OUR FIRST NIGGER-PRESIDENT

A Black scholar offers ruminations on race, language, and Donald Trump.

As indicated by its provocative title, this book refuses to pull any punches about race. In an eclectic mix of philosophy, social theory, history, and memoir, Abydos covers topics that range from Trump to the court petitions of enslaved Black men and women. With an expertise in the intersection of race and philosophy that leans heavily on the rhizoanalysis of the post-structural French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the author challenges readers through her “parodied” description of Trump as “our first nigger-president.” While explicitly acknowledging the epithet “must…be rejected and denounced,” she deploys it against a president whose ascension was built on White grievance politics. Abydos notes that while Whites are shielded from the racist term ever being used against them, which has provided them “a quixotic sense of hope and security…that they could never be as low as that,” Trump’s basest personal characteristics ironically match historical descriptions of the infamous term. As stated in the text, “Nigger is without principles.…Nigger is corrupt….Nigger is deplorable…,Nigger is unfit.” Throughout the book, the author also stylizes the word white with a strikethrough to show that “it is a social construct that functions as an identifier by a particular group.” Though at times the volume’s sometimes-incongruent themes make for a disjointed read, each chapter is remarkably consistent in its blend of scholarship and biting social commentary. Chapter topics include an analysis of how language itself upholds structural racism, a defense of former President Barack Obama, the history of a grotesque racist poem recycled for two decades by newspapers, and vignettes from the author’s life as a Black woman from Cleveland. The work’s references demonstrate a firm command of a diverse range of relevant, interdisciplinary scholarship and theory. While sometimes using jargon that may alienate a general audience, the author’s subversive and direct writing style will surely find readers far beyond academia. Admirably, Abydos is comfortable quoting a wide range of figures, including the rappers Cardi B and Rick Ross as well as the authors Frantz Fanon and James Baldwin.

A delightfully sardonic and sharp, if fragmented, commentary on race in the Trump era.