Summary

In “The Finkelstein 5,” Emmanuel, the protagonist, woke from a dream about a headless girl walking toward him. The phone was ringing, and he answered the call, taking the “Blackness” in his voice down to a “1.5” (1). The caller was inviting him to an interview for a job he recently applied for at a clothing store. He felt guilty for being happy because, like all African-Americans, he was grieving a recent court case – the acquittal of a white man named George Wilson Dunn for the murders of five black youths outside a public library (the Finkelstein branch in Valley Ridge, South Carolina). He recalled Dunn's lawyer remarking that Dunn was protecting himself and his children, claiming it was his right as an American to do so. Emmanuel put on a hoodie and a hat and went to the bus stop...