3 lessons black women can learn from episode 5 of lovecraft country
If you’ve not been watching HBO’s genre-defying series, Lovecraft Country, you’ve been missing out on perhaps one of the most thrilling and groundbreaking series currently on the network. Last season’s Watchmen brought black characters and black narratives to the forefront in the superhero genre, and Lovecraft Country continues to broaden the reach of black-centered stories into sci-fi and fantasy.
Episode 5 of Lovecraft Country is a particularly intense chapter in the evolution of several characters, but especially the character of Ruby Baptiste, sister of the series’ heroine-apparent, Letitia Lewis.
At the start of the episode, Ruby wakes up in a different body - a white woman’s body. We soon learn that this gift of a curse was bestowed on her by a magic potion - one that the mysterious and magic-wielding William offers to her in exchange for a future favor.
In her new body, Ruby finds a new level of freedom, respect and access… something that at first delights her, but ultimately reveals to her the dark side of privilege. By the end of the episode, Ruby’s own inner darkness has emerged from its cocoon.
In Lovecraft Country, Ruby represents the everyday black girl. Unlike her sister Letitia who went off into the world moving from adventure to adventure, Ruby stayed at home. Took care of Mama. Got an education. Stayed close to the neighborhood. And let her hair down every once in a while by singing the blues. Ruby is every black girl in America with a dream bigger than her beginnings. And in this episode, she teaches us at least 3 vital lessons:
Don’t think yourself out of your dreams.
Since being introduced to Ruby, we‘ve known that her dream job is to work the ladies’ section at Marshall Fields in downtown Chicago. In the previous episode, Ruby is crushed when she finally works up the nerve to apply, but discovers that a black girl, Tamara, has already been hired.
In her new white skin-costume, Ruby gets hired too, as Tamara’s manager. She learns that Tamara is much less qualified than she is, and just applied for the job ‘on a whim’. Ruby is even more upset when she realizes that she might have been standing in her own way.
The Lesson:
Stop second-guessing yourself. If you know you’re prepared, there should be no need to hesitate. If you’re not perfectly prepared, but bold enough to try, you’ll often find that fortune does indeed favor the bold.
Many black women have internalized the idea that, ‘I have to work twice as hard to get half the credit.’ This thought can manifest in us setting unnecessary barriers and hurdles for ourselves on the path to pursuing our dreams. We may feel the need to be perfect before going after a job or opportunity, when in many cases, courage will win out over perfection.
Be wary of someone trying to co-opt your suffering.
“I’ve been where you are,” intones Christina, the show’s only non-black-woman white woman in a scene where she is attempting to commiserate with Ruby. She is in essence saying, ‘your pain is the same as my pain.’
”You can’t relate to who I am,” spits back Ruby.
Ruby’s pain is flesh pain. Whereas Christina’s pain comes from being excluded from the club of powerful white men who often inflict flesh pain on black women like Ruby.
“The only thing you white women are disillusioned with are yourselves,” Ruby tells her would-be ally.
The Lesson:
An ally does not map their story onto yours. An ally gives your story equal weight to theirs, but doesn’t assume to know your story or to be able to tell it on your behalf. Anyone claiming to understand exactly what you’re going through without giving you the chance to say exactly what it is you’re going through, is likely an opportunist in ally’s clothing.
Think as those around you think, but don’t become who they are.
After a good amount of time experiencing the world through a black woman’s eyes in a white woman’s body, Ruby has seen more than enough bigotry, sexism, and other acts of inhumanity to make her own sociopathic tendencies emerge.
In a critical and shocking scene, she reverses the roles of social, sexual and physical power and enacts a revenge that is so calculated and cruel that one wonders if she’s actually turned the tables or just gotten extremely creative in imitating her oppressors.
The Lesson:
People who have been shunned or wronged by those in power may eventually seek to become them. There lies madness. Those who become like their oppressors will fail to see the hypocrisy in this choice. Study your oppressor’s tactics and adopt the ones you need, but do not model yourselves after them.
Instead, become your own version of what power looks like.
