In his book Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of racism Derick Bell has a collection of short stories with The Space Traders being the last chapter. This story is a fiction story about aliens that came to the United States with a proposition: Golds that can solve the economic crisis and the elimination of its ecological footprint in exchange of its African population. This story follows the steps the government takes to reach a decision.
This was a great story that I enjoyed reading and watching, I love fictions and even though the scenario is something that is not likely to happen, it reminded me of real life scenarios and people.
I like how they give us a detailed explanation of the character Golightly. An educated black person inside the circle of those who make decisions. How he got there his motives and methods. I sometimes wonder about what's going on in real life Golightlys heads and even when I still don't understand a 100% it gaves me the confort of giving them the benefit of the doubt that they may have good ententions toward the black community.
I also like that the end of the story adressed something that I was thinking while I was reading it: it didn't mater if the blacks went with the space traders or not life wouldn't have been the same for them after decision day.
In conclusion The Space Traders was a brilliant story that was able to use fiction to make the reader think about racism in the United States, bringing the debate of critical race theory and how black rights are shaped around whites benefits.
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