海角大神

For many people of color working in professional environments, the experience of being the 鈥渙nly one鈥� is common. And being the only Black person or person of color in an otherwise heterogeneous office often comes with many burdens, such as enduring microaggressions alone or lacking allies or comrades to advocate for you or who understand your experiences.

Nella Rogers, the main character in Zakiya Dalila Harris鈥� debut novel 鈥淭he Other Black Girl,鈥� is no stranger to the burdens that come along with being the 鈥渙nly one.鈥� An aspiring book editor, Nella works in a dull and exploitative job as an editorial assistant at Wagner Books, a well-known publisher in Manhattan. Though Nella is hard-working, she鈥檚 been toiling away in her position without proper accolades or recognition for her talent. On top of that, Nella finds it hard to form genuine connections with her officemates because there鈥檚 no one who understands what it means to be Black in the workspace.

But everything changes for Nella when another Black woman is hired. Enter Hazel-May McCall, a young Black woman from Boston with long dreads, a sharp sense of style, and a boyfriend who鈥檚 a famous artist. Hazel immediately entrances everyone at the office, including Nella鈥檚 superior, Vera, and she manages to quickly form friendships with their white colleagues and bosses. Nella, glad to have another Black person in the office, is excited at first by Hazel鈥檚 arrival. But it soon becomes clear that Hazel isn鈥檛 interested in forming a genuine friendship with Nella. Though both women are Black, that鈥檚 where the similarities between the two end.

Nella and Hazel鈥檚 burgeoning friendship-turned-rivalry also parallels an earlier alliance at Wagner Books 鈥� that of editor Kendra Rae Phillips and writer Diana Gordon. In the 1980s, Phillips and Gordon were also the only two Black women at Wagner, and they joined forces to publish Gordon鈥檚 book, 鈥淏urning Heart,鈥� a novel that catapulted both women to fame. In fact, 鈥淏urning Heart鈥� is what drew Nella to work at Wagner Books in the first place. She idolizes Phillips and wants to be like her, hoping to help usher in a new cadre of Black writers. Ironically, Hazel is also a fan of 鈥淏urning Heart.鈥� While Hazel and Nella briefly connect over their adoration for the book and the women behind its creation, their paths quickly diverge 鈥� just like Gordon and Phillips, decades earlier.

At the center of the novel is hair. The smell of a hair product called Brown Buttah is what first tips Nella off to the fact that there is finally another Black woman in the Wagner office. Both women defy 鈥減rofessional鈥� standards by wearing natural hairstyles and forgoing weaves or perms. Hazel even offers to help the less-experienced Nella with her afro. Hair seems to be another point of connection between the two women, a bridge that Nella hopes to use to get closer to Hazel. But even hair eventually becomes the vehicle through which Hazel and a shadowy, villainous organization called the Other Black Girls (or OBGs for short) obtain and maintain their power.

While 鈥淭he Other Black Girl鈥� may come off as another office drama novel, there is something much more sinister skulking beneath the surface. Though Nella and Hazel initially bond over their experiences of being Black in the office, Nella becomes aware that Hazel鈥檚 鈥渃ode-switching鈥� is more like a complete switch in character and morals. Nella鈥檚 boss asks for Nella鈥檚 feedback on a novel penned by one of Wagner鈥檚 leading authors. But a racist representation of a Black character in the book puts Nella in a tough spot, forcing her to choose between speaking up or remaining agreeable around her bosses at Wagner. Eventually, Nella decides to voice her concerns 鈥� but it backfires.聽

Harris does an excellent job at unraveling intricate and complicated topics about Black life in predominantly white work spaces. Drawing from her own experiences working at the publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, Harris unflinchingly builds a workplace that feels unsettlingly familiar 鈥� both in its goal to secure 鈥渄iversity hires鈥� and its simultaneous refusal to change anything about its internal culture or its systemic inequities. It鈥檚 a conversation that is increasingly pertinent, as companies and organizations across the country attempt to address their racist and sexist practices in increasingly inauthentic ways after last year鈥檚 protests against police brutality.

While 鈥淭he Other Black Girl鈥� captures the frustration that so often stems from working in predominantly white offices, it also highlights another awful facet of that work culture. Tokenism forces Black people into an unwilling competition with each other; they are often聽 forced to jostle to be the 鈥渙nly one,鈥� because so often there is only room for one. Blackness does not always equal kinship, and it鈥檚 this lesson that Nella must learn the hard way. Forced to choose between career advancement or her own integrity, Nella wrestles with her sense of self and belonging. Ultimately, she teeters on the edge of losing both.

The true horror of 鈥淭he Other Black Girl鈥� is that there is an undeniable truth in it. Black people must choose between tolerating an office culture that wants us to change, or working to change that office culture at the expense of job security and social rejection. And Black people must reckon with the fact that while there are many Nellas in the world, there are also many Hazels: those who are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that there is no 鈥渙ther Black person鈥� in the office. While many people dread being tokenized, there is a quiet horror to the idea that some people actually enjoy it. By the end of Harris鈥� novel, Black readers will be forced to ask this hard and singular question: Which one are you?