Aceves 1

Sergio G Aceves
Professor Jackie
English 114B
4/30/15
Word Count: 2153

Who is on Macons Side?

Being pitted against two ethnicities can really be a handful. It might even make someone
change what they believe in from their own ethnicity. That was the deal with Macon Detornay. In
the novel Angry Black White Boy by Adam Mansbach, a young man named Macon struggles in
New York trying to make African American culture a huge part of his life. The problem is
nobody else sees what he believes in and instead calls him a crazy race traitor. So what he does is
try to get everyone to know that white Americans are in fact the worst race of them all. His
performance and identity formation in the novel really does prove his point and only a few others
understand what hes going through. Throughout the novel, Macon encounters a number of
people who understand his cause; these people are his friends Andre, Dominique, and Logan.
And just like Macon, all their performances in the novel help Macons cause because each one
contributes to who Macon becomes in the end.
Macon Detornay is a suburban, middle class, white boy from Boston, Massachusetts who
is very into black culture and even considers himself a white nigger in the universe (Mansbach
1). Not only that, he is filled with rage towards white Americans and chooses to abandon his own
whiteness. One of the reasons he might feel this way may be because of his great-grandfather,
Cap Anson, a star baseball player whose harmful racism helped keep baseball re-segregated until
the 1940s. In Stig Jantzs article, Anson was the bully who drew the color line in the dirt and

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dared African-Americans to cross it (para 3). Unlike other white kids, Macon can be seen
wearing clothes that dont really fit white skin. He wears a Malcolm X T-shirt and insanely
baggy pants. Whats even more or a twist is that Macon is also Jewish and sports a tattoo with
the date, 4-29-92, the date the verdict had been passed down onto Rodney King, the day Los
Angeles had burned (Mansbach 48). So thats already a red flag towards the Jewish race of
being reminded of the Holocaust and being branded and having a number. While being very
informed of most of the history of African American leaders and events, Macon also has a
passion for poems and getting his opinions out, even though they are not very good poems he
feels compelled to let everyone know what he thinks and about his feelings towards white
people.
Macon is set on to making white people pay for their misdeeds and the only way he
knows how is to do it is by robbing them from right under their noses. After moving to New York
City for college, Macon gets a part-time job as a taxicab driver where he is able to commit his
crimes to any white person who climbs into his cab, setting off a chain of events. His reasons
arent very clear on why he does this but its mostly because he feels compelled to punish white
people for the four hundred years of oppression theyve done to black people. Macon idolizes
Malcolm X and in some regards considers himself to be the new Malcolm X; he wants to be able
to make a difference in the black community by assuring that all African Americans get the
respect that they deserve while at the same time trying to bash his own race in front of thousands
of people. While being into poetry and black culture, Macon is also way into hip hop and graffiti
art. He used to learn under an artist named CAP but decided to stop tagging for a while. Even
though Macon can seem like a hard ass, hes really a nice guy. Hardly anything even makes
Macon mad. The only things that seem to tick Macon off the most has to be dumb people with

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dumb responses to what he says, i.e. white people on the Day of Apology and when other black
people dont recognize him as an ally and gets turned down. In retaliation, Macon goes to learn
and study about African American history and culture. Thats why when he was thirteen and
wearing a Malcolm X T-shirt and when people asked him, Whatchu know about that man? he
was ready to not hold back with information about Malcolms life. (Mansbach 17) And in an
instance he would watch all their expressions change, falling into Macons trap. So when he
decides to create a movement for white people to give back to black people, it was obvious both
would not understand what he was asking for but Macon was confident that this would work, and
of course he wasnt alone in making his cause a reality.
The first person Macon met in New York, besides the people he robbed in the beginning,
was a young man by the name of Andre Walker. Macon was going to Columbia University and
decides to pick his own roommate. So Macon goes and picks Andre because of their shared
history in who their great-grandfathers are. Andre Walker is a 58 -59 African American boy
whos attending Columbia University. He first meets Macon when he walks into their dorm. He
greets him normally like theyve been friends forever, but then starts being skeptic of Macon.
Macon, out of nowhere, decides to break the tension between him and Andre by saying that Cap
Anson was his great-grandfather. Macon was hoping for a reaction from Andre because his greatgrandfather was also a baseball player in the 1880s. According to Stig Jantzs article, Anson
refused to play in an exhibition with the Toledo Blue Stockings and their catcher, Moses
Fleetwood Walker, Andres grandfather. (para 4) Macon was hoping that there wouldnt be any
hard feelings, but Andre didnt really care. Andre doesnt really get fazed with that kind of stuff,
but to be safe he doesnt want Macon to mention to anybody else. They talked for a while and
got to know each other really well after smoking a joint and listening to some music. Andre is the

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kind of person who doesnt like to start any trouble but will gladly help his friends with jobs and
tasks. Hes sometimes quiet and in some ways wants to be a peacemaker. Throughout Macons
popularity scene, Andre has been helping and giving him advice so that he doesnt screw up
anything when hes doing interviews. In other words, hes Macons right-hand man. Not only is
Andre helpful to Macons cause, hes basically the one who help start Macons popularity by
bailing him out of jail. The bail was 25 grand, he used Macons 4 grand to help a little bit, but
Andre decided to pay the rest of the 21 grand himself. Out of shock Macon says, Ive known
you four days. Why would you and Andre responds, Ive decided to believe in you until you
give me a reason not to (Mansbach 149). This shows in only a short amount of time that Andre
is willing to help anyone whos desperately in need of assistance and has a good reason for it.
Back when they first met, Andre and Macon decide to leave campus and walk around New York
to go and pay a visit to Andres old friend from high school, Dominique.
Dominique Lavar, or Nique for short, is a lanky African American boy whos attending
NYU and is Andres old high school buddy. Just like Andre, Nique was also skeptical about
Macon when they first met but then got over it after a lengthy discussion about a picture Nique
had hanging in his dorm. The picture Nique had was a framed shot of Rodney King being
assaulted by police officers. The only words Macon had to say were, Nice picture, and thats
when Nique went off on Macon. (Mansbach 47) Nique responded, Nice? Either you got a real
limited vocabulary or a serious problem. Aint nothing nice about the shit (Mansbach 47). At
that moment Macon shows his tattoo to Nique. Dumbfounded, Nique says, Mufucker got a
Rodney King tattoo? Shit, I thought I was black (Mansbach 48). So Nique is that kind of person
who gets offended and mad easily but can know when to let it go in an instance. So then they
talked some more on why Macon was this way and earned the respect of Nique. And thats why

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in the novel it says, Black peoples friendships meant nothing unless they were suspicious of
whites (Mansbach 49). Almost all the time Nique is always polite to new people; with Macon it
was easy for him to understand him and become friends. As for a job, Nique considers himself as
a young black entrepreneur. What that means is that hes actually a drug dealer; the only reason
he hasnt been caught is because of his foolproof plan by working at tollbooths all over New
York. Nique calls it unsupervised hand-to-hand transactions (Mansbach 53). And with that,
Nique can also be clever and cocky in some regard. Even though Nique is comfortable and polite
with everyone, he does however feel oppressed by police officers. So one day to get back at all
police officers, he pissed on his friends car waiting for him to show up just so he can beat him
up because his friends dad is a cop. And by doing this, Nique believed beating up an officers
kid would show them a lesson. To most, Nique is a nice guy, but to some he is a real prick.
During Macons Race Traitor Project, Nique was considered to be Macons manager in a way by
booking all his interviews and when Macon was on the brink of giving up and running away,
Nique stepped in and took charge and spoke to all the white people who were all too confused to
follow directions. Not only that but his speech to them was pretty much exactly how Macon
wouldve wanted to word it. So pretty much Nique is all over the place, he a nice person, mostly,
a good friend and has more than what it takes to be leader. At this point it seemed Macon already
had a fool-proof crew to work with, but it still seemed like they needed some more insight; a
womans intuition.
The last person that Macon meets and can actually relate to is a nice kind girl name
Logan. Logan is a white, blonde, skinny girl with a number of tattoos all over her body. Macon
firsts meets her during a poetry slam one night at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Shes very cool,
calm and collected and isnt afraid to make fun of the poets preforming. After hearing her

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comments about the first couple of poets, Macon decides to start a conversation with her. Her
response to Macon when he asks if she comes here a lot was, Just enough to remind myself why
it sucks (Mansbach 73). She then continues saying that, Theyre performers, not poets,
meaning that she has a knack for seeing people for who they really are (Mansbach 73). Later in
the night, Macon goes up to perform his own poem and Logan listens and is semi-impressed by
his writing. She told him it as okay and decides to leave the building after giving Macon her
number.
The second time Macon meets Logan was after he was released from prison and after he
read another one of his poems to a public crowd. Macon then introduces Logan to Andre and
Nique and says that he met her one night at the Nuyorican. Impressed by Macons popularity she
adds, Back when he was a nobody (Mansbach 177). At that moment Logan realizes Macons
potential and decides to stick around with all three of them. Andre and Nique werent too sure
about Logan at first because she was an unimpressive-looking girl but then started to gain a
liking to her when she mentions that shes also a financial consultant, meaning she tells
companies how to spend their money (Mansbach 183). With this type of info in mind, they let
Logan stick around for assistance and for company. While helping the trio with financial matters,
Logan also helps settle problems and disputes between the three of them, either interview wise or
campaign wise.
Macon Detornay is a white Jewish kid living in an African American life, and he is okay
with it. He doesnt care that much if people turn him down just because hes a race traitor. All
that matters is that he gets his point across and hopes to change peoples thoughts. With his
friend Andres ideas and assistance, Nique with his leadership and resourcefulness, and Logan

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with her financial expertise, Macon can overcome any trial ahead of him. With all his close
friends by his side, Macon just might be able to help change New York.

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Works Cited
Jantz, Stig. "Hidden history: Hall of Famer Cap Anson was baseball's best player and most
strident racist." Sport May 1993: 70. General OneFile. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Mansbach, Adam. Angry Black White Boy, Or the Miscegenation of Macon Detornay: A Novel.
New York: Three Rivers, 2005. Print.