the suspect is black & in his early 20’s is a poem that causes readers to engage with black masculinity in America by invoking Bigger Thomas, a 20 year old man who accidentally kills a white woman in Richard Wright’s Native Son.
Before engaging Native Son, Shange provides context (in brackets) of real life examples of criminalized black men spoken about in the news in 1974 at the time she was writing the poem. She refers to the criminal activities of a left-wing revolutionary group, the Symbionese Liberation Army (S.L.A.). The S.L.A. kidnapped a white woman named Patricia Hearst and robbed a bank. In addition Shange mentions, “Zebra” killings which were 16 racially motivated murders and 8 attempts by a group of Black Muslim men. In providing this information in the brackets, Shange sets up a clear parallel to the criminalization of Bigger Thomas in Native Son, while simultaneously showing that the content in the brackets could be replaced with content about the criminalization of black men at any point in history. A very poignant example would be the way black men are criminalized in Public Safety security alerts at Barnard about suspects who are most often black and in their early 20s or younger.
Outside of the brackets, Shange uses Bigger Thomas in the rest of her poem as a representative for all black men. Notably, black women are suspected to be implicated by mere association to black men, as seen with Bessie Smith and the mention of “(women included)” in brackets within the brackets in the first stanza. Shange reveals her complex relationship with black men in this poem by revealing how she went from hating Bigger to sympathizing with him. She writes, “i always hated bigger thomas… till i remembered who mary dalton waz.” Mary Dalton is a stand in for white supremacy which leads black men to commit crimes as their only means of survival. It is noteworthy that there are few slashes in the poem, rather there are gaping white spaces where Mary Dalton is implicated causing us to ponder and dwell on the whiteness of the page between words.
Though Shange reflects on black masculinity and how it has been affected by white supremacy, Shange shows her concern for black women’s agency and well-being through her identification with Bessie. She makes it plain that “mary dalton cost bessie.” She acknowledges that “bigger treated bessie soooo bad.” But at the same time, she invites black women into having a more complex understanding of black masculinity. Shange realizes that her simplistic understanding of Bigger as either “a man” or “a thug,” excludes the role of white supremacy in the expression of their masculinity. By referring to Mary Dalton as the reason behind Bigger’s crimes, she also shows how black men’s struggles in racist society may cause them to be abusive in romantic relationships, as Bigger was with Bessie.
Ultimately, Shange deals with the experience of black people in America through this poem. Mary Dalton, “her drunken ashes / her wanton charred / bones sent thousands of / bullets looking for a blk boy / any one nigger wd do.” Black people are not seen as individuals, but one suspect mass: “the suspect is our sons / again prey to whims & caprices of / grande dame white ladies.” And Mary Dalton is resurrected every time a black person is criminalized. (slashed in quotes were added by me)
Bigger Thomas holding lifeless Mary Dalton: Bigger’s burden to carry.
Mary Dalton,
“you are ashes
you are dry bones
you are the bringin of death to our sons
the suspect is black & always in his early 20’s”