There Will Be No Miracles Here

Chapter 18 begins with Gerald’s musing that three-quarters of the students at Yale likely want to be president, to work for a president, or to be imprisoned for their opposition to a president. He reveals that his teammates voted him most likely to be president.

Next, Gerald briefly mentions Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. Gerald notes that he will almost certainly be a very visible man following his Yale education.

An effective public speaker, Gerald becomes class president at Yale. His message is partly one of obligation to himself and other Black students at Yale, to become aware of the many others who will remain effectively invisible and have almost no chance at leadership.

There is a brief discussion of Warren Kimbro, who initiated a New Haven chapter of the Black Panthers in 1969, because he encourages Gerald’s development of the Black Men’s Union as the most radical development since. This all occurs in 2008, alongside the election of President Barak Obama.

A growing hubris becomes apparent in Gerald’s discussion of the election. While recognizing Obama as “the most powerful black person in the history of the human race,” Gerald also describes him as “a considerable inconvenience” (279). Such is Gerald’s ambition and determination at the time.