Seven Shoulders: Taxonomizing Racism in Modern America

by Sam Forster

Six decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, award-winning journalist Sam Forster performs a daring transformation in order to taxonomize the various types of racism that persist in modern America. Seven Shoulders is the most important book on American race relations that has ever been written.

193 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 30, 2024

Reviews

[Tea]

White man does black face for "science" 🙄

[Lisa Smart · Rating 1 out of 5]

WTF is this. We don’t need a White man “to go undercover” as a Black man to know racism exists. Get this outta here.

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am astounded. I cannot believe that in this century going black face would be done to do an experiment. The premise of this book is built on racist roots. I am gobsmacked.

[Andrea Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never do this, rate/review a book without reading it, but this absolute racist POS deserves to go down in flames for this.

[Rose]

No way, absolutely not. Nope.

[QueerLatifah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inappropriate, out of touch, peak white curiosity/expert. Blackface to more intimately experience oppression is simply a circle jerk for white people, and this is no different. I hope this book flops.

[Valarie Farias]

Absolutely not. Solid, hard pass. Believe Black people. Read Black authors. Black people are the authority on racism in America. A white man wearing black face is not the person to listen to.

[Shae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doing BLACKFACE to study racism is genuinely insane.

[Arushi · Rating 1 out of 5]

The sheer caucasity

[RatGrrrl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read Black authors.

[Virago · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could rate it zero stars, I would.

As a Canadian white man, I'm gonna get to the bottom of racism in America, by participating in the racist act of blackface. Blackface that I can take off at any point if I get too uncomfortable. I could have just listened to the millions of black Americans who live with racism on a daily basis, but that would have made way too much sense.

The absolute caucasity of this 🫏 🤡

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm only reviewing to help get this book to 100 ratings so it will qualify to join the "Worst Rated Books on Goodreads" list https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... . Come on people, let's get this one over the finish line. It totally deserves to be there, with its nigh-perfect 1.00 average star rating (soiled only by a single 5-star rating, out of 71 ratings currently. There was a 5-star review to go with it, but it got shamed out of existence.)

I've read the free preview pages on Amazon and that was quite enough to suss out the intense self-centeredness that characterizes even the background arguments. If necessary I could go into more detail, including how stretched the self-listed journalistic credentials are, but what's the point?

[Lisha]

And next up on today's "white man doesn't believe it exists unless it happens to ME"

['Apuakea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Objectively, terrible book cause what exactly does this prove? Simply could’ve asked yourself the question on why you needed to commit black face in order to experience racism. The simple answer is, you are a white man who will simply never experience it firsthand. There was no journalistic integrity nor value to this.

[♡ Destiny ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very telling that a white man refuses to hear black voices so much he had to do black face in order to "prove" that racism exists. Because he can't trust us to tell the truth, apparently. It says a lot, it says that before he did this he didn't believe the racism we experience. Disgusting.

[NEETGirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Getting a wikihow on “Am I Racist?” as the first result after searching for a tutorial for blackface should’ve been your first sign that you shouldn’t have gone through with this.

[Kyle Yen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crazy book title and black face

[Wuttipol✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

The caucasity!!!!

[locvcat · Rating 1 out of 5]

The caucasity never ceases.

[Cass · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe someone could do something like this with a straight face and think they're doing a good thing.

[Lokes · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give 0 stars, I would, because what the fuck is that?? Yes, we need more literature about and scientific approaches to racism (and especially about how to be an ally to BIPOC people), but a white man blackfacing to „prove racism exists“?!? Be for real…

[Sierra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't read. Didn't need to. This book deserves negative stars.

[cherubees · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have so many questions and no answers. Why didn’t you just go hitchhiking with a Black person you knew? Oh, right… anyways. The writing itself is atrocious, so even if you’re thinking “wow, this would be the perfect book to torture myself with”, you’ll have to be a true masochist to make it through this one. I would advise the author to seek therapy, and I mean this genuinely, because how on Earth did you think any of this was a good idea?

[Shanti Abiad · Rating 1 out of 5]

There’s not really much to be said here. Sam Forster is a stupid man, who is a bad journalist. Below are a few excerpts of interviews, where if we assume complete self-seriousness, both in Sam’s works and his perception, demonstrate exactly how Ridiculously, Incompetently, and Incomprehensibly Dumb he is.

In an NPR article, notable for being one of the few articles I saw so far with an interview of the world’s most anomalous idiot, Forster flat out disclaims he didn’t ask Black people if he should’ve done this at all. Not only that, but he deflects the overwhelming negative feedback as almost petty, claiming that people secretly like his work, discouraged by the Big Bad Who-Could’ve-Seen-This-Coming-Wave-of-Criticism. (Wise, Alana. NPR. ‘With Maybelline Mocha and an Afro wig, white author explores 'Blackness' in a new book’.)

“Forster did not consult with any Black people ahead of undertaking the experiment. That, he said, would have been pandering.

And he was reluctant to share what feedback he has received from any Black friends or colleagues.

Instead, responding to the public backlash, Forster said that there are many people who are pleased with his work and are likely afraid to speak openly.”

It is a very much common assumption, especially amongst these enlightened white man saviors come to free the country from the ‘petty’ disputes of race relations. Of course, the reason no Black people are bending over backwards to praise you is because the great evil of cancel culture, and not because you, a man so bright in complexion it devastates my Circadian system, did blackface. Surely the people of color are just too afraid of the backlash of their communities to prop you, Sam Forster, upon their backs.

If it wasn’t clear, dear Sam doesn’t understand nor care for why people hate his work. He is far more enamored with his white journalist methodology and reasons that this archaic and racist practice was useful (moreso for white journalists chasing prestige and enamored with the suffering of the Black American experience rather than asking Black Americans), so much so that in this Newsweek article, he has another quote so disgustingly reflective of how it is not empathy that drove this decision, squarely prestige: (White Journalist Who 'Disguised' Himself as Black Faces Backlash. Newsweek. I don’t like Newsweek, but this statement is crazy.)

“Forster also said: "As many people have noted since the book's announcement, this sort of immersive journalism was an incredibly important part of the civil rights movement." He added: "While modernizing this long-celebrated practice was incredibly difficult, I am sure that those who read the book with an open mind will appreciate the value of what I've produced."”

Perhaps something can be said for the idea he is trolling, using Black people’s exasperation for a few minutes of fame. I don’t think he is. I think this was Sam Forster’s attempt to understand racism. I think he is just as stupid, apathetic, and disgusting either way.

Forster doesn’t care for Black people or their struggle in America. Black people are telling him what he is doing wrong. Forster doesn’t care. He is elevating white people’s works over their opinion, because he is racist. He is racist. Sam Forster does not care about Black people. He only cares about appearing a good white journalist, and the prestige of revitalizing a controversial practice that nobody has asked for, and holds zero value in the modern day.

[V Cole · Rating 1 out of 5]

While Sam Forster may believe that donning blackface gave him the lived experience of a Black person, this perspective is fundamentally flawed and problematic for several reasons:

1. Superficial Understanding: Blackface cannot replicate the deep-seated, systemic experiences of being Black in America. Racism is not just about isolated incidents or superficial interactions; it encompasses historical oppression, daily microaggressions, institutional biases, and the cumulative emotional and psychological impact of living in a society structured by racial inequality.
2. Temporary vs. Permanent: Forster’s experience was temporary and voluntary. He could remove the blackface and return to his original identity at any time, unlike Black individuals who live with their racial identity permanently and cannot escape the systemic challenges and prejudices associated with it.
3. Safety and Privilege: As a white man, Forster still retained his societal privileges and safety nets that Black individuals often do not have. His ability to “return” to his original racial identity underscores the privilege of being able to choose when and how to engage with racial issues.
4. Lack of Nuance: The lived experience of Black people includes a wide range of cultural, familial, and community aspects that cannot be understood through mere physical appearance. By focusing on surface-level mimicry, Forster’s approach misses the deeper, nuanced understanding necessary to genuinely grasp what it means to live as a Black person.
5. Empathy vs. Experience: True empathy and understanding come from listening to and learning from the experiences of those who live with racial discrimination daily, not from attempting to mimic their appearance. Authentic engagement involves amplifying Black voices and supporting their narratives, rather than trying to replace them with one’s own interpretation.

Overall, Forster’s method and his belief that he could gain the lived experience of a Black person through blackface are misguided and contribute to a shallow and incomplete understanding of racism and its impacts.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

White man tours the states in blackface to write a book and profit off of what it’s like to experience racism in America. Besides the fact this has already been done, and with a lot of criticism, the experience of racism cannot be learned from wearing blackface at will, temporarily, all the while knowing that you can escape it at any time by washing it off. Racism is experienced from birth and is part of a lived experience.

But, all in all, if dude really wanted to understand racism he could have asked Black People what it’s like or picked up one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of books on the topic written by those with a lifetime firsthand knowledge of it.

[Shayna greycoupon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was done over 60 years by multiple white writers, most famously "Black Like Me" in 1961. At that time, books about racism didn't get white people's attention unless they written by other white people. Hell, this is still often the case, (Hi "White Fragility!") Sam could have done something really crazy like interviewed actual Black people about their experiences. But then he couldn't put on Blackface and be the white savior of the story and call his book the "most important book on race relations ever written." I wish goodreads allowed negative stars.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

A white male Quebecker thinks we need him to do blackface à la Rachael Dolezal for a few weeks to understand racism, as if the voices of Black writers weren't salient, respected enough. When John Howard Griffin did this race bending experiment in the late 1950s, it was considered innovative, considering lynchings still occurred in The South, among other atrocities. In 2024, this book is offensive. There are plenty of writers who are unambiguously Black 27/4, 365/364, since birth, who can speak to this topic with validity.

[TC · Rating 1 out of 5]

White Canadian journalist who never went to j school decides to see if racism still exists in America by hitchhiking in blackface instead of...oh, talking to Black Americans about their experiences? Doing the years and years of research? Turning on a television? What could go wrong LOL I think it's time for some new friends, Sam, or closer family because apparently no one was looking out to stop you from doing this.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Giant LOL at calling a book by a white Canadian man "the most important book on American race relations that has ever been written." Go read Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, bell hooks...go read ANYTHING that is not written by someone who wore blackface in the year of our lord 2023????