Racism In The Illegal

The Illegal, a book of racism written by Lawrence Hill is a national bestseller. This book is about people struggling to survive in a fictional country known as “Freedom State” that wants them deported back to their country known as Zantoroland. By analysing The Illegal from a post-colonial lens, it is clear that the characters, Keita Ali, Charity Ali, Yvette Peters, Hassane Moustafa Ali suffer oppression, discrimination and hardship caused by racism.

The book starts with Keita Ali receiving racial insults from one of his contestants while running “Go. Fucking. Home.” (The Illegal 1). Keita Ali, the main protagonist in the novel is a marathon runner who was born and raised in Zantoroland and later escaped to freedom state because of his government racially discriminating and oppressing the “Faloo” ethnic people in which he belonged. He was persecuted for the radical political views of his father and learned that for his survival he had to flee to Freedom state. Keita lost his mother to a heart attack at a young age, his father was assassinated by the government and this same government has taken his sister captive and are now demanding money from Keita in order to set her free. Keita is now running not only for his life but also for his sister's life. He hopes to win enough races while hiding from the police in Freedom State to pay for his sisters release in Zantoroland where she is held captive. Keita faces discrimination and oppression caused by racism from his country because he belonged to a particular ethnic group and he also faces discrimination and oppression from the government party in Freedom State who is deporting anyone from Zantoroland that cannot provide a citizenship document, all this causes hardship in Keitas life making him move from one place to another running from his oppressors. By this above, it is clear that the oppression, discrimination and hardship experienced by Keita Ali is all as a result of racism from his oppressors who are from Zantoroland and Freedom State.

Keita’s older sister, Charity Ali, faced oppression and hardship from the Zantoroland government because she belonged to the “Faloo” ethnic group. Charity is a bookworm who acquired the cognitive skill of her father and because of this she was able to gain multiple scholarships to study abroad in Freedom state. While studying abroad, she got an email from someone who impersonated her father a “Faloo” saying there was an emergency and he needed her immediately. She used up her savings and flew to Zantoroland but was arrested at the airport and has been detained for weeks. Charity lost her mother to a heart attack at a young age because of the Zantoroland government and she also lost her father to the government that has now abducted her and demands a ransom for her release to Keita. All the oppression and hardship that charity faces in her life is due to racism because the Zantoroland government is oppressing and discriminating against her since she belongs to the ethnicity of the 'Faloo'. By all this, it should be clear that Charity Ali's injustice, prejudice and suffering is all due to racism on the part of her oppressors from Zantoroland. Keita runs from city to city to save his life and his sisters life by getting enough money to pay for his sister’s release and winning enough marathon races in Africtown where he hides from the Freedom state police.

Yvette Peters, a sixteen-year-old black young girl, is a sex worker. At a very young age, she became a sex worker and worked at the bombay booty owned and controlled by a notorious black woman known as Lula Di Stefano in Africtown, Freedom State's city for refugees. She would lie with men (sometimes important men who were in charge of deporting refugees) and sometimes steal important information from them. She gives this information to Lula and sometimes gets a reward in return. This is how she lived as a teenager. Yvette ran out of luck when one of her customers caught her searching his stuff and because of this she was deported back to Zantoroland by immigration officers (who would sometimes come to seek pleasure at the bombay booty) where she was killed. Her deportation was aided by Lula Di Stefano. Yvette lost her life because she was a sex worker which was due to the fact that it would be impossible for an illegal as she was to get a proper job in freedom state. She faced hardships before losing her life as she ran away from her mother and her father was not with her. Yvette faced oppression, discrimination and hardship because she was black and an illegal in Freedom state. It is evident from the above analysis that the hardship, discrimination and humiliation of Yvette Peter’s is all due to racism on the part of Freedom state and Zantoroland's oppressors.

Hassane Moustafa Ali suffered oppression, discrimination and hardship from the Zantoroland government because he is journalist

In conclusion, when The Illegal is analysed from a post-colonial lens, it becomes clear that the characters, Keita Ali, Charity Ali, Yvette Peters, Hassane Moustafa Ali all suffer oppression, discrimination and hardship from the Zantoroland’s government and from the government of Freedom state as a result of racism. Keita Ali suffered discrimination, oppression and hardship from Zantoroland’s government because he belonged to the “Faloo” ethnic group, he also suffered discrimination, oppression and hardship from Freedom State’s government because he was black and was in their counrtry illegally. Hassane Moustafa Ali, Keita’s father, lost his wife, was oppressed and assassinated by Zantoroland’s government because he belonged to the “Faloo” ethnic group. Yvette peters became a sex worker at a very young age because getting a proper job would be impossible as an illegal in Freedom state, This led to her assassination by the Zantoroland and Freedom state governments. Charity Ali, Keita’s sister was kidnapped by the Zantoroland’s government and was held captive until Keita could pay the ransom that they requested for his sister’s release all because she belonged to the “Faloo” ethnic group since her father also belonged to the “Faloo” ethnic group.

In The Illegal, Hill takes on the snarled, pressing issues of our moment in time, including race and discrimination, the movement of refugees across borders and the political fight to define who belongs and who is 'an illegal.' (Carrie 2018, 2).

The Illegal is a heart pricking book that makes you think about the refugees of our time.

Works Cited

Primary sources:

Lawrence Hill The Illegal. 2015

Secondary sources:

Windsor. “The Illegal by Lawrence Hill”, Quill and Quire, St. Joseph Media.

https://quillandquire.com/review/the-illegal/

Carrie Snyder. “The Illegal by Lawrence Hill”, The Globe And Media.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-lawrence-hills-the-illegal-is-a-twisting-intricately-woven-yarn/article26226801/

Ann Walmsley. “The Illegal by Lawrence Hill”, Review canada.

http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2016/01/run-keita-run/

Betsy Kepes. “The Illegal by Lawrence Hill”, North Country Public Radio.

https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/31008/20160216/book-review-the-illegal-by-lawrence-hill

Monica Ali. “The Illegal by Lawrence Hill”, The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/books/review/the-illegal-by-lawrence-hill.html