UNFOLLOW ME

A social media star struggles with her online persona and the perks it has brought her.

In her debut collection of essays, Busby, aka Jillisblack, focuses on her "single gram of sub-demographic micro-fame on social media,” exploring an online persona that is both admired and hated. In her first viral post, in 2016, she wondered why White people needed so many workshops and so much training and time to "get it"—a phenomenon now known as liberal gradualism. Busby was employed for a decade as a diversity educator, a position that deepened her cynicism and skepticism about pretty much everyone, including herself. Why was she privileging her Black identity over her queer identity? Because it was trendier? Why was she writing a book about being complicit? "Just so that [she feels] better about being complicit?" The author reveals the organizations and people who have reacted to her work by offering opportunities as colonizers and pawns of exceptionalism and tokenism. For example, a woman who hosted an event for influential people of color "looks so happy to see you having so much culturally authentic fun together, and you imagine her congratulating herself." In an essay describing an invited residency she participated in with other Black artists, Busby mocks both the organizers and some of her colleagues. In the final, titular piece—according to the author, “one that I will never allow to be the last essay of this book”—Busby recounts a surprisingly thoughtful online exchange with a member of the Proud Boys. The strongest material in the book is buried in the second-to-last essay. In the middle of the pandemic and the wake of George Floyd, her stepfather threatened to kill her and her mother, sending them on the run across the country. This engaging, harrowing tale should have opened the collection.

For fans of Busby’s online persona; others may choose to obey the title.