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Jenny Vo
Professor Jackie Hymes
English 114B
12 March 2015
Lost in Identity
Feeling out of place and trying to find oneself is a struggle that most people have. Some
people may dress differently so that they can fit in and feel better about themselves, some people
act differently so that they can be accepted, and some people just lose their minds because they
do not know who they are anymore. Angry Black White Boy by Adam Mansbach tells a story
about a white, Jewish boy named Macon Detornay who grew up around the hip- hop culture in
the suburbs then went off to college in New York City where he starts to slowly lose himself.
Macon Detornay struggles with his identity because of the guilt that he feels by having privilege
since he is white, and also because of the blame that he has against white people for being racist
towards other races.
Macon is a white, Jewish boy who does not accept where he original comes from. He
does not like his own people since they look down on other races when they are supposed to look
at them as equal. Macon gets so aggravated against white people that he robs them in his own
taxi, and calls them names such as ignorant white devil asshole (Mansbach 24). Macon starts
robbing white people because he believes that this violent action is informed by a sense of racial
and social justice. He believes in racial retribution and in the possibility that acting out against
Whites will force them to come to terms with their racism and sense of privilege (Cynthia
Estremera 48). Since Macon believes that robbing white people will fix racism, it shows that he
really dislikes his own people and does not accept where he comes from since they are so racist
and cruel to the African- American race. Therefore, Macon starts robbing more white people in

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his taxi cab and once the crimes that he has committed got put on the news, they describe him as
some kind of black militant wacko (Mansbach 108). The news assuming that the person who
committed the crime shows how stereotypical and racist society can be. They would not think
that a white person would rob another white, so they just assume that the criminal is African
American. Even though Macon is white, he behaves like he is part of the African American hiphop culture.
Even though Macon dresses and act like he is a part of the African American race, he
feels guilty about something that had happen in the past. Once Macon had introduced himself to
his roommate Andre he tells him about how he requested him to be his roommate since they had
some type of connection through their grandparents. Macon thinks that rooming with Andre
will fix a bond that their grandparents never shared. But Andre asks if Macon is anything like his
grandfather- racist. Macon tells him, I am nothing like him. Thats kind of the point of my life
(Mansbach 31). Macon wants to prove to Andre that he is nothing like his grandfather Cap
Anson and he also wants to prove that they can become friends as well. Privilege is something
that Macon gets over other races since he is white, and he feels nothing but guilt for it, so he says
Not that Im claiming for a second some kind of/ honorary blackness or complex composite
status/quite the opposite Im more in debt to the white skin privilege of waking up and not
having to think about this shit that id care to admit (175) in his show. Macon is expressing his
feelings and how he feels guilty for having privileges over other races. Not only does Macon feel
guilty about his ancestors past and his privileges over other races, he blames white people for
not stopping racism.
Even though there are laws on how all races should be treated equal, some people do not
follow through with it, especially white people so that is why Macon blames them for the racism

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that is still going on. Macon says, All I know, is that even the most concerned white people
have always been able to back away from race- and their alter perceptions in amazing ways when
the truth is too ugly or complicated (143). Macon blames those people who see racism and has
stepped back instead of forward. He blames them because they are the reason why other people
think it is okay to be racist since no one is stopping them or telling them that it is wrong. The
conflict he encounters is that America is still a nation that sees race, that believes heavily and
ultimately in race as a powerful social construct (Estremera 53). Macon is furious about how
white people look down on other races that he talks about it on one of his interviews on a
talkshow. A fifty- seven year old Jewish, civil rights worker called in on one of the talk shows
and said to Macon, I was on the Freedom Ride in Mississippi, and I saw white and black people
die side by side trying to change those lawsYoure doing more harm than you know
(Mansbach 193). Macon then replies, I hate to say it, but those victories just make it easier for
white people to act like racism is a problem that got solved back in the sixties (Mansbach 194).
Macons reply to the civil rights worker really expresses his emotions and how he feels about the
situation of racism in todays society. He sees how racism is still a big situation and wants to fix
it, so he decided to make the Day of Apology where white people apologize to black people for
being racist towards them and for the way they were treated in the past.
All of the blame and guilt that is trapped inside of Macon has lead him to make the Day
of Apology. Macon believes that having this day will solve the problems of societys racial
issue, but instead it gets worse because black people will not accept the apology or will not hear
what the white people have to say to them. For example, when a white man tried to apologize to
an African American man named Dudley James Johnson, Dudley says to him I dont forgive
you, and neither does anybody else. Being as old as I am makes you honest, son, and the truth is,

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theres not enough forgiveness in this world for white people (Mansbach 243). This shows how
an apology from a white person to a black person regarding the past and being racist will never
be accepted because they have been through so much and just saying that they are sorry will
never make up for what cruel things that had happened to them in the past. If the white people
were actually sorry, they would make a change by being active about the situation on racism
rather than sitting on the sidelines and watching as nothing bad is happening.
Even though Macon is the one whom created the Day of Apology he will not apologize
to black people because he views himself as an exception to whiteness, Macon can question the
sincerity of other whites interest in black culture without feeling like a hypocrite (Laura Perez
39). Even though Macon does not consider himself a hypocrite he really is. For example, the one
night when he was walking through the city late at night when he was approached by an African
American man about a play but he was so scared that he had a bunch of stereotypes about black
people running through his head. This shows how Macon has so much pride on what he believes
in that he does not even realize that he is a hypocrite, and that all of this madness he has in him
will not have a good ending. Macon still does not realize what he is doing so he continues to
treat himself as the exception and exempts himself from the apologizing process (Laura Perez
47). Since the Day of Apology did not turn out well, Macon blames himself and says to the
world, Im giving upI was wrong to think that youve got what it takes to change, forget
apologizing. Itll only make things worseIf you want to make a difference, kill yourself
(Mansbach 268). Macon then tries to shoot himself, but he could not get himself to do it, he says,
maybe deep down I even knew this apology shit was gonna fuck up black folks worse than
whites, paint them into a corner, get them killed. Id apologize, but I wouldnt believe myself. So
fuck it (Mansbach 268). Macon lets the people around him get to his head on who he really is or

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who he says he is. Thus, Macon admits to being unauthentic, a coward and a sellout, and
announces that he is giving up. He means this in complete literality; Macon makes the decision
to give up his blackness and retreat to the white world (Perez 48). This shows that the fame that
Macon had received from the crime that he committed is slowly eating him inside and ruining
him, his identity.
Macons view of who he really is changes as reality hits him. In the beginning of the
novel, Macon use to identity himself as a white nigger in the universe (Mansbach 1). He use
to feel guilty for having privilege over black people and he use to blame white people for all the
racism that is still occurring, but once the Day of Apology does not go the way that he expects
he gives up on what he believed in and created a new person within himself. Macon makes the
decision to give up his blackness and retreat to the white world (Perez 48), with the name
Uncle Macon. Unlike in New York, the people in Alabama that know him as Uncle Macon
accepts him because he acts within the confines of socially defined whiteness, illustrating the
ways in which the category [of whiteness], a characteristic cultural/historical construction, is, in
turn, achieved through white domination. (Broeck 56) (Perez 51). They accept him because he
is acting and behaving how the rest of the community is in Alabama, rather in New York where
he is not accepted because of how he puts himself out there as a white nigger. But once Macon
is asked to kill a black man he would not because his old self started to go back into his head.
Burleigh, one of the white men in Alabama gets furious with Macon because he believes that
Macon has not been a white man and says that he is gonna die for his cause (Mansbach 335)
and shoots him. Even though Macon had a hard time trying to find himself because of all the
guilt and blame built inside of him, he died for what he believed in.

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Macon battles with himself and tries to fix the problem of racism. He wants to fix the
problems of racism because of all the guilt and blame that he has stuck inside of him. He feels
guilty because of the privileges he has over other races such as African Americans, and he is so
ashamed about all the racism that is still happening that he blames it on the white people. The
guilt and blame that he feels had lead him to make a day where the white people apologize to the
black people. But the turn out of that day had led Macon to a downward spiral where he loses
himself but then realizes that he needs to stick to what he believes in.

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Works Cited
Estremera, Cynthia. NAVIGATING THE MISCEGENATED IDENTITY: FAILURE, SUCCESS
AND THE POST-RACIAL CONFLICT IN JOHNSON, HURSTON AND MANSBACH.
Thesis. Villanova University, 2014. Ann Arbor: ProQuest LLC., 2014. Print.
Mansbach, Adam. Angry Black White Boy, Or, The Miscegenation of Macon Detornay: A Novel.
New York: Three Rivers, 2004. Print.
Perez, Laura R. In the Middle, In Between: Cultural Hybridity, Community Rejection, and the
Destabilization of Race in Percival Everetts Erasure, Adam Mansbachs Angry Black
White Boy, and Danzy Sennas Caucasia. Thesis. Howard University, 2011. Ann Arbor:
ProQuest LLC., 2011. Print.