Appear to Disappear: Blackness, Affect, and the Political Imaginary

This article examines the role of affect in making possible or impossible particular political visions. It uses Johari Idusuyi's 2015 protest at a Donald Trump rally to discuss how individual affects and microaggressions culminate in larger political boundaries that prevent the mass coalescing of Black people and white‐dominated conservative politics. In response to the aggression of the Trump campaign and its supporters, Idusuyi is seen reading Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric. Despite this personal protest, Idusuyi's affective dissent is amplified via its circulation in the media and becomes symbolic of contemporary political incompatibilities. The essay argues that ultimately, Idusuyi's protest challenges racist notions of Black affective life and exposes a foundational incongruency between Blackness and conservative politics.