Macon as a Hero

There's been a lot of discussion in class recently about whether or not Macon can be considered a hero in Angry Black White Boy. For me, Macon was always sort of a confusing character and it was hard for me to really classify him, but after finishing the book, I don't think that I can truly call him a hero.

Unlike a lot of people in class, I actually really liked Macon in the first parts of the book. Most people thought he was way too cocky, and this is true, but it didn't really ruin his character for me. First of all, he's mostly cocky in his internal thoughts, and he doesn't seem nearly as overconfident when talking to Andre and Dominique or even during his interviews. Even internally, his cockiness doesn't seem that real, he actually seems like he's pretty insecure at a lot of points. I think his ego is just something that he created to help pick himself up and to balance out his insecurity. 

I also liked Macon because we can tell from the book that he honestly cares and that he's trying to help and make things change. He has a lot of really good, intelligent ideas and beliefs, though he's not the best at actually finding ways to take action, and this often leads to bad things like the taxi robbery and eventually the Day of Apology. Macon also has an interesting enough backstory to get people's and the media's attention, so it seems like he has the ideas and the influence to make some real changes and become a hero, which is where it seems like the story's heading for the first two thirds of the book.

However, the Day of Apology and Macon's decline afterwards prevent him from becoming a hero and actually make me really dislike him for a while. Just because he had one failure, no matter how huge it was, doesn't mean he should give up on all his goals. He should be able come back and try again if he cares about it as much as he says he does, but he instead gets really depressed and tried to renounce literally everything he's done for years, actively trying to "become white" again. This seemed really unheroic to me, and with so little time left in the book, I didn't have hopes for him redeeming himself.

Macon actually adjusts decently well into the extreme white culture he finds in the South, and he seems sort of able to change. The final scene of the book, though, was kind of insane and gave a new, final view of Macon. It would be possible to see Macon's decision to try and shoot the redneck guy as a point of redemption and seeing that he's still loyal to his movement and believes in it, but I didn't read it that way. I think his attempt to kill him wasn't a result of his previous beliefs, but just because he was an awful person and was trying to force him to kill someone else. This seems to be enough for Nique and Conway to think he's passed his test though, and it seems like Macon will be saved, maybe to continue work on the movement and truly redeem himself. 

However, when the redneck decides to shoot him, that chance is lost. Macon seems to think he'll die a martyr, sort of giving him a heroic death, but I don't think he does. If Macon had somehow sacrificed himself for the cause, showing all the people who doubted he could go that far at the start of the book, that would have completed a story arc and definitely made him a hero. However, when the redneck guy says "You're going to die for your cause," Macon replies "No." While this could just be a plea for mercy, I would interpret it as him saying that he's not dying for his cause. He's not sacrificing himself to keep his beliefs alive or anything, he's dying because some crazy southern racist hates him for something he did in the past and has a gun; Macon has no choice in this. This isn't redemption for him, it just cuts his story off. Though Macon has the potential to be a hero, and it seems like he would become one, he never fulfills his potential and declines instead, ultimately failing to redeem himself before his death.

Problems with the Day of Apology

Macon's idea for the "Day of Apology" always seemed really off to me from the start. Having random white people just going and saying sorry to random black people on the streets just sounds like a crazy and bad idea, regardless of what the intentions were, and the day does end up turning out very badly.

Looking at it in an extremely general sense, the Day of Apology does sort of represent a good idea. Having whites become more aware of white privilege and express that they don't support it is clearly a good thing to have happen, and it would help to lessen racist feeling. However, as with most of his good ideas, Macon really doesn't go around accomplishing this in a good way. In addition to the general awkwardness of the situation, Macon also seems to have some goals for this thing that aren't as good. He seems to be at least partially motivated by humiliating whites, as he wants them to feel uncomfortable and even wants them to get attacked by blacks, showing his hatred of white people and culture.

Macon was correct in predicting that the apologies would be very uncomfortable, as people generally don't know what to say. This is understandable, as there really isn't a good way to make an apology in this situation. Most people haven't actually done something obviously racist that they'd be able to apologise for, and those who had probably wouldn't be the people willing to apologise anyways. People more apologise for the system in general, basically saying "sorry that racism exists," without actually doing anything about it.

The apologies generally go down poorly with the blacks towards whom they're directed. The whites apologising, for the most part, don't actually seem to care that much, they seem to just be doing it just to say they'd done it; they're not that sincere and the blacks sort of pick up on that. They also seem to feel that whites apologising like this doesn't make up for or mean anything. Macon eventually does get his wish as the apologies turn violent in multiple cases, but the whole thing turns into a disaster when Macon helps start a large gunfight at the end. The Day of Apology seemed doomed from the start, and it ends up going very badly for everyone involved.