Black Shoes by Michael Obiora

Black Shoes

Michael Obiora

Daniel has everything - his own property company, a luxury flat, a top-of-the-range BMW, affable best mate, intelligent, beautiful girlfriend - plus a huge chip on his shoulder. Will he find a way to control his self-destructive behaviour before his loved ones finally give up on him? This is an honest, readable morality tale of a young black professional, torn between traditional Muslim values and seductive western consumerism.

Extract
'Fucking hell, Dan,' said George, 'how did we go from being chatted up by two girls, to talking about racism?'
I massaged my stubble, 'I'm just pissed off that I have to work ten times harder than white people.' My belief in this fact began to tip my emotional scale away from excitement, and a little further towards anger.
'What is this?' George enquired confused. 'You have worked hard, and I'm proud of you.'
The scale plummeted onto anger. 'Fuck off!' I spewed furiously. 'I don't need you to be proud! It must hurt a little bit that a white man like you hasn't done as well as me.'
George scratched his head. 'You know what, bruv? You just sound arrogant now. At school, I don't remember you having a problem with white people. We have been best friends since we were kids, for fuck's sake! This "me against the world" attitude has got to stop.'
Parallels
  • Tourism by Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal
  • Londonstani by Gautam Malkani
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Violence
Explicit sexual content