As I read books by Percival Everett, I find myself feeling uncomfortable. I know becoming more engaged with topics like race and sexuality is beneficial, but I’m still hesitant. Why? One reasonable explanation is that I’ve not been exposed to these themes enough. I honestly don’t think that’s the case considering the media I’ve been digesting for years. Many contemporary creators seek to “wow” their audience through pushing the envelope. Everett definitely fits into this category since he chooses to dive into rough concepts and ideas while making constant scatological jokes and references. Although this could be seen as crude and vulgar, I believe it to be entertaining and meaningful. My feelings of awkwardness must derive from discussing I Am Not Sidney Poitier with my peers in an academic setting. Everett is probably seeking to legitimize these subjects through satire, which makes him a great author and activist.
The names of places and people in this book serve to reinforce the theme of playing with language to symbolize and characterize. My favorite instance of this is Miss Hancock and her inappropriate relationship with Not Sidney. I’m sure you can see why her name is quite funny. Yet, what happens to Not Sidney is actually extremely tragic. To sum up his suffering, “She sucked away like a maniacal vacuum and I stared down at her, hating her for threatening to fail me…fearing for her clumsy teeth and my compromised position.” He is obviously the victim and no one believes him when he reports her due to his silly name and on account of his skin color being black. Everett includes this part in the book to illustrate that teacher-student relations do happen, and as a society, we need to be aware of it in order to stop it from occurring.
Another meaningful section of the book is Not Sidney’s experience in Peckerwood county (again with the sexual innuendos). Needless to say, this is a place filled with backward racist rednecks that treat Not Sidney like a slave. He is arrested for simply being black. This is evident when the officer arresting Not Sidney asserts, “You’s a n*****. And it’s a crime if’n I say it is.” I just noticed that this man ended a sentence with a preposition which illustrates his ignorance. Everett is obviously making fun of the southern culture. Not Sidney seems to handle his situation well, despite the clear discrimination he faces. Unfortunately, he is sent to a dirt farm. This is basically a labor camp where he lives and is treated like an animal. Despite his suffering, he maintains a clear head which allows him to recognize the stupidity of his captors. Not Sidney is much more powerful and smart than any of them, but he is afraid simply because of the fact that they have guns. The author utilizes this scenario to expose the injustice that his race endures. By doing this, Everett hopes that we can move past racism as a country and culture.
If Percival Everett were asked the following:
He would most likely respond with, “I write because I can.”