Emmanuel Gyan

Emmanuel is the main character in "The Finkelstein 5." Along with the rest of the African American community, Emmanuel is angry about the recent acquittal of George Wilson Dunn in the murders of 5 young people outside of a public library. Over the course of the story, Emmanuel battles with issues related to respectability politics. This means he struggles with deciding how much he should alter his identity, his clothing, and his mannerisms in order to be accepted by white society. This is frequently alluded to in Emmanuel's references to "Blackness" (1), in which he notes that certain items of clothing or speech patterns make him seem more "black," and consequently more threatening, than others. Emmanuel is led down a path of anger and revenge by his old high school friend Boogie, who convinces him to join a group of vigilantes committing retributive murders against white people on behalf of...