Such opti­mism, black opti­mism, is bound up with what it is to claim bla­ck­ness and the appo­si­tio­nal, run­away, pho­nop­tic black ope­ra­tions-expres­sive of an auto­poe­tic orga­ni­za­tion in which flight and inha­bi­ta­tion modi­fy each other-that have been thrust upon it. The bur­den of this para­doxi­cal­ly alea­to­ry goal is our his­to­ri­ci­ty, ani­ma­ting the rea­li­ty of escape in and the pos­si­bi­li­ty of escape from.