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Chloe SanClemente Thompson

Andrea Delgado

C LIT 240E

29 January 2016

As a component of Racial Liberalism, the race novel was distinguished by an effort to

create narrow white sympathies for the African American. George Schuyler’s Black No More

broke that mold. Schuyler’s novel, instead of being a race novel, is a race radical text. Black No

More satisfies anti-capitalism criteria through its portrayal of organizations as businesses and

corruption of the American government. It meets the white liberal critique criteria through

Helen’s transformation and the characterization of Walter Brybe.

Melamed’s race radicalism’s most important element is its anti-capitalism. The key

difference between formal antiracism and race radicalism is that “Race radicalisms are

materialist antiracisms that prioritize the unevenness of global capitalism as primary race

matters” (Melamed 47). Ultimately, this requires an understanding that capitalism is an

inherently racist system. Black No More addresses this directly in the third chapter, where

Schuyler highlights how much more expensive housing costs were for African Americans than

they were for whites. In reference to those Blacks living in Harlem, Schuyler wrote that “As a

general rule, the Negroes were paying one hundred per cent more than white tenants in other

parts of the city for a smaller number of rooms and worse service” (31). However, it is clear in

other parts of the novel that Schuyler is openly critiquing American capitalism. He makes

allusions to both the KKK and the NAACP, both to critique the money-making cycle that these

supposedly activist organizations create. In his novel, the Knights of Nordica (allusion to the

KKK) is a front for making money off the poor. From its conception, the Knights of Nordica was

a way for its founder to profit off of hate and fear; he created the group because he was excited at
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the “… prospect of a full treasury to dip into again…” (Schuyler 38). When describing the

organization that focused on advancing African Americans, Schuyler intimates that those in the

employ of the National Social Equality League reaped the benefits of the donations they

received- upscale meals, luxury goods, etc. (53). This seems to portray an especially despicable

system, even furthering the degree of Schuyler’s anti-capitalism. The final critique of capitalism

that Black No More presents is the representation of the U.S. government via Walter Brybe.

Brybe’s introduction is his condemnation, he “won his exalted position as Attorney General of

the United States because of his long and faithful service helping large corporations to

circumvent the federal laws…” (Schuyler 60). This infers that capitalism is so integral to the

American system, that the Government is in the pockets of big business. The satirization of

Capitalism in the novel clearly reveals that Schuyler was a race radical writer, and that Black No

More is a race radical text.

The second criterium of race radicalism is less blatant in Represent and Destroy, but is

obvious in the books and authors that Melamed terms race radical. In Melamed’s example of

race radical text, The End of the Primitive, Melamed emphasizes that the race radical author can

very clearly understand and satirize the white liberal. Indeed, the author of The End of the

Primitive outwardly admitted that he wrote the book not for prejudiced white Americans but for

the same white racial liberals that had awarded him the grant with which to write the book

(Melamed 51). The criticism of white liberalism and other formally antiracist institutions is

integral to separating race radicalism and white liberalism. In order to truly be antiracist, it was

important that the race novel not be the only representation of African Americans- the very

concept of creating sympathy in whites was hypocritical and flawed- so the race radical text was

vital to the literary scene. Black No More (extremely similar to The End of the Primitive)

satirizes the white liberal wherever it can. One example of this is the same Walter Brybe
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mentioned above. Walter Brybe touts the same white liberal rhetoric that Melamed mentioned in

her introduction. The white liberal believes in the homogeneity and assimilation of Blacks into

whiteness (white society, economy, and culture) that leaves no room for the inequality that exists

in those systems. In his letter to Dr. Beard, Brybe regurgitates what he feels he should say as an

anti-racist: “…I myself don’t give a damn weather they turn white or not, myself…” (Schuyler

61), acting as if little change, hardship, or loss comes from integration into whiteness. Another

example of the satirization of the white liberal is Helen’s transformation at the end of the novel.

Although minutes before, she was crying over the black skin of her child, once she discovers that

her husband is actually a product of Black-No-More Inc, she is washed over with a sense of

relief. Her enlightenment that follows is a complete turnaround from her racist background

(Schuyler 129). The scene is almost comical in its absurdity, and completely pokes fun at the

concept of moral growth often associated with white liberalism.

A race radical text requires two basic components. First, it must be anti-capitalist.

According to Melamed’s Represent and Destroy, race radicalism is defined chiefly by antiracism

that understands and recognizes racial capitalism (capitalism as a racist system). Second, the race

radical text often includes critique of white liberalism. As a counter to the race novel (a

manifestation of white liberalism), the race radical text often highlights the issues with white

liberalism (with both race radical texts that we have analyzed in class, the mode of doing so has

been satire). Knowing these criteria, Black No More clearly can be described as race radical.