The Other Black Girl

On October 22, Diana sits in her office at Howard University in Washington, DC, and thinks about Kendra Rae, who has recently been sighted in New York. Diana secretly wishes Kendra Rae is dead so she can’t see how much Diana has sold out.

Diana receives an emailed article from Imani with the headline, “Longtime Editor in Chief of Wagner Books Donates Hefty Chunk of Change to Diversity Campaign” (278). She detests Richard’s fixation with public opinion and understands that Kendra Rae poses a significant threat to his image. Diana studies a photo of Richard with Hazel, the “Lead Conditioner [they’d] redirected from Cooper’s to Wagner” (278), and thinks about their decades-long affair. Diana resisted when Richard, or “Dick,” paired her with Kendra Rae on Burning Heart to capitalize on the commercial appeal of a Black author/editor duo. Diana believed that audiences would hold the book in higher regard if an influential white editor were involved, but Richard was right that “Black everything is in” (279), and the book was a massive success.

Diana prints a list of women who need “fixing” and considers telling Richard that she wants out. However, Diana is the only connection between Richard, who provides funding, and Imani, who provides the chemical formula for a hair grease that modifies Black women’s behavior.