I have mixed feelings about Macon. On the one hand, his championing for civil rights is excellent, especially because he seems to be so aware of white privilege. On the other hand, I have some qualms about how he goes about promoting equality.
Macon starts with random muggings. First off, crime in the name of any cause is the best way to get that cause demonized. Crime in the name of racial equality, which is such an important cause, is even worse. In junior history we learned about how important it was for the civil rights movement to be seen as respectable, and for black people to be associated with nonviolence and noncriminality (if that's a thing.) Macon disregards that completely. When he starts talking about white devils to the people he mugs and they mistake him for a black person, he's adding to the negative stereotype of "black people are criminals" that's spread so often by the media. Second, that Macon's first step into making change is a criminal one does not inspire confidence in his mental state. No one really sane or capable of rational thinking chooses criminal actions as a way to promote positive social change.
Macon also constantly puts down others in order to elevate himself. At the meeting that he invites himself to, he derides all of their potential speaker choices, and he decides that he himself is above all of these people. This seems hypocritical, especially given Macon's belief in the "white devil." Macon himself is white, and while he is trying desperately to become black, he never will be. So for him to proclaim himself blacker than the actual black people at the meeting is fairly hypocritical.
The Day of Apology fiasco is just another cherry on top of the "what on earth is Macon doing" sundae. I think Macon promoted the Day of Apology not because he wanted to sincerely apologize to black people, but because he wanted to make white people uncomfortable. And while there's no good way to set something like this up, I definitely feel like the Day of Apology could have been a lot better organized.
We had been talking about maintaining respectability of the Civil Rights Movement in history class while reading this book, and I was also struck by how someone as studied as Macon would not think to model his practices after the most successful group, but instead criminalize his cause which historically does nothing to help. While I also think it's great Macon wanted to challenge white people to keep thinking about race, I was definitely bothered by his methods, especially what you brought up from the BSU where he thinks he is so much more enlightened than them.
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