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Josue Garcia
Pro. Jackie
Eng. 113B
November 10, 2015
White and Black Power
Macon Detornay, a fictional character from the novel Angry Black White Boy or The
Miscegenation Of Macon Detornay by Adam Mansbach is a white boy who rejects his white,
jewish culture and embraces the black culture after the night of the Rodney King incident.
Macon, like others, saw the racial problem still occurring after the civil rights movement and
during the novel Macons actions led him in the position to alter it. He had a view towards the
racial problems in society and took actions similar to Malcolm X who lived during the civil
rights movement and had an important role in it. Although Macon and Malcolm are each from a
different race and lived in different times, they both had similarities in their approach to favor the
blacks over whites during racial conflicts and their actions they did throughout their lives.
During their childhood Macon and Malcolm lived in completely different worlds.
Malcolm X lived during the heart of the civil rights movement and had a tragic childhood unlike
Macon Detornay who grew up after the civil rights movement in the suburbs of boston. Since
Malcolm X was black and his father Earl Little, according to TheBiography.com website, [Was]
a preacher...an active member of the local chapter of the Universal Negro Improvment
Association.[His] family faced frequent harassment from white Supremacistgroups
(Biography.com Editors). This explains that Malcolm X was already in the middle of the racial
problems growing up, while Macon Detornay was simply a white jewish boy who did not seem
to care about the racial problems growing up until the events of Rodney King on April 29, 1992.

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In the novel, Mansbach writes, Tattooed on Macons biceps in small green characters was 4-2992. Things changed for me(48-49). This meant Macon had to witness something terribly
unfair done to black people for him to change his view towards racial problems, while Malcolm
X had his childhood to straighten his view towards racial problems. Even though Macon and
Malcolm had very different childhoods, they both ended up seeing the racial problems in society,
which led them to do similar criminal acts.
When Macon was attending college in New York City, after the incident that changed
him, he had a growing hatred towards white people although he was white. He got to the point
where he started robbing white people in a taxi cab he worked in. When the white passengers
would ask why, Macon considered the question for a moment Because youre an ignorant
white devil asshole, and you and everybody like you deserve to be robbed every day of your
life (Mansbach 24). His hatred towards white people for their ignorance and privileges got him
to commit crimes, such as robbery. Malcolm X however, After quitting school. out on his
own on the streets of Boston [He] became acquainted with the citys criminal underground.
and fell further into a life of drugs and crime(Biography.com Editors). Due to the racial
inequality Malcolm faced he ended up doing crimes early in his life. Eventually Macon and
Malcolm were each caught, in their perspective timelines, and were sent to jail. When both are
sent to jail they both change somehow.
After their time in jail, Macon and Malcolm both came out differently. When Macon was
bailed out by his friends, he seemed to achieve celebrity popularity because of the fact that he is
white and had robbed other white people, which was a big thing in the novel. When Macon
became famous, he used his fame to create The Race Traitor Project(Mansbach 185) to help
straighten the racial problems and status mainly between white and blacks. Malcolm X was

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never bailed out and served ten years in prison, but while he was in there, according to
TheBiography.com website,he was visited by several siblings who had joined the Nation of
Islam who embraced the ideology of black nationalism(Biography.com editors). Once
Malcolm X converted to the Nation of Islam, he started to work for them and adopted the belief
that Blacks should separate themselves and govern themselves from the whites. Then he moved
up Due pirmarily to the effots of Malcom X, the Nation of Islams [members grew] from a mere
400 memebers to 40,000 memeber.Malcom X had emerged as a leading voice of a
radicalized wing of the civil rights movement(Biography.com Editors). Malcolm X went from
being a criminal in prison to being a national spokesman and a civil rights activist. Same thing
with Macon, he went from being a criminal in jail to a national celebrity. Both went from nobody
to somebody, but when they were somebodies, something happened that they both started to
second-guess their approach and beliefs to the racial problems.
It started when Macon agreed with one of Malcolm Xs ideas not only did he like it, but
he made it happen. According to the novel, when Macon was on national television, somebody
mentioned it, Malcolm said whites should be walking up to every black person they pass on the
street and asking for forgiveness, but its never happened Its not a bad idea mused Macon.
Lets do it on behalf of the Race Traitor Project(Mansbach 204). Macon put one of
Malcolms ideas to the test and it did not work instead it caused a riot. At that point, when things
got out of control, he was questioned about happening his leadership in Race Traitor Project and
was challenged to fix it. Although he tried to fix it, Macon in the Novel told the whole world,
Im giving up...This whole thing was a mistake White people forget it and go home I was
wrong to think that youve got what it takes to change(Mansbach 268). Then when Macon
couldnt fix it and ran off instead, he started to second-guess his view and belief towards racial

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problems and went back to being a simple white boy who did not care about the racial problems.
Macon could not handle the challenges he faced while being the down white black boy who
spoke for black people about the racial issues still occurring. Therefore, changed back to his old
self before the Rodney King incident. Malcolm X suggested that same idea Macon used before
he second-guess his racial beliefs as well and changed.
When Malcolm X eventually left the Nation of Islam due to problems between him and
the leader of that religion group, he started to second-guess his racial belief. Chris Trueman
explained this on his website, However as he got older Malcolm X adapted his beliefs this was
almost certainly as a result of a pilgrimage he made to Mecca. he had embraced orthodox
Islam which included racial toleration(Trueman). Malcolm X no longer believe in Black people
separating themselves from the white people, as he witnessed other religious practices being
done with white and black people together. Malcolm saw the flaws of his old beliefs and
changed, he realize blacks separating from whites was bad idea. Malcolm and Macon both
altered their view and approach towards the racial issues occurring in their individual time frame,
because of this, their lives came to an end.
Macons and Malcolms lives came to an end for similar reasons. They both betrayed or
left a group of people to seek what they really wanted to believe in, like Malcolm X when he left
the Nation of Islam and Macon when he betrayed his own white race for a black person at the
end of the novel. Malcolm Xs biography describes his cause of death; Tragically, just as
Malcolm x appeared to be embarking on an ideological transformation he was assassinated.the
three men convicted of the assassination...were all memebers of the Naiton of Islam
(Biography.com Editors). Malcolm Xs departure from the Nation of Islam made the Nation of
Islam feel betrayed and they acted upon that which led to his death. Similar to why Macon died,

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Macon did not like white people and thought more for black people, but when things went south
for him he started to second guess his belief and ran into some white people who tested his
beliefs. They gave him a rifle and forced Macon to take a life of a black guy, but he couldn't,
instead,Macon whirled off-balance, the rifle still on his shoulder and faced Burleigh [a white
guy]....Macon squeezed the trigger, A hollow pop, nothing(Mansbach 331). When Macon tried
to prove he was white to other white people for the sake of his own life, he couldnt. Macon was
still for black people and against his own white people, which led to his death.
Although Macon and malcolm X were from a different race and entirely different
dimension, they shared similar characteristics in their beliefs and actions. Both believed in black
people not being treated equally and they both disliked white people at certain points in their
lives. They also had a huge influence in the people that they stood for and were popular in their
perspective worlds. During the time Malcolm and Macon were both alive, they did similar
crimes and spent time in jail where they somehow transformed into something else. Then finally,
they both died for a similar reason, betraying a group of people that they were once part of. In
the end, they believed in something and tried to change their worlds.

Works Cited
Biograpghy.com Editors. TheBiography.com Website. A&E Television Networks. Web.
November 8, 2015.
C N Trueman. "Malcolm X" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site. 27 Mar 2015.
Web. November 9 2015.

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Mansbach, Adam. Angry Black White Boy or, The Miscegenation of Macon Detornay. New York,
Three Rivers Press, 2004 Print.