The Appropriation of Cultures by Percival Everett

White power!

I can’t believe it took me this long to finally read something by the great Percival Everett. He’s been on my radar for years and after just a handful of short stories, consider me a fan. The Appropriation of Cultures is a perfect example of Everett’s razor-sharp satire, irony, and  irreverent sense of humor.

The story instantly reminded me of Dave Chappelle’s classic Clayton Bigsby sketch about the blind Black man who grows up to become a white supremacist. Everett is playing in a similar comedic and parody space. His protagonist, Daniel, is a Black musician who suddenly buys a pickup truck plastered with Confederate flag decals. That choice isn’t random or ironic for irony’s sake. It grows out of an ugly moment when Daniel is performing at a bar and a group of rowdy white guys insist that he play “Dixie.” The song, of course, is deeply tied to Confederate ideology, minstrel traditions, and the promotion of slavery. Everett doesn’t sugarcoat this history or soften the implications; rather, he puts the ugliness right out in the open.

What makes the caustic satire so effective is how Everett flips the usual script. Rather than another tale about white people appropriating Black culture, he turns the concept inside out. Daniel begins appropriating the symbols of white supremacist culture instead, exposing how hollow and absurd they really are. By the end of the story, this inversion snowballs into something even more outrageous: Black people across the country start driving around with Confederate flags, draining the symbol of its supposed power. Daniel even takes “Dixie” itself and breaks it down, rebuilding it through R&B and Black musical traditions. In other words, reclaiming it, reshaping it, and stripping it of its racist intent.

Everett is humorously mocking racism while dismantling it through exaggeration, irony, and subversion. By forcing these symbols into contexts they were never meant to survive, he reveals the fragility of these ridiculous racist ideologies. The result is provocative, defiant, and genuinely funny. There are some really hilarious moments in this story that caused me to burst out laughing. This is satire doing exactly what it’s supposed to do: unsettling, exposing, and laughing racism right out of the room. Percival Everett clearly knows how to wield that blade, and he does it brilliantly here.

You can read this story HERE.