Scenes of Abjection

Ralph Yarl, Beef’s David Choe, and Artificial Intelligence (TW: Sexual Violence)

My least favorite ritual performed in the aftermath of widely-circulated accounts of black suffering is the listing of ordinary activities that black children must be warned about engaging in in order to keep them safe. It’s my least favorite, not only because the ever-growing list of actions makes it seem as though the problem with antiblackness is inconvenience and unreasonability, but, mostly, because it attempts to garner empathy by publicly reciting the very message that antiblack violence is designed to send - “you can’t do what we can do.”

Last week, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl went to pick up his younger twin brothers at a friend’s house in Kansas City, Missouri, and accidentally rang the doorbell at the wrong address. Andrew Lester, the homeowner, shot Ralph in the head and, after Ralph fell to the ground, Lester shot him again in the arm. Ralph was able to get up and run to the neighbor, who did not open the door. He ran to three houses before one of the neighbors said, “put your hands up and lay on the ground.” He lay on the ground, covered in blood, as that neighbor called the police for help from inside. Finally, other neighbors emerged and tended to the child. Police officers took Lester into custody for less than two hours and released him.

In the context of law enforcement officials who arrive at the scenes of unarmed black children who are killed (Trayvon Martin) or critically wounded (Ralph Yarl) by white vigilantes and summarily conclude that no crimes have been committed, the profession of yet another need for another “Talk” wherein black children are reminded of this list of things that they can not do amounts to a rehearsal of misery for which there is no recourse absent public protest. And the very point of vigilantism is that there will not and can not always be public protest. This post-traumatic ritual is not just an expression of black grief, it is a demonstration of being effectively disciplined to the notion that the only real answer is to stay out of the way.

Also last week, an investigative reporter uncovered a 2014 podcast episode of David Choe, a famous artist and actor on the hit Netflix psychological thriller Beef, wherein he proudly described himself as a “successful rapist.” In graphic detail, he recounted his experience sexually assaulting a black masseuse whom he called “Rose.” As he casually shared why this rape was a thrilling quest, the male co-hosts of the show asked questions exploring the victim’s desirability - what did she look like? how would you describe her? how old was she? - as the woman co-host performed shock and outrage at the cavalier nature of the conversation. At one point, Choe even reflected on the way that a curl of the victim’s hair fell into her face as he abused her. Choe has since dismissed the story, along with its clear detail, as mere fabrication and filed a copyright claim against Twitter that got the podcast footage taken down over the weekend. However, in a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, he seemingly contextualized the rape as part of his “decade-long tear” to disprove the stereotype that Asians are nerds with no sexual prowess. Whether Choe’s rape fantasy manifested into reality or not, it was through, either the violent degradation of a black woman or its “arousing” tale, that this Asian man felt empowered to assert his sexual identity. It was by violating her body that he sought to reclaim his own.

The condition being described and reinforced in both of these scenes - a known black boy being shot in the head and an unknown black woman being raped - is abjection, which is characterized by Saidiya Hartman as both terror and amusement. The lived experience of abjection is not only about degradation, but also the ways in which others are either unmoved by or eager participants in the degradation. It is this mixture of contempt, indifference, and enjoyment that produces black suffering. Moments of gratuitous violence can be difficult to comprehend because the real condition of blackness really isn’t found in the list of things that black people can’t do. It’s not pure hatred and denial. The real condition of blackness is, instead, dehumanization accompanied by various degrees of pleasure and fascination.

It should not be overlooked that the stories of Ralph Yarl and the unknown black masseuse are circulating at the same time that blackness is being consumed and reproduced in increasingly brazen and obscene forms through artificial intelligence. The A.I. generated songs that have been most impactful on the internet of late are those featuring Drake, Rihanna, and Beyonce. In a world where real black people are regularly accumulated and dominated by entertainment industries (i.e. art, sports, and music), reproducing black art and cultural production through A.I. is the surrealist re-commodification of a commodity. It is a re-sale market for blackness. Forget the obsession with reducing black people to “black bodies" in our discourse about black suffering, A.I. ensures that black disembodiment is complete. Black people are returned to (intellectual) property, remade as data, and displaced beyond the realm of sentience. It is this zombiefication of blackness, this complete reduction to a dead, will-less, havoc-wreaking object, that allows a man to shoot a black boy in the head, again on the ground, and go on about his day. It allows the man’s neighbor to instruct the shot boy to lay on the ground and put his hands up as they observe the spectacle from the comfort of home. It fuels the artist’s rape fantasy. It is terror and amusement. Dead or alive. Dead and alive.

Rage is helpful. It animates us and activates our consciousness, allowing us to see things that we didn’t see before. Without it, Andrew Lester wouldn’t have been charged and no one would care about David Choe’s self-identification as a rapist either in fantasy or reality. In Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler observed that the police may be able to avenge us, but they can’t protect us. If we want to see the end of this world, we, at the very least, have to be invested in some more formidable forms of protection and self-defense. The rage comes at a high price.