Zami: A New Spelling of My Name - Main Discussion

[Carly]

I think this book tears at racism in a way we haven't yet seen in our readings. Yes, like the rest, it does it through content, but unlike the others (and more like James Baldwin, my favorite author, whom we'll surely read soon), what Lorde achieves here is a connection with the reader that is of such authenticity and unrelenting honesty as to be a sort of visceral, uncomfortable, gloriously intimate act. In doing this, she is saying, "We are one" in a way that supersedes any race, gender or other line of division. She is so honest about herself that her book is effectively about us.

I believe that no amount of telling and teaching people about race will change anything without addressing the fundamental perception of difference so many of us hold. It is vital that we learn about, for instance, people of color, not only in the context of being people of color, but of being people, full stop. Interestingly, because of Lorde's intersectionality and her eloquent way of expressing it, she also forces us to address the social divisions in our sexualities - to confront homosexuality (for those of us who identify as heterosexual) and, to a lesser extent, polyamory (for those of us who identify as monogamous) as functions of the same human experience we inhabit. She does it by being so open about herself, addressing taboo thoughts, fears, shames that we find we also hold. We connect with her and she pulls that thread of connection a little farther than what we might be comfortable with.

I wish the book would have come a bit more full-circle in a literary sense, tying up some of the loose ends, but I found that certainly wasn't my biggest concern reading this. I read all the way to the end because I constantly wanted to see what else Audre had to teach me. Books by such intersectional individuals are still rare, at least in the mainstream, which I think makes them even more important for us to spend time with.

As a side note, I think I've found one of my favorite lines in literature in Zami:

"Some of us died inside the gaps between the mirrors and those turned-away eyes."

Beautiful and profound, like so much of the rest of this book.