Thick: And Other Essays

McMillan Cottom is a Black Southern woman, and as such, she “knows her Whites:” which is understanding the psychology of White people and the elasticity of Whiteness. This requires understanding White people but not placing any faith in them and doing so without bitterness. The idea that Barack Obama could be elected President seems ridiculous to McMillan Cottom because she knows her Whites. She goes to an Obama house party in Charlotte, NC, in 2007. McMillan Cottom is one of the only Black people at the party. She is surprised by Obama’s popularity and the belief the White people have that he will win. The house party is in the neighborhood of Myers Park, a stately neighborhood that retained its value due to racist housing policies. Living in wealthy neighborhoods brings a host of advantages and secures further generational wealth. Once this stability is secured, then these families turn to “diversity.” In 2007, McMillan Cottom was shocked that in a city full off middle-class Black people, this neighborhood was hosting an Obama event, though “today I cannot imagine it anywhere else” (108). After the party, she describes the event to her mom as White people doing what they always do: coalescing around shared interests.