How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

It’s the Day of Good Birds—a local holiday celebrated in Um-Helat, “a city where numberless aspirations can be fulfilled” and where “there is no hunger” or homelessness (1-2). On this day, children flap about and wear wings of varying materials constructed for them by either “parents or kind old aunties” (1). Some adults participate too, though their wings are sometimes “invisible” (2). Whether to fly or remain wingless is one of personal choice, and all choices are equally “honored” (2). In general, all possible careers in the town are highly regarded, but on the Day of Good Birds, farmers are especially celebrated. Those wearing wings “parade” through the city while those on the outskirts dance, cook, and make music (3).

A pervasive “joy” marks Um-Helat, which houses a citizenry who enjoy “long […] rich” lives (4). The citizens believe a city should do more than “generate revenue”; it should instead aim to “care for” all of its citizens (4-5). The city is composed of several races and has learned to celebrate rather than merely tolerate difference. The narrator compares Um-Helat to “barbaric America” where tolerance is touted as a virtue rather than condemned as a mask for racism, assuring listeners, who are always referred to as “friends,” that Um-Helat is nothing like America (5). The narrator implies that listeners might be “offended” now that America has been called inferior, and because Um-Helat proves many of American vices are not necessary for happiness or success (6).

The narrator assures those listening that Um-Helat has not always been so pleasant of a place, and there are still some indicators that war once took place there. Additionally, one of Um-Helat’s citizens recently had to be killed because he found a way to communicate with Earth—an exchange forbidden out of fear that some “knowledge is dangerous” and that Earth’s inequality will contaminate Um-Helat (7). The citizen's daughter became full of rage and sadness at his death, though the social workers who killed him for the benefit of society try to help her accept their reasoning. The narrator entreats the reader to join the Um-Helatians in their effort to thrive on empathy and to accept that “utopia” is possible (12).