McDougald was participating in the torment of her own race and she did it with selfish reasons. Why should lower class women be the subject of harsh treatment because they are worse off than others? The women in that group have enough problems just providing for their
Angry whites in the South during this period of time would go to any measure to satisfy their hate for an individual of a different race. Rosaleen really changes during this trial; she becomes bitter towards whites, even towards Lily, whom she is close to. Continuing on page 52 Rosaleen learns about the black Madonna. “If Jesus’ mother is black, how come we only know about the white Mary?” The quote is what Rosaleen was thinking when she saw the picture Lily had found in her mother’s items. This is not just a picture of a black version of Mary; it is a picture of the African American’s gaining their rightful freedoms in 1964.
Indeed, everyone in Maycomb County, whether they are black or white, is affected by racism, and sometimes all it takes to see it is a child. Calpurnia, the black maid in the Finch residence, has been greatly affected by racism. She must speak differently around white people than she does with black people because “It’s not necessary to tell all you know. It’s not ladylike…” (Lee, 126). White people have a greater education than black people, so Calpurnia must speak more distinctly while she works for the Finches.
In the Cornel West article "Nihilism in Black America" he argues that the dilemma of African Americans is nihilism. This is somewhat parallel to W.E.B Dubois's Talented Tenth speech in 1903. Nihilism, according to West, is the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and lovelessness. African Americans are threatened by the lack of hope and the “absence of meaning” in their lives. Dubois's philosophy not only shows nihilism in the black race during this era but it also shows the same lack of progression in the black community in 2011.
In this novel, racism towards black people is very present. Even if slavery had been abolished at that time, black people were still inferior to the white population. For instance, to identify coloured men, they called them “niggers”, which was even allowed in a court room while giving a statement (247). This observation clearly demonstrates how little respect white folks had for blacks. The name “nigger” was used commonly as if it had no pejorative signification.
Due to the daily humiliation faced by the ‘black man’ from the white people, the black men turned their frustration towards their women by beating them. The men are also sexually violent towards their women, as a result of their sexual desire or to make them feel more superior/dominant. The way the female characters react to their circumstances varies radically as there are a lot of ‘strong females’, unlike Celie. Walker explores the oppression that the black women experienced and uses Celie as an instrument to illustrate this. Throughout the majority of the book Walker shows sex to be seen as a form of aggression or something that the female is forced to submit to.
They are using stereotypes to classify each other. Racism is another relevant term and theme from throughout the film. Racism is defined as the belief that some races are inherently superior to others and therefore have a right to dominate, generalize and taunt them.’ (dictionary.reference.com). There are many different examples of racism used throughout the the film, one example being the way Gary’s mum acts towards Julius, she does not even acknowledge him, let a lone talk to him or shake his hand, because he is black. Discrimination is defined as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things especially on the grounds of race, age and sex
Racism is a means to an end, as oppressors employ racist measures in order to achieve power over another group. Wright shows numerous times throughout the novel that racism breeds irrational actions, and points out many times when Southern whites abuse blacks for no reason other than to vent their own frustration. This abuse and subordination of blacks also serves an economic function for the whites, as the blacks are the basic laborers who almost single-handedly support the white economy, for meager pay. Whites abuse blacks in order to keep them in a position where their service would empower
The Erasure Of Black Women's Experiences As Victims Of State Violence Is Unacceptable I recently read an unfortunate and to be honest, rather dangerous article on The Root titled Michael Brown’s Death Reopened My Eyes to My Privileges As A Black Woman, written by Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele. In this article, she suggests that Black women have “privilege” over Black men because Black men experience police brutality. The article is incredibly dangerous because it engages in: epistemic violence by the blatant misuse of the word “privilege” (and “ally”) in terms of violence experienced, erasure of the actual truth of police brutality and extrajudicial execution/State violence on Black women (and then for the purposes of heterosexist sentimentality as “allyship,” which is an inaccurate, limited and rather gross interpretation of intraracial structural power), and a misapplication of her personal lack of fear of “ruffling feathers” with the belief that Black women have the “privilege” of doing so in every instance and Black men do not, because of the latter being perceived as threats due to anti-Blackness and White supremacy.
White people believed they were superior to the blacks and barely viewed them as human beings. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee writes accurate descriptions of how racism was ingrained in the daily lives of Americans such as Aunt Alexandra whose response to Scout as to why she cannot play with a black boy is "Because- he – is – trash, that’s why you can’t play with him". Alexandra is not giving Scout a real reason why because she has no reason other than she grew up with society telling her black and white children could not play together and was brainwashed into believing it. Another situation that shows the shocking segregation is when Cecil Jacobs asked a question about why the Jewish were persecuted in class "But that ain’t no cause to persecute ‘em. They’re white aren’t they?"