White writer gutted for ‘dressing up as black’ to write book about racism

A Canadian journalist is currently being criticized by

The author, Sam Forster, is white and now faces the ire of multiple corners of the Internet who have found the project ridiculous and offensive.

Reactions to the announcement ranged from humorous to disgust as the post revealing the book’s premise went viral: it has now been viewed some 11 million times.

In it, Forster wrote: “Last summer I dressed up as a black man and traveled across the United States to document how racism persists in American society.

“Writing Seven Shoulders was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done as a journalist,” he said, before linking to the book’s Amazon page.

The cover of Canadian journalist Sam Forster’s book, in which he says he dressed up as a black man in the United States.

The Amazon blurb describing the book reads: “Six decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, award-winning journalist Sam Forster undertakes a bold transformation to taxonomize the various types of racism that persist in the modern United States. Seven Shoulders is the most important book on American race relations ever written.

It is not clear who wrote the blurb.

Responses came to the announcement, including a comment from Portia McGonagal, who wrote: ‘I can’t. Black people exist. We don’t need your aspirational savior to disguise our realities. I guess it didn’t occur to you that a book that described stories from and about our lived experiences ever crossed your mind. Not when you can paint your face black.

A story called Bad Writing Takes wrote: “For too long, the debate about racism has been unfairly dominated by the feelings and experiences of real black people.

“Thank goodness for brave writers like Sam Forster for finally shedding light on the terrible experiences of white people in blackface.”

Forster (pictured) has chosen not to share photos of himself dressed up as a black American, which is obviously what most respondents are most eager to see.

Imani Gandy wrote: ‘You are a journalist. You could have interviewed some black Americans.

“This is crazy, especially considering another white guy already did this and there’s no way his book is the most important book ever written on race relations. It’s a comical statement.

Others insisted that the book overview featured on Amazon had to be “satire.” Some simply responded: “You did what now.”

Some noted that the book sounds similar in concept, though set at a very different time, to John Howard Griffin’s Black Like Me, a published memoir about the white author’s time living in the Deep South as a black laborer.

But most of all, people wanted to see the costume Forster wore to investigate what he seems to believe will be a seminal account of racism in America.

‘Black Like Me’ by John Howard Griffin follows the author’s story as he travels through the Deep South living as an African-American worker; It was published in 1961.

Unfortunately, that photo appears to be the only one we may not get of Mr. Forster.

Tim Gill, a sociology professor, posted on

“However, he believes that as long as you’re really trying to impersonate Black, it’s allowed.”

Journalist Katie Herzog posted a screenshot of what appeared to be part of a manuscript of Forster’s book that said, “In any case, I have decided not to publish images of myself,” presumably referring to himself “disguised” as a black man.

The book, which bears the full title, ‘Seven Shoulders: Taxonomizing Racism in Modern America,’ is out Thursday, May 30.