The mosaics formed by states, markets, and bodies are microscopically constituted by fractured narratives that tell just one of infinite versions of subjective realities. Over time, the mergers of different individuals' mosaics create complex, chaotic networks of particular modalities of thought and forms of expression. It is in this struggle to adopt foreign lexicons that these networks warp into more than a collective of perceptions but into singular poetic encomiums of strife.
Reality is a violent adaptation of symbiotic narratives. However, it is imperative to look at the disarray of networks and see them not as tales of woe but as soulful expressions of vicissitudes. These abstractions are not meant to take away from the integrity of a narrative but rather to bring to life the nature of the systems, ecologies, and dreams that Laurence Ralph, Michelle Alexander, and Robert Vargas disclose to us as the intimate corporeality of the subsequent encomiums. Therefore, it is by adapting and analyzing these encomiums that one uses violence of the written word to cope with the discrepancies of realities and to acknowledge the degrees of separation between what is theirs and what is another's.
In Solidarity of the Vicissitudes
"Something Good — Negro Kiss"
"The Kiss" is a short film spanning 18 seconds and made by Thomas Edison in 1896. The first of its kind film unsurprisingly depicts two lovers kissing. At the time, the film was surrounded by controversy due to the perception of its unchastity. American film of course, would come to depict much more controversial material — material that often distorted the narratives of the marginalized as something fanatical and that perpetuated racial stigmas. Early film content told a narrative of the majority and disregarded the dynamic, humanizing histories of black populations. Representations of these narratives were instead dehumanizing stereotypes that "pandered" to white audiences for the effect of minstrelsy. Black Americans were not part of the American fabric, they were outside, despite being appropriated.
"Something Good — Negro Kiss" was a 30 second silent film made in 1898. A series of moments show a black couple embracing and kissing. It is believed to be a take on "The Kiss". Wistful and authentic, it depicts a dream brought to life by the sheer will of nostalgia. It is a narrative best explained by its tenets: "contemplative juxtaposition between how life was, how life is, and how life could be" (Ralph 16). Something Good is not spiteful. It takes life as it was, adapts its content to fit in how life is for the outsiders, and produces an ode to how simple life could be. Undistorted, un-deferred, innocently portrayed, it expressively evokes an unspoken truth of history. By simply daring to share its dream so as to be present, it violently shakes the foundation of what was. Denying the confines of the past, "Something Good" nostalgically hopes for its present to be a fragment of overcoming, within the American mosaic of narratives.
"If Beale Street Could Talk"
Narratives must fight to be told. They struggle against lenses that might render them obsolete or works of fiction. Each word, whether spoken or mouthed, gasps for air so that it may have its true impact. If Beale Street Could Talk is not just a memorable book and film, its a juxtaposition of nightmare realities that speak to the sociopolitical ecology of institutions and that of an ode to the hope and trust that allows one to persevere. It frames the issue of black criminality and its pervasive effects in relationships with that of a story of compassion and transcending love between a young black couple and the turmoil that follows them when the male protagonist is falsely accused of rape. More than anything, the transition from book to film illustrates the violence of word as a necessary evil for a higher purpose — narrative.
Michelle Alexander opens the beginning of her discussion of the multifaceted label of "black criminality" with an evocative quote, "A heavy and cruel hand has been laid upon us. As a people, we feel ourselves to be not only deeply injured, but grossly misunderstood" (Alexander 141). Likewise, Barry Jenkins, film director, commits a beautiful act of violence in adapting the words of the author, James Baldwin. He does not commit this violence in vain but rather for the purpose of communicating a narrative that is more comprehensive of the issue of black criminality. Bathed in beautiful scenery and language, If Beale Street Could Talk is a "Harlem Aria" that attempts to isolate the narrative from the mosaic it is embedded in.
Fonny, the male protagonist, is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit and his lover, Tish must raise their child alone after he takes a coerced plea deal. The narrative ends by disclosing that this was a reality that most black men faced — Michelle Alexander corroborates this fact but offers a solution to the devastation "rather than shaming and condemning an already deeply stigmatized group, we, collectively, can embrace them… their humanness" (Alexander 176). Jenkins takes artistic license to distort the unhappy truth of Baldwin to make a narrative that embraces transcending humanity. In doing so, the story is no longer about systemic oppression but a requiem for the beauty that can exist if we allow ourselves to trust the transformative power of elegiacal embrace.
Alexandra Bell — "Counternarratives"
Sociopolitical ecologies are instrumental in framing any one issue and in finding solutions. More importantly, the ecological nature of a narrative is integral in stripping bias from the personal expression of experience. Agency in narratives lies with the individuals who own the experience. These unstable networks are inherently contributors to crumbling organizational infrastructures but that does not imply that control is surrendered to anyone who wishes to wield it as a tool.
Alexandra Bell is an artist who attempts to highlight not only the importance of narratives but of the perception and method of portrayal. For one of her pieces in "Counternarratives", Bell juxtaposes The New York Times' article cover "Two Lives at a Crossroads in Ferguson." against another titled "A Teenager with Promise". The art piece's first story panel misleadingly equates the losses of Mike Brown's life and of his killer, Darren Wilson's good name. The second panel shows an empathetic piece of Brown in his graduation gown. Bell redacts the contents of these articles to focus in on the hypocrisy of political coverage and the biases that bleed into narratives, ultimately destroying cohesive social orders and trust in potency of narrative.
Overall, "Counternarratives" in its own meta-artistic take of narratives reminds us that narratives have complex histories in them that must be embedded accurately, but also that there is politically charged meaning in acknowledging the ecology of the counternarrative. These sentiments echo the gravity of actuality that many times only intimacy with a narrative can provide. "Residents and organizers must learn how to identify power structures impeding their efforts… involves understanding the political systems and institutions that structure everyday urban life, and impede the pursuit of collective goals" (Vargas 183), precisely said, the imperative of narrative is not in aesthetics but in the knowledgable intimacy that only a proprietary lens can produce.
Violence of the narrative is a way of coping with the discrepancies of systems, ecologies, and dreams experienced by various individuals to urgently communicate universal, narrative based realities that convey a poignant encomium of strife.