The Appropriation of Cultures by Percival Everett

In Everett's short story "The Appropriation of Cultures", a black man named Daniel decides to reclaim a symbol of his oppression, the Confederate flag.  Everett characterizes Daniel as a simple man who is musically inclined and executes a silent but brave protest.

I really appreciated the subtlety in the text.  For example:  "Daniel heard the quality of the exchange between Travis and Barb, but not the words. He did hear Barb say, as Travis pulled open the door, "I couldn't tell over the phone?"

In this excerpt from the text, Everett does a great job at showing what the atmosphere is like at the time Daniel goes to look at the truck.  We don't see Everett describing the white man as downright surprised that Daniel is a man of color; instead, we see this silent reaction, an elephant in the room.  "I couldn't tell over the phone?"

I think Everett's writing stands out by the way he describes Daniel hearing "the quality of the exchange between Travis and Barb".  Through this piece of information, we understand that they are both surprised and there is obvious racism going on, especially when we learn that the truck has a Confederate flag on it.

Again, we see the subtlety of racism in the text a bit further:  "Barb got out of the car and walked up to the porch with Travis.  She gave the house a careful look."  When the couple selling the truck arrives at Daniel's house, Everett uses an interesting sentence to describe Barb's reaction -- she give gives the house "a careful look".  We can get a sense of the type of people Barb and her husband are based off of these tiny nuances.