Race and Racism

Race and Racism is a major theme throughout the novel, with McBride emphasizing the structural effects of racism above instances of individual racism in order to highlight how racism, in 1969 and today, operates far more destructively as an embedded inequality than one individual behaving in a prejudiced manner. For example, McBride explicitly notes that the Five Ends Church had trouble securing a physical lot to build the church because racist landowners did not want to grant the land to black people. Another instance of this is McBride describing the issues related to housing and the New York Housing Authority. McBride explicitly notes that residential complaints about everything including pests, heat issues, and lead paint are routinely ignored by the New York Housing Authority, and sometimes even result in residents being evicted for daring to complain or demand better quality housing. McBride also touches on...