# VI explained — Black No More

> Chapter companion for Black No More by George Schuyler.

## What happens

Matthew Fisher, now Grand Exalted Giraw of the Knights of Nordica, marries Helen Givens on Easter Sunday, 1934. He uses his position to extort money from Southern businessmen by playing on fears of radicalism and racial impurity, while also profiting from the panic over white women giving birth to black babies. Bunny Brown returns from a failed mission to recruit Negro leaders, and the chapter highlights the growing hysteria and the commodification of whiteness.

## Themes in this chapter

### Satire of Racism and White Supremacy

The Knights of Nordica are a direct parody of the Klan, and the chapter mocks their hypocrisy and the absurdity of their racial purity campaigns.

### Economic Exploitation and Class

Matthew exploits the fears of businessmen to line his pockets, while the white workers are manipulated into race consciousness instead of class consciousness, preventing unionization.

### Media and Propaganda

The Warning newspaper and Matthew's editorials are used to spread propaganda and incite racial panic, demonstrating the power of media to manipulate public opinion.

### Commodification of Blackness

The chapter highlights how Blackness is commodified, both in the panic over black babies and in the business of Black-No-More, which profits from turning Black people white.

## Character check-ins

### Matthew Fisher

Now Grand Exalted Giraw, he marries Helen and uses his influence to extort money from businessmen, while also profiting from racial panic.

### Helen Givens

Marries Matthew, attracted to his wealth and education, though she regrets his association with 'lowbrows.'

### Rev. Henry Givens

Imperial Grand Wizard, feels threatened by Matthew's popularity but is relieved by the marriage.

### Bunny Brown

Returns from a mission to recruit Negro leaders, reporting that they have all disappeared or become white.

### Santop Licorice

Mentioned as the only remaining Negro leader, but he is useless and only taking Matthew's money.

## Key lines

> He then explained the difference between the defunct Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of Nordica. While both were interested in public morals, racial integrity and the threatened invasion of America by the Pope, his organization glimpsed its larger duty, the perpetuation of Southern prosperity by the stabilization of industrial relations.

Matthew pitches the Knights of Nordica as a more business-friendly version of the Klan, focused on maintaining Southern prosperity through labor control.

_Highlights the economic exploitation and the cynical use of racial ideology for profit._

> The real white people were panic-stricken, especially in Dixie. There was no way, apparently, of telling a real Caucasian from an imitation one. Every stranger was viewed with suspicion, which had a very salutory effect on the standard of sex morality in the United States.

The inability to distinguish 'real' whites from whitened Blacks causes widespread panic and a return to conservative sexual mores.

_Satirizes the absurdity of racial categories and the moral panic that ensues._

> He wrote with such blunt sincerity that sometimes he almost persuaded himself that it was all true.

Matthew's propaganda is so effective that he nearly believes his own lies.

_Illustrates the theme of media and propaganda, and the self-deception of those who spread it._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_no_more_se/chapters/vi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_no_more_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_no_more_se/chapters