“And Love Them?” is written by Thomas Glave, a Black author from The Bronx. This piece is written from the perspective of presumably a white woman. The story follows the thoughts and feelings of an unnamed white narrator. She vocalizes her frustrations with the black people she comes across, in her personal and professional life.
The texts refers to black people as “they” and “them”, making it unclear initially who the narrator is referring to. The narrator gets more and more comfortable verbalizing frustrations and fears surrounding the black people she comes across. She describes the various relationships and encounters she has with black people, starting with friends and coworkers whom she has minor disagreements with, and moving towards strangers she deems as “angry” due to their circumstances. I think it is worth noting that since it is written from a first-person perspective, the thoughts and feelings of the people she encounters is unknown to the reader. The narrator depicts them as angry, but it is not known what has brought them to anger, or if that is their actual mood.
I was personally moved by the piece, because I understand that the angers and frustrations I experience may be hard to understand by people who do not share them. I also understand how it feels to be characterized as angry. After reading the piece, I realized it was written by a black man, which makes sense. I think it would be very difficult for a white author to verbalize these feelings. I’m sure that there are some people who have their thoughts and feelings, but it would be difficult to verbalize as it is politically incorrect.