White Spaces: Race, Dating White and Otherness

White Spaces is a fiction novel that explores black protagonist, Yasminah’s feelings of being the “other” in academic spaces, recreational spaces and now, intimate spaces. Her story is framed through her experiences as a woman of color living primarily in white spaces. She is driven by processing her relationship to society and how race impacts every aspect of her life."I am supposed to be angry about my blackness, angry about slavery and angry at white privilege. But I am not. At least not on a personal or painful level. Race feels like something that happens on the outside of my world, something distant and lazy. I am mostly disappointed with some human behavior in general as opposed to directing that disappointment at one race or one gender. While I recognize that I am a part of the dance whether I feel the beat of the music or not, this does not change my lack of attachment with organizing myself, my life and my existence around race. When I stack it’s because I want to further distance myself from everyone’s cube of stories, whether they are white, black, or brown. However, it is white spaces that dominate my environment, and white stories that flood my media and white people who are dangerously clueless about the implications of race. And since I am not angry, I feel it is my duty, moreover, my responsibility to speak candidly and fearlessly about my black experience in white spaces; professional white spaces, academic white spaces, recreational white spaces and romantic white spaces."“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.” MLKWomen's Fiction: Race, Interracial Relationships, Contemporary, Literary Fiction