“Unfiltered and Unapologetic: Discover the Provocative Journey of a Queer Black Voice in Brathwaite’s ‘Rage’!”
The ninth essay, “Silence,” brings the reader to the death of Mr. Brathwaite’s mother in 1999, when the author was fourteen. This essay painfully illuminates how the young Mr. Brathwaite chose to remain silent in his grief and takes the tragedy of death even deeper. The poignancy in this paragraph hit me the hardest, reflecting my experiences when my father died when I, too, was fourteen.
“So many things are left unsaid in Black families, especially between parents and their queer children. I never got to come out to my mother. I think I would’ve sooner than later if I had the chance. I knew she had said she would never want a gay child when I was younger and within earshot, but I really feel she would’ve been fine with it eventually. Living in America had loosened the old girl up. All those pro-gay episodes of The Golden Girls we watched together must have seeped into her brain at some point….”
