I write to unread what has been written about me in error and with malice. I write against the expectation that black characters jump through a cathartic dog-and-pony show of enlightenment, thus being impressed into service as the nation’s moral consciousness by exemplifying unrequited Christian ideals of forgiveness and reassuring audiences of America’s eternal benevolence. I write against the Horatio Alger myth, against the fallacious paradigm that accuses the poor of being lazy, and against the strained optimism of the slave narrative. I write for those of us who did not—or cannot—get away.