All of these people support and protect him from the wrath of his angry sports agent and the Freedom State government. Keita also befriends a young black aspiring documentarian, a street-smart journalist, and a black female police officer. He is helped along the way by the “Queen of AfricTown,” Lula Distefano, and housed by Ivernia Beech, an elderly white woman who is ashamed of her country’s treatment of black people. Keita successfully remains in hiding while training for the upcoming Buttersby Marathon. This novel draws direct comparisons to the contemporary political scene in several countries, including the United States, Canada, and Western European nations. By illustrating the dangerous and corrupt conditions in Zantoroland, the novel contextualizes why people risk their lives and potential deportation to escape to Freedom State. Those deported continued to return to Freedom State, living in open hiding in AfricTown. It used skin color to determine who could remain in Freedom State as citizens. When Freedom State abolished slavery, it deported the slaves and their offspring to Zantoroland. In Hill’s imagining, Freedom State relied on slavery for centuries to build its wealth and status as the third-richest nation in the world. AfricTown and Zantoroland are not so different from each other, and their shared fictional history becomes significant to the plot. Keita interacts with members of Freedom State government, as well as inhabitants of the ghettoized AfricTown. He becomes the central character around which the others orbit. In Freedom State, Keita gains notoriety for his running. Once there, he sneaks away from Hamm and goes into hiding, entering races under the name Roger Bannister.
However, the big money races are in Freedom State, where Keita is considered an “illegal.” He joins up with a corrupt sports agent named Anton Hamm to obtain passage to Freedom State. Keita’s only hope to secure her release is to win enough races to earn her ransom in prize money. Keita’s mother and father have already died, and the government is holding his sister on ransom. Their home country, Zantoroland, was taken over by a cruel dictator. The main character, Keita Ali, runs marathons to try to save his sister’s life and his own. The Illegal is set in a fictional country called Freedom State.
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