The interviewer stated, “There are no major white characters in your books.” Sighing, she responded:
“What is interesting to me is what is going on within the [Black] community, and within the [Black] community there are no major white players. Once I thought, ‘What is life like if they weren’t there?”
Throughout her career, Toni Morrison received criticism for not including white characters in her work. She wanted to create Black narratives existing outside of anti-Blackness.
Morrison understood anti-Blackness only inserts itself into our narratives to police us.
Morrison gave us deeply layered characters that explored the range of Blackness. If anti-Blackness appeared, Morrison used it to show a character fighting internalized anti-Blackness.
Morrison knew this fight was part of our collective experience but not our entire narrative as Black people.
Our Blackness is ours, undefined by anti-Blackness. Morrison’s legacy reminds us the futures we’re building do not need to center anti-Blackness in any way.
We have the power to center our own narratives, desires, and practices of freedom.
What would a world free from anti-Blackness look like? Sound like? Feel like? Taste Like? Smell Like? Be like?
This future exists. Our responsibility is to collectively create it. The beautiful thing is that we already have models showing us it is possible.