Author Tayari Jones highlights social injustice conversation with Duke historian

The Durham Arts Council in Durham, North Carolina, boasts an intimate setting for a provocative conversation between award-winning author Tayari Jones and Duke historian Adriane Lentz Smith of The Ethics of Now series.

In a packed, dimly lit auditorium, a diverse audience is eager to explore social issues with the prestigious 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction (An American Marriage) recipient. Jones and Lentz Smith dissect structural inequality where one category of people are attributed an unequal status in relation to other categories of people.

In relationships reinforced by a confluence of unequal relations in roles, functions, decisions, rights, and opportunities, Jones believes that the divide in America is not North and South, but urban and rural. "The narrative is that racism is quarantined in the South, to make the rest of the world feel better about themselves. Class does insulate. Mass incarceration happens much more often to poor people, but not all black people have the same experience. People say class doesn’t matter, but it does. I try to create the world as I understand it."

Jones and Lentz Smith exchange views on how money makes one water resistant, but not water proof. Both agree that the color of your skin changes the way one experiences racism. In her novel, An American Marriage, where race, class and gender intersect, the real challenge for Roy and Celestial is the state," says Jones. "The level of peril in which black men find themselves is troubling."

The raw struggle of fictional character Roy Othaniel Hamilton, Jr. and the real life battle with justice for Philando Castile, a 32-year-old cafeteria worker who was stopped by police at least 46 times and ultimately killed, are examples of this victimization.

"As a writer, it’s the little details that can send a reader in a different direction," she continues. "Making changes in a work of fiction can make it easier for a reader. Little things create an impression in the mind of a reader. When I was writing this book I got so much negative feedback. I kept redoing it. I was prepared to refund my modest advance."

Jones admits she had a hard time figuring out how to end this non-traditional love story. "For a year, I was stranded 20 pages from the end. Roy is rough around the edges. He looks at Atlanta with stars in his eyes. Before prison, Roy was open to new ways of thinking, but his incarceration changes everything. Then I thought, ‘Roy, what is your next move? You can be better than this … the man that Big Roy raised you to be.’ I realized this is a novel about consent. In retrospect, I felt I owed it to readers to offer a hopeful ending."

The spirited conversation ends with a subtle hint of an upcoming film adaptation by Harpo Films and words of wisdom to aspiring writers. “To be a writer, you don’t have to write every day. If you don’t have a lot of time to write, it will take you longer, Jones advises. "If you have a book in you, take your time. Three hours per week. The pages will accumulate. You will finish your project. But keep your day job."