Ep 12 | Little Rot: Antiblackness in the African Diaspora

Welcome back to Flip the Page. Today's episode, we're getting a bit serious, delving into white supremacy and antiblackness through the concept of "rot" seen in Akwaeke Emezi's, Little Rot.

Little Rot weaves the story of five friends, through their point-of-views, as they each come into varying degrees of contact with the elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. Aima and Kalu are a long-time couple, who have just broken up. In despair, Kalu attends a sex party hosted by his best friend Ahmed. A single decision made by Kalu at the party sets off a chain reaction. Two sex workers, Ola and Souraya, visiting the city, find themselves suddenly flung into the chaos as they intersect with Ahmed and Kalu. In the face of evil, corruption, violence, loss, grief, murder and betrayal, Little Rot shows the lengths these five will go to save each other and themselves.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:54 Content Warning
• 0:56 Overview (spoiler free)
• 2:21 Part I: "Rot"
• 5:17 Part II: Those "Lazy", "Greedy" Africans
• 13:13 Part III: The Work
• 14:59 Flip or Skip

Transcript

0:01

[Intro Music] Hey y'all. Welcome back to another episode of Flip the Page. Brought to you by me, your host, Zo. in today's episode, we're going to be talking about Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi. This episode is going to be a little different from what you're used to. Rather than focusing on specific contents and plot points of this novel, I'm going to be relating a central theme of the book to a conversation that sparked up on my timeline this past week. Y'all already know I love relating themes from books to our lived reality, because I'm a strong believer that the line between fiction and reality is very blurry. Enough of me running my mouth. Let's get into it. Content warning for anti-Blackness. Little Rot weaves the story of five friends through their point of views as they each come into varying degrees of contact with the elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. Aima and Kalu are a long time couple who have just broken up. In despair, Kalu attends a sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed. A single decision made by Kalu at the party sets off a chain reaction. Two sex workers, Ola and Souraya visiting the city, find themselves quickly flung into the chaos as they intersect with Ahmed and Kalu. In the face of evil, corruption, violence, loss, grief, murder, and betrayal. Little Rot shows the lengths these five will go to to save each other and/or themselves. This one. This one is heavy. If you're going to read this one, I want you to know it’s content warning galore. If you've read other works by Akwaeke Emezi, I'm sure you'll know what I mean. I just think it would be irresponsible of me not to let y'all know before I recommend this book. That's all I'm saying. The story delves into themes of corruption, struggles with sexuality, struggles reconciling religious beliefs with lived reality and experiences, the depravity of power and depths of wickedness, and a multitude of other things. At the thematic epicenter of the novel, however, is this concept of “rot”. Part One. Rot. “You think you'll never be a part of things you hate. You think you're protected somehow. Like the rot won't ever get you. Then you wake up one day and you're chest deep in it.” That was a quotation from a side character in Little Rot, that I believe perfectly encapsulates the idea of rot. The word rot functions as both a thing that exists and an action that occurs. Rot, when prescribed to the thing that it is, is an array of things, a placeholder for varying system structures and/or ideologies plaguing us in society. You see rot depicted in this story in various forms. Corruption, violence, etc. As a verb, rot functions as these system, structures and their ideologies actively rooting themselves within characters in the story. Playing a fundamental role in how they act, speak, and perceive others and themselves, essentially how they exist, navigate and interact with the world and society around them. Just as rot exists within the pages of this story, it also exists within our own reality. Today, the rot I'm going to be focusing on is white supremacy. One thing about it I'mma be talking about white supremacy, chile. Specifically how white supremacy seeps into parts of the Black diaspora leading us to perpetrate anti-Blackness. The quote mentions this belief that you're protected somehow from the rot. And I think this points at an arrogance that exists within people, this perception that you're above moral lapses and corruption. I believe failure to acknowledge these gaps in our defenses when it comes to being infected by this rot, white supremacy in this instance, a failure to humble ourselves and acknowledge our own weaknesses and really dig into and tear apart our failings when it comes to perpetrating anti-Blackness, prevents us from fighting back against this rot and puts us in a prime position to be swallowed up by it. Which brings us to the video that was circulating my timeline. Miss Elsa. Actually, before I get to Elsa, I want to start by saying Akwaeke... you ate that. One thing about it they're going to drop a book that dismantles my equilibrium and has me thinking about systems and structures, leading me to take an introspective look at myself and my own moral failings and shortcomings. Oh, I love an author that'll have me looking at myself in the mirror and telling that bitch, looking back to tighten the fuck up. I need the rest of you to follow suit and tighten the fuck up. Because the anti Black and classist foolishness I was seeing on my timeline free mi people, from parroting white supremacist talking points to their diasporic brethren, sistren and theythren. Are we not tired?! Part Two. Those “lazy”, “greedy” Africans. Now onto Elsa. If you don't know, Elsa Majimbo is a Kenyan influencer who blew up at the beginning of the pandemic by making short satirical monologues on TikTok. Most of them centered around getting money and luxury. It would be remiss of me not to clock the individualism and upper class aspirations that were key to her claim to fame, and the irony that these quips and jokes are rooted in similar ideologies that she espoused in her recent TikTok that made its rounds around the social media circuit. The TikTok centered around a practice that's common within the African diaspora. Diasporans abroad, sending money back home to their extended family. Elsa had... opinions, for lack of a better word, about the practice, and took it upon herself to voice their opinions online. I'm going to drop the clip so you can listen to it if you haven't. Sending money back home or to your extended family is such a common African practice that I- that I absolutely hate. I saw my dad doing it and I don't even know any of my extended family. I saw him doing it with his brothers, with his sisters, with his grandparents, parents, like everyone in the family, as long as you have a job, they expect you to share that money accordingly. And that is just something I will not be participating at. I already knew I would never participate in this, like how do you come and tell me, “oh, my kids are starving?” Yeah, they’re starving because you're fucking lazy. Get off your ass, get a job and feed your kids. And also there’s this one. There's this one, like, extended family member of ours. And she used to ask my dad for money, and she texted me, and she asks me for money. You've been asking my dad for money since before I was born. I was born, I was raised, I grew up. Now you're asking me for money. You lazy son of a bitch. I'm not feeding your habits. I'm not- clearly your too- You're too lazy to be alive. I will let you starve. The fuck? Oh how I love seeing Black people spewing white supremacist talking points. It just gives me that rush like, ooh, wow. Damn they got us real good, huh. All jokes aside, that clip was vile. Truly just nasty. Gutterbutt. And vile. Honestly, I'm making jokes. I’m kiki-ing. But the anger that rushed through my body when I first listened to that damn video, when it came across my Twitter timeline... I couldn't even get past the first “lazy” on my initial viewing. Am I surprised someone of Elsa's class standing, that being upper class, is spewing vile anti-Black rhetoric on Whitney Houston's Internet? Well, no. Fork found in kitchen. Black people in upper classes and Black people who aspire towards those upper classes and wealth, particularly middle class Black people, tend to be individualistic. What matters is me. The rest of you #Blacks can go to blazes. As far as I'm concerned. It don't matter how many of your Black family members you got to denigrate, exploit, or whose suffering you gotta overlook. It don't matter that historically, African cultures and societies have been defined and built on community. At the end of the day, anything goes for a goddamn dollar. And here's where the rot comes in. The rot in this instance being the anti-Blackness that stems from existing in a white supremacist society and holding aspirations aligned with those of white supremacy. As I'm focused on upper middle class Diasporans and living in the West, or living in other imperial powers. Capitalism in the world we exist in today cannot be removed from white supremacy and in turn, anti-Blackness, as the societies we exist in were built and persist on the blood, sweat, and death of Black people via colonialism, the transatlantic slave trade, and modern day forms of slavery. As I took in Elsa's TikTok and contemplated my own interactions with Diasporans who have aspirations towards wealth and/or who live within the imperial core, I couldn't help but think of this concept of rot that appears in Little Rot. This idea that existing within a white supremacist society causes this rot to set in. You start adopting these white supremacist frameworks as the rot seeps in and spreads, aspiring towards wealth and seeking out individualism. This rot has Diasporans perceiving Africans on the continent through a white supremacist lens. Whether they're aware of this fact or not. And I know this rot, this white supremacist contagion that has a spewing anti-Black rhetoric labeling Black people as “lazy” or “greedy”. This rot that has is denigrating Black people without even considering material conditions, decades- nah, centuries of suffering, resistance and resilience to survive and aid you in inhabiting the privileged existence you currently live in today, isn't one exhibited solely by Diasporans abroad towards those on the continent. You see the same rhetoric spewed at relatives who exist anywhere in the Global South, from the mouths of people occupying more privileged positions in the imperial core. Not only towards those living in the Global South, but also those who live within the imperial core, belonging to lower classes and or living in poverty. Recently, for example, a Black man, Brendan Nwachibie, was a victim of the race riots ongoing in the UK as a result, his company, ran by a white woman because context is key, created a Go Fund Me to raise funds to replace the car that he lost, help with his tuition and other expenses he needed. Well, people showed out and over 60,000 pounds was raised. His company, seeing this, decided rather than to give Brendan the money people had donated for him. Nah, that'd be too much for the Black man. Nah. Instead, let's allocate the funds to pay some of our employees. Oh, and let's give some to some random charities and why not sprinkle in a nice check for the goddamn feds. Brendan? Oh, we'll give him a little portion. Your typical white savior antics and policing. Black people obviously weren't feeling this and dragged the company and the owner appropriately. While I myself did join in on the lashings, I couldn't help but notice parallels between the white woman policing an allocation of funds for Brendan and policing I see within the Black community when Black people, typically those struggling with poverty and/or Black people belonging to marginalized groups within the community, crowdfund online or offline. Or when it comes to extended family abroad, receiving money and policing what they do with the money. I'd argue. What does it matter? If they were to take the money and go drop it on some gold rims for a goddamn Kia Soul... What does it matter? I would urge us, rather than looking to police the spending of money sent, we instead empathize with the material conditions and struggles of others and interrogate our inclination towards policing and flippant use of anti-Blackness when referring to others in the diaspora. Because it all stems from anti-Blackness at the end of the day. This perception that Black people are not good enough to deserve nice things or even the bare minimum, or aren't responsible or capable of handling their money. All tied into that reality that you're placing yourself above the receiver. Part Three. The Work. Unpacking and dismantling this rot is something I've worked on within myself throughout the years. It takes me back to the quote from Little Rot I brought up in part one of this episode, where the character states, you wake up one day and you're chest deep in it in reference to the rot. Saying that we wake up one day, hints at this unawareness we have of the rot until a certain point. Different people become aware of the rot at different times of their lives. Some people may not even ever become aware of the rot, but regardless, it's had time to root itself and fester within you. Being chest deep or worse, by the time you catch it. Entangling itself with so many of your beliefs and ideologies. This is a testament to the work I believe is required to unroot it. The rot, as I mentioned, being white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Even when you do take the time to uproot it, can you even be certain the rot has been eradicated entirely? Maybe the rot has spread to other areas that you haven't yet seen. I believe the rot is such that when it clings to you, it will always be there, which is why you have to be active and constant with your introspection and interrogation of yourself. Don't be arrogant. When the rot sets in, it's something that will persist and that you must work endlessly to combat whenever it flares up. Anti-Blackness will persist until the root of this rot, the society, systems, structures, and ideologies it births from, are completely eradicated from our world as we know it. Until then, it's got to be a daily battle to fight against that rot existing inside of you. Flip or Skip. I didn't really touch much on the actual content of the book in this one, but given how much thought this book inspired in me, I'm giving it a flip. Who’s shocked. And a four out of five stars. If you can stomach the heavy and dark content contained within it, I would urge you to pick it up. Even though I couldn't necessarily relate to the specific conflicts and tragedies the characters were going through, I strongly believe the overall themes tied into this story are applicable to everyone. So tap in. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks so much for watching and I'll catch y'all in the next one. Buh bye!