A review by cwalsh
Intimations by Zadie Smith

3.0

“I used to think that there would one day be a vaccine: that if enough black people named the virus, explained it, demonstrated how it operates, videoed its effects, protested it peacefully, revealed how widespread it really is, how the symptoms arise, how so many Americans keep giving it to each other, irresponsibly and shamefully, generation after generation, causing intolerable and unending damage both to individual bodies and to the body politic—I thought if that knowledge became as widespread as could possibly be managed or imagined that we might finally reach some kind of herd immunity. I don’t think that anymore.”

"Contempt as a Virus" was definitely the stand out of this collection, but as always, Zadie Smith's comments on race, time, and privilege never fail to spark some much needed introspection.