Racism and Prejudice Theme Analysis

The subplot of On the Come Up that deals with the racist security guards at Bri's school offers the reader a window into what it's like for Bri, a young black woman, to move through a prejudiced world. Bri and her black and Latinx classmates are targeted by the guards, Long and Tate, with shocking regularity and for no reason other than the color of their skin—and though Bri is only sixteen, plenty of people that she comes into contact with see her as a threat for the same reason. By exploring the ways that Bri must try to keep herself safe as she navigates her world, as well as examining the ways in which people of color more broadly are denied opportunities of all sorts, Thomas illustrates clearly and viscerally how people of color are systematically set up to fail and in a world that fears them and denies them opportunities to succeed.

Throughout the novel, Bri regularly points out to the reader what she and her fellow black students are supposed to do: work hard, attend college, and ultimately, get out of Garden Heights and the poverty that most people of color in the neighborhood experience. Though she's well aware of how things are "supposed" to play out, she's also cognizant of the ways in which both prejudice and the realities of the post-recession U.S. economy keep people of color from progressing along this hypothetical path. Bri's brother Trey is one of the most pointed examples of the ways that the expected narrative fails many black students. Though he was an involved and successful student in high school and went on to attend a prestigious college, Trey is unable to find a job thanks to the combination of his race and the economy. Because of this, Trey spends the novel working in a pizza joint for minimum wage.

Meanwhile, the way that Bri's teachers at school treat her as a belligerent troublemaker, even when she displays the same normal teenage attitude as the white girls at school, suggests to Bri that it might not be worth it to even try to succeed in the world of academics—a world that, from what she's seen, is overwhelmingly white and unforgiving of her and other black students. Bri sees the combination of Trey's trajectory and her treatment at school as possible proof that the version of success she's expected to achieve isn't something that's actually available to a student of color, especially when she adds to that the social strain of being one of only a few black students.

Even beyond what Bri experiences in school, the black characters in the novel are often caught in a double bind when it comes to being seen as acceptable and appropriate in the eyes of white people. For example, Bri watches her mother, Jay, who spent several years homeless and unemployed because of her addiction to crack, struggle to find a job. Most employers don't want to employ a former drug user, as they see her as a liability and assume she is likely to start using again. Jay, like Trey, is doing everything "right" when the novel starts—she has a job and is attending college to become a social worker—but this doesn't mean that she's protected from prejudice or, for that matter, is "good enough" to impress white potential employers when she loses her job.

On the other hand, Bri also understands that though drugs harm users like Jay, dealing drugs is wildly profitable. Aunt Pooh, a gang member and drug dealer, is doing everything that Bri has been told over and over again not to do—and yet, Pooh is the one helping Jay pay bills and put food on the table, and she and the other drug dealers are the only ones in Garden Heights not struggling financially. Importantly, however, Pooh also tells Bri that she doesn't want to have to deal drugs her entire life to make ends meet; she understands that it's not a reliable long-term solution, even if in the present, it's the only way to reliably make a living. To add even more nuance to this, however, Pooh doesn't practice what she preaches and shows no indication of having any inclination to do anything but deal. She remains wound up in the drug-affiliated gang violence even after ending up in jail, suggesting to Bri people like Pooh have little incentive to actually stop dealing, even when the stakes of continuing are insanely high. The contrast between Pooh and Jay makes it clear that for many people of color, there are no "good options for surviving in a racist world.

When it comes to Bri's music, Bri discovers that her blackness and the stereotypes that come with it are both a blessing and a curse. While her lyrics about gang activity, police brutality, and economic inequality resonate with Garden Heights' black residents, neighboring white communities latch onto them as proof that the black students attending Midtown are dangerous and infusing the school with drugs and violence. Bri can't win: in order to be honest and appeal to her black audience, she risks white onlookers viewing her as a one-dimensional, racist caricature of "dangerous" black culture.

While On the Come Up doesn't offer any failsafe remedies for these toxic racial dynamics, the exchanges between Bri, Jay, and Superintendent Cook at the PTA meeting offer some hope for improving the racist systems plaguing Midtown. Jay forces Cook to speak privately with her and Bri and, after Cook apologizes to Bri for the way the school treated her in the aftermath of Long and Tate's assault, she encourages him to understand that Bri is a child—not a "dangerous" black kid, but a child deserving of a safe environment in which to learn. With this, the novel suggests that the best way to fight racism is by creating situations in which feared minorities become inarguably human to those who would never have a reason to examine their own prejudices. In a broader sense, the novel makes a case for its own existence through this argument, as Bri's story offers readers a window into what may be a very different world from their own—one that's nonetheless inhabited by people fighting to succeed and be respected for their innate humanity.