And Love Them? is a short story written by the black American author, Thomas Glave. Published in 2000, Glave writes through the perspective of a white, New York City business woman, emphasizing her ambivalence towards her experiences with black people. Her monologue depicts an attempt to justify her bigotry through recollection of interactions with black coworkers, strangers, and a previous ex boyfriend.
The narrator portrays a significant contrast throughout the story as she constantly transitions between feelings of guilt and righteousness concerning black people. She introduces this conflict in the first sentences of the text, “Only now I hate them. Well no, I shouldn’t say that, I really shouldn’t.” She also writes, “I hope you never get a cab now, you bastard, and then I’m thinking something really awful and I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t think that, God forgive me, but . . . they drive you to it.” As she recounts her experiences with black people, there is a similar structure in her narration. She starts off the anecdote with an angry tone in an attempt to get the reader to sympathize with her bias, and finishes with a feeling of regret and scapegoating.
This text was very impactful because it helped me understand the concept of unconscious bias. The narrator allowed her preconceived notions of black people to skew innocent interactions. Her need to justify each bigoted thought reminded me of Tobias Wolff’s “Say Yes.” The husband attempted to win the argument with his wife by trying to justify why he frowns upon interracial couples using points guided by his own implicit racial bias.
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