A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance

Abdurraqib uses the term to refer to the sanitization of difficult topics and the dismissal of Black experiences to appease and protect white sensibilities at all costs. This tendency to prioritize American Comfort can be seen in period piece films, reactions to Black rage, and the general reframing of historical events to de-emphasize white complicity.

Abdurraqib considers both conventional blackface and its modern evolutions.

The logistics of historical blackface performance involved putting on a thick, paste-like makeup that did not mimic the actual brown tones of Black skin, but was instead intended to sharply contrast with white skin, creating a "horrifying look" (84). This caricature objectified and flattened Black people, contributed to the invisibility of Black performers, erased individuality, and reduced Blackness to a costume put on for the enjoyment of white people. White people's inability to understand why blackface is inappropriate for costumes makes Abdurraqib worry that blackface is how white people truly see Black people.

Abdurraqib positions white people appropriating Black language—especially the n-word—as a sort of modern blackface. After the 2016 election, digital blackface, or instances of white internet users pretending to be Black, became common. These performances were similarly reductive, collapsing the multitudes of Blackness into a single understanding.