Alex Neason

And so, you know, you should feel some special connection to this insect.

That just sort of walks itself into the room.

It does.

And I'm like, absolutely not.

That story just plays straight, like directly into...

Like all the old, just the oldest and most boring racist story that's been told about Black people in this country.

I mean, Roach is an old anti-Black slur.

And because of racism, Black people were forced into poor housing conditions and so sometimes had to live in closer proximity to the Roach.

And of course, I knew all that.

But to see that that line of history actually started with a Roach on a slave ship is just like... Wow, that is...

Yeah, it just feels like, it's just like, damn.

I told Cedric Simmons, the exterminator.

And he spoke to this fear of mine.

Like, should I suppress this?

Like, everything winds up in the wrong hands.

And it's like... Oh, those people, they probably already know.

But still, does putting this in my story, like, could it deepen this racist idea?

Like, does it give legitimacy to the idea that some people have that Black people and roaches go together?

We don't have roaches.

Yeah.