructions of race can lead to institutional racism. The law’s characterization of a bystander as a criminal for failing to intervene has made the individual a criminal.

    Legal injustice extends beyond the fact that most members of one ethnic group are executed while a single minor obtain legal protection. The characters are treated unfairly since they are black and unworthy of equal rights.

    When there is racial discrimination, the lawyer’s tone is solely based on race and he or she changes the situation to their favour by stating that black people are viewed as killers and a threat to white people, therefore they can kill others in self-defence. 

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Cite this article

    APA : Durrani, A. S., Mustafa, R., & Sameen, R. (2023). Racism and Injustice: A Study of Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) Under Critical Race Theory. Global Educational Studies Review, VIII(II), 177-190 . https://doi.org/10.31703/gesr.2023(VIII-II).17
    CHICAGO : Durrani, Ayesha Sajid, Rizwan Mustafa, and Rimsha Sameen. 2023. "Racism and Injustice: A Study of Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) Under Critical Race Theory." Global Educational Studies Review, VIII (II): 177-190 doi: 10.31703/gesr.2023(VIII-II).17
    HARVARD : DURRANI, A. S., MUSTAFA, R. & SAMEEN, R. 2023. Racism and Injustice: A Study of Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) Under Critical Race Theory. Global Educational Studies Review, VIII, 177-190 .
    MHRA : Durrani, Ayesha Sajid, Rizwan Mustafa, and Rimsha Sameen. 2023. "Racism and Injustice: A Study of Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) Under Critical Race Theory." Global Educational Studies Review, VIII: 177-190
    MLA : Durrani, Ayesha Sajid, Rizwan Mustafa, and Rimsha Sameen. "Racism and Injustice: A Study of Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) Under Critical Race Theory." Global Educational Studies Review, VIII.II (2023): 177-190 Print.
    OXFORD : Durrani, Ayesha Sajid, Mustafa, Rizwan, and Sameen, Rimsha (2023), "Racism and Injustice: A Study of Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) Under Critical Race Theory", Global Educational Studies Review, VIII (II), 177-190
    TURABIAN : Durrani, Ayesha Sajid, Rizwan Mustafa, and Rimsha Sameen. "Racism and Injustice: A Study of Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018) Under Critical Race Theory." Global Educational Studies Review VIII, no. II (2023): 177-190 . https://doi.org/10.31703/gesr.2023(VIII-II).17