White writer eviscerated for ‘disguising himself as black’ to write book about racism

A Canadian journalist is currently being castigated over

The author, Sam Forster, is white and is now drawing the ire from several corners of the internet who find the project ridiculous and offensive.

Reactions to the announcement ranged from funny to disgusted as the post revealing the book’s premise went viral – it has now been viewed some 11 million times.

In it, Forster wrote: “Last summer, I disguised myself as a black man and traveled across the United States to document how racism persists in American society.

“Writing Seven Shoulders was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done as a journalist,” he said, before linking to the book’s Amazon page.

The book cover of the book by Canadian journalist Sam Forster, for which he says he disguised himself as a black man in America

The Amazon blurb describing the book reads: “Six decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, award-winning journalist Sam Forster undertakes a bold transformation to taxonomize the different types of racism that persist in modern America. Seven Shoulders is the most important book on American race relations ever written.”

It is not clear who wrote the blurb.

There were reactions to the announcement, including comments from Portia McGonagal, who wrote: “I can’t do that. Black people exist. We don’t need your ambitious savior to cosplay our reality. I don’t think it ever occurred to you that a book of stories from and about our lived experiences ever crossed your mind. Not if you can put on blackface.”

A report titled Bad Writing Takes wrote: “For too long, the discussion about racism has been unfairly dominated by the feelings and experiences of real black people.

“Thank God for brave writers like Sam Forster who are finally shedding light on the travails of white people in black faces.”

Forster (pictured) has chosen not to share photos of himself disguised as a black American, which is clearly what most respondents would prefer to see

Imani Gandy wrote: “You are a journalist. You could have just interviewed a few black Americans.

“This is wild, especially considering another white guy has already done this and your book is definitely not the most important book ever written about race relations. That’s a funny statement.’

Others emphasized that the book overview presented on Amazon had to be ‘satire’. Some merely replied, “You did something now.”

Some pointed out that the book sounds similar in concept, although set in a very different time, to John Howard Griffin’s Black Like Me — a memoir published about the white author’s time living as a black laborer in the Deep South.

But most of all, people wanted to see the disguise Forster used to investigate what he believes will be an earth-shattering story about racism in America.

‘Black Like Me’ by John Howard Griffin follows the author’s story as he travels through the Deep South and lives as an African American laborer – it was published in 1961

Unfortunately, that photo seems to be the one thing we might not get from Mr. Forster.

Tim Gill, professor of sociology, wrote on to show.

“However, he believes that as long as you really try to pass yourself off as black, it’s allowed.”

Journalist Katie Herzog posted a screenshot of what appeared to be part of a manuscript of Forster’s book, writing: “In any case, I have decided not to release any images of myself,” presumably referring to herself “in disguise” as a black woman man.

The book, which bears the full title: ‘Seven Shoulders: Taxonomizing Racism in Modern America’, will be published on Thursday, May 30.