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Arvee Vivar
Professor Jackie H.
English 101
December 09, 2015

Identity Crisis
Adam Mansbachs, Angry Black White Boy, takes readers into the mind of Macon
Detornay as he tells the story of how a suburban raised white American who chooses to
ignore the color of his skin and the culture he was brought up in to be like black people
and be part of the hip hop culture. After witnessing the tragic incident of the Rodney
King beating in Los Angeles, California, Macon was forever changed when he realized
that racism still existed. With clear evidence and knowledge of the brutality of the crime
committed by the police, the officers involved were acquitted of the charges mainly due
to the color of Rodney Kings skin. The court ruling caused riots to break out in Los
Angeles, and this was the fuel for the newly formed anger and hate that built inside
Macon towards the people of his own skin color. Having been disappointed by the acts
of white people and their feeling of self entitlement, he reinvents himself as a white
nigger by living his life portraying the common stereotypes and myths of a black person
to somehow prove that not all white people are as they seem, racist.
Filled with anger caused by the events brought on by the Rodney King trial,
Macon came to realize that white people simply do not care about the oppression that
black people, as well as others who were not white, still experience even after slavery
has been abolished and segregation has been outlawed. I stopped believing in justice

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even a little bit. Any faith I had left in the system, or in white people, pretty much
evaporated when I noticed that no one around me gave a fuck (49). He hated white
people and the way they roamed around acting like they owned the streets they walked
on. Witnessing them use their white privilege first hand to treat others disrespectfully
and wrongfully angered him. Infuriated and ashamed, Macon renounced his whiteness
and vowed to destroy what he is and the racist culture he was brought up in. Before
being engulfed by the culture of hip hop, one attempt to disassociate himself from
whiteness was to follow Judaism and be known as Jewish not-white, wearing the Star
of David around his neck, given to him by his grandma, to show that he was a follower.
This did not last very long as he had no idea about this religion or what he was doing.
Mansbach writes, he couldnt make it fit, couldnt make himself feel Jewish, didn't know
what being Jewish felt like (17). Uncomfortable with the feeling of not belonging and not
understanding what Judaism was all about, Macon ditches this attempt and finds a
home in hip hop where the formation of his hybrid identity begins.
Influenced by the hip hop culture and its politics, Macon strived to be a part of
the black culture and to become one of them by educating himself about hip hops
revolutionary artists, black history and his awareness of the Five Percenters rule.
Mansbach writes, Macon knew the Five Percenters rule as well as any whiteboy could,
first from listening to the lyrics of the Righteous and then from living at Lajuans crib in
Jamaica Plain for the last fifteen months, where black men who called themselves Gods
sat around all day with eyelids quartermasted from smoking blunts and drinking ninetynine cent twenty-two ounce Ballantines, talking about women who were not called
Earths, as doctrine dictated, but bitches (14). Unfortunately for Macon, the Five

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Percenters rule saw him as the devil, not based on his personality but on the basis of
his skin color. Although this idea brought confusion in his mind, he sought out ways to
be an exception to the rule. As he sat in his room, he mustered up a way to feel
accepted in this creation myth and to not succumb to his confusion and guilt so he pens,
White people arent evil, but evil is white people. There it was. Simple. Clean. Elegant.
True. It bought Macon space to live in, to be special, angry, the exception, the crusader.
The down whiteboy. You my nigga. Macon, you aight.(18). This was what he needed to
make himself feel comfortable in his miscegenation.
A product of the politically influenced music produced by artists such as X-Clan,
KRS-One, Brand Nubian and the Righteous, Macon formed his perception of how to live
like one of the Gods and built on his hate and anger towards whiteness. He lived
vicariously through their lyrics seeking to do the things that his idols rapped about and
learn about self-righteousness. Rapping along to the powerful messages being
delivered by the new age revolutionists of hip hop, he groomed himself to blend in and
be part of the hip hop world. To understand more about the black culture and educate
himself about the history of revolutionary artists and important political leaders, Macon
surrounded himself with black friends to learn to be like them by imitating their lifestyle,
speaking in their same slang and participating in the activities that he perceived would
be identified as blackness. He wore the baggy clothes, rocked the kangol hat and wore
sunglass indoors because it was the cool thing to do. In Laura Perezs thesis, she
describes Macon as someone who welcomingly assumes the stereotypical myths of
black masculinity: coolness, danger, sexual superiority (Perez 35). He perceives that if
he's able to live up to the stereotypes, he will be accepted as one of them.

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Leaving Boston to move to New York City gave Macon a feeling that he can
establish more credibility due to the cities rich history of hip hop. To him, New York was
the center of the universe compared to the racist environment that he was brought up in
in Boston. As he drives around the city in his cab, he reminisces on times when he knew
nothing about the city but now he's in the center of it, living his life just as one of his
favorite artists, Rakim, would rap in his verses. He yearned to be seen as an ally to
black people and would make an effort to stand out and be questioned about his
presence so that he can validate his belonging by reciting his extensive knowledge of
black history. Mansbach writes, He was a Thirteen-year-old whiteboy in a Malcom X Tshirt, alone at the first annual Boston Hip Hop Conference, heart fluttering with
intimidation and delight as scowling bald-headed old schoolers pointed at this chest,
demanding, Whatchu know about that man? Which was exactly what hed wanted, why
hed worn it. He ran down Malcoms life for them, watched them revise their expression
with inward elation, noted studiously at their government assassination theories, rhymed
when the chance presented itself (17). As they visit Dominique, Macon scans the room
and makes a comment on a poster of the Rodney King beating. When this remark is
received the wrong way, Macon is urged to show a tattoo on his bicep with the date of
the incident and is again presented an opportunity to prove that he is the down white
boy and knows his history . Dominque comments, Mufucker got as Rodney King
tattoo? Shit, I thought I was black (48). Dominique and Andre, intrigued by Macons
psychological develpmont, continue to question his validity and his reasoning behind his
hate against white people. As Macon peels the onion on his history and upbringing,

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trying not to give too much away, they begin to form an understanding of him and his
hatred towards whiteness.
Macon needed the approval of his black friends in order for him to feel valid. To
him, Black peoples friendship meant nothing unless they were suspicious of
whites (49). Due to the fact that he had no stories of how he grew up in the hood to
justify himself, he sought out ways to have these experiences and have stories to tell of
how he's been through it. On his way home after a recital at the Nuyorican, Macon is
forced to walk through a sketchy neighborhood and sees this as a moment to asses his
bravery. Though he is afraid, he believes that being able to walk through your city is a
step towards self-segregation. Mansbach writes, He was testing himself, granting
danger the opportunity to meet him without actually inviting it. He wanted to emerge
unscathed and be able to say, People are tripping. The park is fine at night. And then
hed never set foot there after dark again (84). Walking through the ghetto and making
it home without being harmed showed he was fearless and there was nothing to be
scared of. To him, if the whiteboy made it through, there was nothing to worry about.
Macons venture to separate himself from whiteness led him to create this hybrid
identity that made sense only to him. As his life became dominated with the culture of
hip hop and what blackness was to him, he pursued ways to be seen as the cool
whiteboy hanging out with the black kids because he was down. Through his efforts of
educating himself of black history and its culture, he was able to adapt himself with the
newfound group of friends whom he sought validity from. He invited the questions that
people had about the whiteboy in the Malcom X T-shirt and the Rodney King tattoo and
found pleasure in gaining approval from the black people he aimed to be like.

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Works Cited
Estremera, Cynthia. Navigating The Miscegenated Identity: Failure, Success, and The
Post-Racial Conflict in Johnson, Hurtson and Mansbach. M.A Thesis. Villanova
University, 2014. Web. 8 December 2015
Mansbach, Adam. Angry Black White Boy, Or, The Miscegenation of Macon Detornay: a
Novel. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005. Print.
Perez, Laura. 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. M.A Thesis. Howard
University, 2011. Web. 8 December 2015