As a
newcomer to the Afro-futurism and science/speculative fiction genre, I had no
idea a story like “The Comet” could be written in 1920, let alone by a black
man. “The Comet” by W.E.B. Du Bois speculates post-apocalyptic New York City
where its only two inhabitants is a black man and a white woman, a dichotomous
and definitely uncomfortable phenomena especially for the early 1920’s.
Upon realization that they were both the only humans
left for each other, both were uncomfortable considering their different
statuses in society. What struck me the most is when the narrator describes the
white woman’s reaction:
“For the first time she seemed to realize that she was
alone in the world with a stranger, something more than a stranger-with an
alien in blood and culture-unknown, perhaps unknowable.”
The white woman thinks
of the black man as an otherworldly creature incapable of being understood by
her whiteness. At first, I did my usual eye-roll, but as I pondered this quote
I thought about my truth: black people are otherworldly; we are aliens in the
best ways and worst ways possible. We are alien to this world because of our
magic. Whiteness recognizes it, steals it, copies it, and chooses to alienate us because of it, just as the
white woman did when realizing that the black man was the only hope left for
humanity.
Thank you W.E.B. Du Bois for showing us that we’re too magical for this world.
