THE SOUTH OF BLACK FORGIVENESS

Clovis’ (Just a Book in the Library, 2019, etc.) latest novel centers on white supremacist ideology in America, seen primarily through the eyes of a black female journalist. 

Tanisha is a recent Columbia University grad living in Harlem. As a reporter for “a small local newspaper,” she sometimes writes op-ed pieces. With these, she can express her opinion on such events as a speech by Mark Zuckerberg about free expression, which did not reassure her that Facebook had no “alliance with anti-Black forces.” But another story grabs headlines after a shooting at and bombing of a Harlem Pentecostal church leaves six parishioners dead and five wounded (although the number of injured would later rise to 26). Tanisha discusses the tragedy with her editor and fellow reporters, particularly the crumbled note found at the scene that says: “Please forgive me.” This makes the third crime in the same neighborhood with a similar note left behind; in each case, the victim(s) have been black. Tanisha soon determines that the killer’s notes of forgiveness are seeking justification for “White violence”—and that further brutal acts are planned. Equally unnerving is that Tanisha, who continually spots the same person at the subway, believes someone is stalking her. She and her colleagues, though cautious, search for evidence that might point to a murderer. This book, like Clovis’ earlier work, is steeped in frank social commentary. Zeroing in on the political ideology of white supremacy, it deals intelligently with real-life occurrences, ranging from police shootings and the arrests of innocent black people to President Donald Trump’s brazenly comparing his impeachment to a lynching. Clovis’ prose is expressive and unequivocal, as when she writes of a student: “Seven White campus cops forcibly removed her Brown body handcuffed behind her back, wrangling violently like a caterpillar from the front door of the building at American University in Washington.” Tanisha’s story, along with the likable, savvy protagonist, presents flashes of the killer’s unnerving narrative perspective. Most readers will predict a later twist, but it doesn’t diminish the impact of the racial crimes in this novel.

A novel with a real-world setting explores the disturbing consequences of racial intolerance.