White Canadian Writer Gets Pilloried for Disguising Himself ‘As a Black Man’ for New Book on American Racism
@ForsterSam on Twitter/X
Sam Forster, a Canadian journalist, announced on Twitter/X on Tuesday that his latest book was “one of the hardest things” he’s ever worked on after disclosing that he had “disguised [himself] as a Black man” to experience American racism firsthand. Forster, it should be noted, is white.
Predictably, this announcement did not go over well with many people on social media, and Forster’s new book, Seven Shoulders, is now getting a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons.
Last summer, I disguised myself as a Black man and traveled throughout the United States to document how racism persists in American society.
Writing Seven Shoulders was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done as a journalist.
It’s out on May 30th:https://t.co/jK2kvIPh1H pic.twitter.com/TE8mEfOiHi
— Sam Forster (@ForsterSam) May 28, 2024
Daily Hive included a lot of reactions from other Twitter/X users ranging from Phil Lewis’s and Imani Gandy’s succinct “You did what now” to more detailed criticisms and inquiries as to why Forster did not ask actual Black people about their experiences.
I cannot. Black people exist. We do not need you aspirational savior, to cosplay our realities. I don’t suppose it occurred to you that a book outlining stories from and about our lived experiences ever crossed your mind. Not when you can put on blackface, 1/ https://t.co/qVOpANthEE
— Portia ♍️ McGonagal (@PortiaMcGonagal) May 28, 2024
For too long, the discussion of racism has been unfairly dominated by the feelings and experiences of actual black people.
Thank goodness for brave writers like Sam Forster for finally shedding light on the ordeals of white people in black face. pic.twitter.com/oiGc8uOZ91
— Bad Writing Takes 🖊️🏳️🌈 (@BadWritingTakes) May 29, 2024
Lawyer and journalist Exavier Pope also pointed out that Eddie Murphy already conducted this experiment in reverse in the Saturday Night Live short from 1984, “White Like Me”:
Seven Shoulders coming out in 2024 with Sam Forster having to dress up in Blsckface to prove racism exists is wild, when Black Like Me came out 63 YEARS ago and eventually lampooned in a skit “White Like Me” by Eddie Murphy in an all time great Saturday Night Live sketch https://t.co/8CQMP7iZO3 pic.twitter.com/yfioKqP6og
— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) May 28, 2024
But some users also pointed out that Forster’s blackface experiment is far from original since John Howard Griffin, a white author, did the same thing for his 1961 book Black Like Me.
1/n This was a really bad idea, and he’s getting roasted by *everyone* for it on Twitter. Not to mention that John Howard Griffin already did this in 1959, documented in his book, “Black Like Me”, 1961. Times have changed, and Sam Forster doesn’t seem to have realized how much. pic.twitter.com/QqOsr3XhO1
— Tim Skellett (@Gurdur) May 29, 2024
The more hilarious responses were how Forster even got away with passing as a Black man, with several wanting to see his allegedly foolproof blackface getup:
https://t.co/MKl9hg9qSI pic.twitter.com/LOrDsK5mWi
— adrian (@crawf34) May 28, 2024
Backlash — for when you can’t afford legitimate PR!
