by Camille Acker
In this story, “All The Things You’ll Never Do,” Bess is an airport TSA officer straining against her starched uniform to be given respect for once in her life, like the globe-trotting women she encounters in her line of work. “She knew these women had jobs where someone called them Ms., where someone waited for their approval,” the narrator tells us. But having placed so much weight on her need to be seen, Bess suffers for it. In this stunningly bruising story, Acker reminds us that following the rules as they’ve been taught guarantees nothing for black girls, because there’s a different set of rules that apply to them, ones designed to keep these girls neither safe nor free nor seen.
– Bridgett M. Davis
Author of The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers
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