2021 Articles

“You can still fight”: The Black radical tradition, healing, and literacies

Baxley, Gwendolyn; Rogers, Christopher; Thomas, Ebony Elizabeth; Sealey-Ruiz, Yolanda; Campano, Gerald; Stornaiuolo, Amy

In a scene from the television series Lovecraft Country (Green & Sackheim, 2020), Letitia “Leti” Lewis calls the spirits of eight Black ancestors that have been trapped in her recently purchased home, along with the ghost of Hiram Epstein, their murderer. Hiram, the previous homeowner and a former scientist fired for “dangerous human experimentation,” coordinated with the local police captain to capture, experiment, torture, and murder these eight Black residents in his home. As Hiram
haunts and tries to harm Leti, she calls on these ancestors to help her cast Hiram away. “You are not dead yet. You can still fight,” she proclaims as Hiram closes in on her. Leti and the ancestors circle around Hiram, hold hands, and chant a spell
to cast him out. Their bloody and brutalized bodies, dismembered by Hiram’s experimentation, become whole again in solidarity and strength. Hiram disintegrates.