During class, there was a large amount of debate about whether or not the day of apology was a complete bust on Macon's part, or if in some ways it actually did accomplish what he wanted it to. Perhaps with enough planning, the day of apology could have worked out in a way that did not end in riots and death. But in my personal opinion, no matter how much time and effort Macon put in to the Day of Apology, there was no way that he would be able to execute it without it ending in riots.
The first reason for this is that Macon does not have the mind nor the attitude of a careful planner with attention to detail. Everything that he did to bring himself to fame was done spontaneous, from the gun hold-up in the cab to his speeches as The Franchise. It was only a matter of time before Macon's spontaneity caught up to him, and The Day of Apology was exactly that time. Macon's entire operation would have fallen apart without Nique and Andre's assistance planning, and what Macon didn't seem to be able to grasp throughout the entire novel was that no matter how inspirational he was or how amazing his ideas were, he would not be able to make an impression on the white population without careful organization and planning. Macon refused to work with Andre and Nique as they tried to schedule interviews, and this lack of planning caught up to Macon on the Day of Apology.
The main problem with the Day of Apology was the concept itself. The goal of the Day of Apology was to make white people reflect on their privilege and to feel bad about themselves. But Macon did not seem to take into account how much this would irritate and anger the black people that were being apologized to. The result was white people getting mugged, beaten up, and possibly even murdered, even though the book did not give any specific instances of this. Macon then made the matter worse by trying to act as if he was above everyone else and didn't have to apologize when confronted, resulting in the accidental gunfire that started all of the riots. However, even without Macon to shoot the fatal bullet, riots would have occurred, as Macon was adding so much tension to an already very tense situation in New York City by asking white people to apologize to black people, which seemed to solve neither of their problems.
Overall, although I agree that Macon's idea of having white people reflect on their privilege and feel guilty about it is not necessarily a bad idea, the way that Macon tried to execute his plan was so full of flaws that there was no way that it could end well. Also, when it did end, it was the blacks who were hurt most by the Day of Apology, because it was their neighborhoods that were burned down by the riots, and it would be them who would be held responsible for the mess that the Day of Apology created.
I agree with all of your points about Macon's lack of planning in the situation, but he seemed to think that he could get away with it because the people that were involved would be smart enough, and he wanted them to get beat up to some extent, whether physically or emotionally. I think Macon was right in trying to get people to self-reflect, but again that lack of understand of how the mob mentality works definitely shows here.
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ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if it was an accident that Macon didn't account for the anger that black people might have due to white people coming to them and trying the apologize to them. It seemed to me more like this was a huge part of the planning of the day of apology. Through causing anger at white people Macon is for one causing harm to "white america" which is one of his goals. Through this Macon is also putting black people into a position of power over the whites who come trying to apologize to him. In this way I feel like Macon is trying to usurp white privilege though in a kind of crazy way.
ReplyDeleteMacon definitely believes himself to be better than everyone simply because he's the most radical white guy out there, and that's what makes him a leader. Personally, though, I agree with you and think that he makes a really terrible one, only half-thinking through his plans and relying on his followers to use their own brains. Unfortunately, he really gives them a bit too much credit on the Day of Apology.
ReplyDeleteOne way to see the Day of Apology is as a kind of thought-experiment on Mansbach's part: "What if a guy like Macon could tap into the vast reserves of white guilt and racial anxiety and actually get something like this to happen? What would that look like?" It's hard to even call it a "plan" on Macon's part, as it's so spontaneous and improvisational--a passing comment made by a co-panelist on a passing comment made by Malcolm X 40 years ago, and within a couple of sentences it's a declared national event. Of course it was a disaster, but the WAYS it's a disaster are interesting (like the varieties of different responses to apologies, as we looked at in class).
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