A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance

The Movement’s title emphasizes the importance of memory and remembrance due to the historical and ongoing erasure and invisibility of Black people. While earlier essays consider funerals and documentation, this essay considers the importance of remembering while alive. Abdurraqib gives two examples of attempted suicide, focusing on the support people experience afterward. We must remember not just historical legacies and those already gone, but those in our lives that need support. Remembering becomes an act of affection.

This essay’s title repeats and slightly deviates from the opening pieces of previous Movements. In the first four Movements, dancing represents artistic expression and the performance of identity. Here, however, Abdurraqib rejects the expectation that he dance, refusing to perform as white American culture demands. Unlike the first four Movements, this movement does not have any other essays. This incompleteness suggests the impossibility of fully describing the Black experience and open-ended hope for the future.

To reassert that hope needs to be based in reality, Abdurraqib ends the collection with personal experiences that highlight moments of optimism. He celebrates a friend who wins an award for her writing after a suicide attempt. When he’s experiencing depression, his brother comes by, his presence an unspoken sign of affection. The authenticity and “stillness” (283) from no longer having to perform offers the hope needed to continue to survive and thrive.