{"id":1638,"date":"2023-11-07T13:01:43","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T13:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/?p=1638"},"modified":"2024-01-05T18:41:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T18:41:54","slug":"the-uniform-of-the-black-employee-in-kiley-reids-such-a-fun-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/americanists\/2023\/11\/07\/the-uniform-of-the-black-employee-in-kiley-reids-such-a-fun-age\/","title":{"rendered":"The Uniform of the Black Employee in Kiley Reid’s ‘Such a Fun Age’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Fleur Howe<\/p>\n\n\n
\nPictured: Cover of Such a Fun Age<\/em> by Kiley Reid, published by Bloomsbury<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
“With all due respect, you don\u2019t look like you\u2019ve been babysitting tonight.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Appearance and dress underpin Emira\u2019s social power, and lack thereof, in Kiley Reid\u2019s novel Such a Fun Age<\/em> (2019). Accused of kidnapping the child she babysits, Emira is told she does not \u2018look\u2019 like a babysitter. Calling to question what a babysitter is supposed to look like \u2013 or rather how a woman of colour is expected to present herself. It is undeniable that Emira was accused not just because she was with a white child at night, but because she was not dressed in \u2018uniform\u2019. This incident signifies a not so micro, microaggression that results in \u2018constant reminders that you don\u2019t belong, that you are less than, that you are not worthy of the same respect that white people are afforded\u2019 (Oluo, 165).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe wouldn\u2019t have gotten in trouble that night if she\u2019d been wearing uniform.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>(Reid, 228)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Uniform not only represents the black woman\u2019s necessity to be presentable, but also represents the not so invisible traces of slave relations. Alix dresses Emira in a uniform with the family name on it to instate a sense of ownership over her child’s babysitter. \u2018At least I\u2019m not still requiring a uniform for someone who works for me so I can pretend like I own them\u2019(Reid, 227), Emira is branded with her employers name in a display that labels her as acceptable or safe to the kind of privileged white people that harassed her when she was not in uniform. For the \u2018shabby black person might be read as dishevelled, wild and threatening\u2019 (Dabri 2019, 26). Out of uniform, in her own clothes Emira is threatening because she is not visibly white or white-adjacent to her employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Equally, Emira\u2019s uniform signifying her as property underpins the class and wealth disparity between her and her white employers, a disparity which \u2018reveal[s] the effects of accumulated inequality and discrimination, as well as differences in power and opportunity, that can be traced back to the inception of the United States\u2019 (Dabri 2021, 122). Alix is ironically aware, and embarrassed of presenting her privilege in front of Emira \u2018she took the tags off clothes and other items immediately\u2019, \u2018Alix no longer felt comfortable leaving out certain books or magazines\u2019 (Reid, 138). She hides her spending habits as if hiring Emira is not in itself a signifier of her privilege. Their relationship portrays this engrained power imbalance and is emblematic of slavery in the United States, Alix\u2019s childhood home even being described as having \u2018plantation columns standing out front\u2019 (Reid, 108). Alix effectively owns Emira, her poor attempt at closing the class barrier between them by hiding her expenses only signifies Alix\u2019s lack of accountability, not her allyship or sympathy towards her black employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emira is plagued by the necessity for the black woman to be constantly presentable<\/em>. Tamra, Alix\u2019s friend is condescending towards Emira about her braids \u2018I\u2019m guessing you\u2019re afraid to go natural’ (Reid, 164) While Tamra is, from her perspective, supporting Emira\u2019s right to wear her hair in its natural state; Tamra is simultaneously highlighting her ignorance and privilege by insinuating Emira\u2019s fear of wearing her natural is purely cosmetic. Emira is not granted the privilege to appear anything but acceptable in the eyes of a white person, the conflict in the supermarket asserts this as fact.<\/p>\n\n\n
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