The phrase “Ain’t no friends here” recurs at numerous intervals. Brown first hears it from her African American History professor Dr. Simms in reference to Abraham Lincoln’s true feelings about racial equality; like most White men of his era, including some of the most fervent abolitionists, Lincoln did not recognize Black Americans as social equals to Whites. To Brown, the phrase is a warning that White Americans—even those who purport to be allies—may betray the movement at any time, should real sacrifices be asked of them.

As the book progresses, the phrase takes on an even darker meaning. What once signified disappointment when White allies fall short comes to signify a large-scale recognition that America is no friend to Black women and men. Brown’s final invocation of the phrase comes in the wake of the Mother Emanuel shooting: “I cried not because I felt sorry for myself but because—in spite of all I had witnessed in the previous year—I still wanted to believe that America had become better than this. Ain’t no friends here” (155).

At the end of the book, Brown addresses her inability to hope for a better future for Black Americans, given everything she sees in her personal life, in the news, and across history.