As we stumble off into neon nights

ABSTRACT

A ghost story evokes the history of black churches in the American south, culminating in a discussion of the murder of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on 17 June 2015. Less than a month later, on the anniversary of American Independence, the Guardian published an article by author M.O. Walsh entitled ‘Why Southern Gothic Rules the World’, touting the familiar myths of authenticity and authority the genre is rooted in. This is a work of creative non-fiction placing personal memoir alongside a consideration of the Southern Gothic in popular culture. The work borrows its title from the poem ‘Safe Subjects’ by Yusef Komunyakaa, echoing the poet’s call for a confrontation of the horror and terror of being black in America.

KEYWORDS:

• Southern gothic
• creative non-fiction
• memoir
• Yusef Komunyakaa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Jodie Kim received her doctorate in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester. She currently lives in London and is working on her first novel.

Notes

1 A statement from the Africana Studies & Research Center at Cornell University explains the significance of Mother Emanuel:

The Emanuel AME church has a stellar history of resistance and spiritual nurturing that began with its founding in 1816 by enslaved and free blacks and, together with other such places of worship in the country, became a beacon of inspiration to African Americans in their calls for justice, equality, and moral reckoning for generations. This history in which resistance to injustice and the nurturing of the faithful are inextricably intertwined helps to explain why the church’s faithful refer to it as Mother Emanuel. We are saddened and enraged that the faithful were killed after extending hospitality to a stranger in this most sacred and historically important place of black leadership in the United States.

2 Charleston is nicknamed the Holy City, in part because of the prevalence of churches in its skyline.