Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

Content Warning: This section includes discussions of racism, police brutality, rape, and sexual assault.

Kitty, one of the book’s two protagonists, embodies its central themes. Kitty’s journey from North Carolina to LA illustrates the impact of Race and US Structural Racism throughout the US in the 20th century. Racial discrimination was enshrined in the law in the Jim Crow South that Kitty grew up in, but she discovers that even without legal segregation, US structural racism still shapes society in California. Kitty realizes this shortly after her arrival, as Emma tells her, “It’s not the law, but they don’t hide their feelings. The pools, beaches—except for the sliver in Santa Monica—Negroes aren’t welcome” (160). White Hollywood elites like Nathan Tate and Henry Polk pride themselves on being better than their more overtly racist Southern counterparts, but Kitty discovers that Black people in California encounter racism in many similar forms. The ultimate testament to Kitty’s experiences with structural racism is the fact that she lives her entire adult life as a white woman. The decision to pass causes Kitty pain but also brings her relief: “Within her grief was a degree of relief. […] being Negro was akin to being a jack-in-the-box.