Thinking about Frenchie, Oluwande and Roach as names... And both the tragedy and the privilege of being mixed/having lighter skin
Out of the three Black men in the Revenge, Oluwande is the only one who has a real name. He's also the only one who has a last name (Boodhari). That, paired with the fact that he seems utterly unused to experiencing racism (his shock at the french person's comment during the party) and the fact that he's the darkest-skinned one out of the three, makes me think that Oluwande probably came from a relatively safe Black community. Maybe a quilombo or maybe he's African and from a tribe that hadn't been torn to shreds before he was born. Either way, Oluwande comes from a place where he's fully human; he has a last name, he has a real name. He knows what it's like to live relatively unaware of how much white people hate him
(Which is then, of course, lost; and because he didn't grow up in that environment, and because he is so dark-skinned, he is the most vulnerable one now, and the one who, in the eyes of white people, needs to be put in his place the most. I want to make it very clear that I'm not trying to imply Oluwande is privileged here; but he is in a unique position as a person of color, especially in that time, and that comparison makes the violence the other two went through even more visible)
Compare that to Roach. Roach as a name is so utterly horrifying, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I talk about him. Which I think is absolutely intentional. It's racism in its purest form, and you have to be uncomfortable about it. You can't talk about Roach without thinking, to some level, about the horrors of racism and colonization
And also... Roach doesn't have a last name
This, of course, tracks down historically - enslaved people were denied their last names. And having no last name while living in the Western world is having no history, no family, no origin. It's being denied community and family and culture and richness. Someone without a last name is alone in Western society. And someone named Roach and only Roach... Well, they're nothing. From the moment Roach was born, as a dark-skinned Black man who definitely came from a colonized environment, he was put in his place as less-than
And then you have Frenchie. Frenchie was named after the people who colonized his people, and that is fucking awful. Especially considering that Frenchie also doesn't have a last name. So no connection to his own history or culture; all that's left is the culture that hates him. Frenchie was born to be assimilated: forget your culture, forget your roots, spend your whole life trying to be like your colonizer
Except, of course, you'll never actually be accepted by them. He's not a Frenchman. He's Frenchie. It's derisive, it's scornful. Forget who you are, but don't forget that you're also not really one of us. Embrace us, but remember, we won't embrace you
(And if you've studied French colonial history - or read Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon - you know that the fact that he's named after France absolutely cannot be a coincidence. That was the modus operandi of French colonialism down to the bone. Give your colonized French status, force them to trade their culture for yours, assimilate them in such a way that they might actually believe they are indeed Frenchmen; but never see their lives as equal or them as real Frenchmen)
So, Frenchie's name is a tragedy and also leaves a horrible taste of colonialism, of culture denial, of assimilationism in my mouth. It reminds me of my own grandfather being taken away from his people and taking years to even find out the name of his tribe; it's horrible, and painful in a way that's hard to even put into words
At the same time, he's not Roach
Because Frenchie is also too light-skinned to be anything that isn't mixed, and so his name doubles - it's about colonialism and assimilationism, yes, but it's also being closer to being acceptable to white society. Frenchie can be a Frenchman, kinda; there is some space for him, if he forever accepts the abuse and violence that comes with not being white in that environment. Roach isn't even offered this choice; his skin is not light enough for him to be human in the colonizer's eyes. He could never be seen as even on the vicinity of French men. To them, he's just a roach
It's a good balance, I think, of tackling the privilege of light skin versus the horrible lack of belonging and the fact that said privilege is born out of violence that's carved on your skin into the bone. A commentary made even better by the presence of Oluwande, reminding us that the best thing to be is neither Roach nor Frenchie - the best thing to be is Oluwande Boodhari, a full person, with a real name, with a family and history and a sense of belonging; and who's not used to being treated as lesser than. And in that, OFMD also reminds us to have solidarity, and to not aim for crumbs of acceptance, but for the whole thing
(In this setting, Oluwande feels almost like a fantasy. Being whole, being unused to violence, having history and pride as a person of color. Which again, is not to say he's privileged, because as the darkest-skinned one he's the biggest target. But there's something... Just amazing about seeing this man be so whole despite that)
And it's really a nice balance of drawing solidarity while also pointing out privilege; having both what makes them similar and what makes them different; pointing out that no violence is better or acceptable; and encouraging that people band together instead of tearing each other apart. Plus commentary on history, racism, and assimilationism. It's really so well done, and it blows my mind that they managed to fit so much commentary into nothing but their names