Summary

Chapter 16. As January begins, Queenie gets frustrated by her attempts to follow through on her resolutions, by the lack of communication from Tom, and by continued news reports of violence against black people. A reference to the shooting of a black man named Philando Castile in America places the action in the winter of 2016. When Kyazike calls, Queenie vents her anger at how black people are treated, and then agrees to go with Kyazike to a Black Lives Matter protest.

At the protest, Kyazike shouts slogans along with the crowd, but Queenie is reluctant. “I didn’t like making myself the center of attention. Roy had seen to that” (177). The two women listen to a series of speakers, one of whom says “‘You cannot, you must not, brutalize the black body, but that is what we are seeing. It is all we...