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Tajh Henderson
Professor Hymes
ENGLISH 113B
12/8/15
The Telling of an Angry Black White Boy
The novel Angry Black White Boy is a novel made up of many different racial issues and
self-identity issues. Macon Detornay, who is the protagonist in the novel, is a Caucasian male
with a different intellect and viewpoint than the people of his community and racial group.
Macon is a strong supporter of African American rights and disagrees with the historical events
that involved African Americans and disagrees with the way people of color are treated in
present day. Macon describes himself as being the ultimate Down White Boy. He portrays
himself as being an African American and does things to try fit in with the black community.
Within the novel, Macon is determined to make things right for the black community. Hes
influenced by the historic icon Malcolm X and uses his teachings to empower his own actions as
an activist. In the novel Angry Black White Boy the author provides an insight on racism, racial
stereotypes, and uses Malcolm X as a major influence to the main character Macon. Although
Macon stood up for African Americans and used Malcolm X as his inspiration, his actions caused
stereotypes and racial profiling from the Caucasian community.
Racism along with stereotyping are two of the key components that describes this novel.
Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to
that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Macon
describes himself as being the ultimate Down White boy which in his opinion is an amazing

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thing but it does nothing but cause conflict within himself and the community. What Macon
doesnt understand is that he too stereotypes the black community when he lists his personality
traits and what his hobbies are. African Americans in the present day are perceived as being
ghetto, uncouth thieves, without class who belong in jail because they do nothing but wrong. In
the novel, the black community is perceived as being nothing different than what they are made
out to be in reality. The racial stereotypes in this novel are used in every way right down to the
context of the book. This book is told from a third person point of view, but the way Macon
speaks and the lingo he uses is a stereotype of how all African Americans speak. Macon uses
slang words as nigger, pimp, and cracker. These words, and variations thereof, are commonly
used by the black population of the United States (Green). The stereotypes in this book are both
subverted and exaggerated. What other racial groups fail to realize is that the African American
community has been backed into a wall for hundreds of years. The way they speak and the things
they do are the norms within their culture, present day and within the novel. The stereotypes are
mostly subverted. There is an unexplainable, abnormal, undermined connection in the way the
black community connects with the things they do, and in the novel Macon feels like he
understands that connection and tries to fit in and be a part of it. There is minor exaggeration
related to the stereotypes within the novel also. For example, Macon only experienced
stereotypes because of the way he comes off. His personality is exaggerated due to the fact that
hes trying to be a part of the black community. One of Macons influences is hip hop. Hip hop
or rap music can sometimes focus on one subject and explain a story. Macon takes from the
stories he listens to and then ties it within his own personality which results in him acting out and
reciting what he hears and that only adds to the stereotypes. The author wrote, he turned the
music up, digging the unity of place and soundscape, relishing not just his understanding of each

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line of Rakims verse, but the fact that he could scarcely remember a time when he hadnt known
this shit (Mansbach 16).
Malcolm X is Macons inspiration for many of his actions committed throughout the
novel. Malcolm X, born as Malcolm Little, was a civil rights activist for the African American
people. Due to a troubled past, Malcolm X spent time in jail, but he soon turned his life around
for the better once he converted to the nation of Islam and started following the teachings of the
honorable Elijah Muhammad. He remains a historical iconic figure in the African American
community. In the novel Macon is influenced by the story of Malcolm X and makes the decision
to become an activist for the black community. He constructs a plan and then begins robbing
white passengers in his taxicab job. Once a manhunt for the slick robber was set out, everyone
assumed it was a black man committing these crimes. Macon took the newfound spotlight and
used it to express his feelings towards the Caucasian community. Similar to Malcolm X, Macon
launches a plan of action which he called The Race Traitor Project, Macon took the safe route
and used civil disobedience to get his viewpoints out into the public. Civil disobedience is the
active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an
occupying international power. Malcolm X didnt believe in civil disobedience, he believed in
fighting fire with fire. Malcolm X was dealing with different circumstances in his time of being a
civil rights activist. Malcolm X was fighting for an entire culture and race. The things Malcolm
X fought for were on a larger scale and fought for a race worldwide. Macon fought for his own
beliefs when it came to the African American community. Macon and Malcolm X took two
completely different routes when it came the way they went about situations. Macon participated
in many illegal activities in his fight for African American rights while Malcolm X used a
different form of civil disobedience but rarely broke any major laws. For Malcolm X, as an

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African American, he is identified as a Muslim and the most of his teachings and ideas derive
from the nation of Islam. Macon uses violent criminal ways to revenge on whites and initiates
the Day of Apology to let white racial group to apologize to black racial group without deep
consideration. However, Malcolm X used inspiring preaching and established organizations
which turned out to be a reliable way to fight for the equality for blacks. Moreover, their
respective results are very different. Macon is transformed into the victim of cultural
miscegenation and is not accepted by blacks and is hated by whites. In contrast, Malcolm X
became the historic iconic civil rights activist as well as the permanent black spiritual leader who
strongly influenced African American history. This shows that the two are very distinct in race,
ideology, behavior. Similarly, his interest in connecting with the black community and his
interests with Malcom X displays his hybridity because it shows that he wants to be validated as
black instead of white.
This novel also gives examples of self-identity issues and hybrid personalities and
identities. Throughout the novel Macon struggles with his physical color. He cant seem to
accept his natural race and he strives to be of the African American descent. Hybrid identities
occur in Angry Black White Boy because of interests that conflict the race of particular
characters. Certain interests (like musical interests) are associated with certain races and only
identify with that racial group, so having different interests than the other people of ones race
will be a manifestation of a hybrid identity. Macon is very interested in hip-hop. Mansbach
states, when Macon had started listening [to hip-hop]ten years ago, and a good four or five
before most of these [white] kidsThose who listened then were arctic nomads, becoming
friends for life when they converged on frozen roads to trade supplies (70-71). This explains
how Macon had become a fan of hip-hop before the other kids in his racial group and that hip-

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hop was a way for him to make friends and be accepted into the black community. Consequently,
since this is a time period in which white kids were not hip-hop fans yet, the audience was
primarily black. After the Rodney King incident took place, Macon took it just as personal as the
people in the black community. Macon feels as if people of the Caucasian community should be
punished for their privilege and injustice which brought upon his idea for the day of apology. The
author wrote The funny thing is, though, who am I exposing White people to? It aint news to
Black folks that Whites are still racist. I guess Im exposing White people to themselves. Weve
gotten so good at pretending were not racist that weve started to believe it (Mansbach 141).
Macon is aware of the crimes committed by white people but cant change the situation nor get
accepted into the black community. In the novel there is a publishing within the New York Times
website. Bob Nathan claims that Macon first becomes aware of these ugly truths on the day of
the Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of the officers charged in the assault on Rodney
King. The pre-adolescent Macon, enraged by the verdict, storms out of his house determined to
make his contribution to the struggle by providing whites for the stomping. But since there aren't
any black people within miles who would protest with him, he then tries to start his own riot. He
proceeded to make his way to a commercial district and throws a flaming trash can through the
windshield of a parked police car. He then watched the car burn down to ash but his plan to
construct a riot was failing right in front of his eyes. The actions of Macon shows that he has
officially rejected his white culture and has chosen to embrace his want for acceptance into the
black community.
Angry Black White Boy was a novel that taught the reader. The lessons in this novel relate
to many issues that have been left unspoken. The novel touched upon the teachings of Malcolm
X, racism, stereotypes and racial profiling. When it came down to Macon committing acts to

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protest for the black community, or if Macon was forced to use physical force to get what he
believed in, it was all influenced by Malcolm X. The concept of hybrid personalities were also
explained in this book. Macon not excepting his own racial community and identifying himself
as an African American. The author uses Macon as a tool to express his thoughts and ideas.

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Works Cited
Mansbach, Adam. Angry Black White Boy, Or, The Miscegenation of Macon Detornay: a
Novel. New York: Three Rivers, 2004. Print.
Perez, Laura R. In the Middle, In Between: Cultural Hybridity, Community Rejection, and
the Destabilization of Race in Percival Everetts Erasure, Adam Mansbachs Angry Black White
Boy, and Danzy Sennas Caucasia. MA thesis. Howard University, 2011. Ann Arbor: UMI, 2011.
PDF file.