Summary

The short story “Fatima, the Biloquist: A Transformation Story” by Nafissa Thompson-Spires begins in 1998 when a high school girl named Fatima decides she wants to embrace her black identity. Fatima goes to a mostly white private school and the black people she knows usually tell her she is acting like a white person. 

One day, Fatima is at the shopping mall when she meets Violet, a black girl with albinism. Violet helps Fatima get free samples of makeup and perfumes. The two soon become friends. Violet, too, thinks that Fatima is acting like a white person and decides to start to educate her on how to act and talk like a black person. 

Fatima begins to bond with Violet, who seems to be very self-confident about who she is. One day, Violet asks Fatima if the people at her school are racist. Fatima says she does not know. However, she remembers incidents when she was treated differently by the principal and by her classmates as well. Violet confesses to Fatima that she is self-conscious about her albinism and that she attacked two classmates once for calling her “Patty Mayonnaise”. 

Soon, Fatima realizes that she can bond more with Violet than with her white best friend Emily, who might ...