![]() Since I’m not Black, I didn’t expect Ellison to speak to me with the force of a spiritual awakening. ![]() It’s about the journey of the titular Invisible Man from the South to New York City, and his encounters with racism along the way. Ellison’s novel depicts one African American’s struggles against racial injustice in post-World War II America. I read books by Black authors to help me understand their experience better. I was moved to read Invisible Man after George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police in May 2020. Ellison tells it like it is, and it hurt. In the novel’s opening paragraph, Ellison’s nameless Black hero says: “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” This line alone brought tears to my eyes. It took Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man to pierce my armor and dismantle my weapon. I thought I only needed to work harder to gain visibility. As a novelist, I set aside my unmarketable Filipino stories and “adapted” by publishing romance books about white characters. In hotels and restaurants, I spoke directly to people who were not inclined to wait on me. At work, I didn’t wait around to be noticed, but presented my ideas proactively. When people ignored me, I redoubled my efforts to be heard and seen. ![]() ![]() Assertiveness became my armor, and adaptability, my best weapon. ![]()
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