One could describe him as a man who hated his own race because like whites he saw them as being incapable of bringing about change or gaining the respect of White Americans. Moreover, in his eyes blacks are the reason that no changes occurred after the war, which is the leading factor to his internalized racism towards them. In addition to Sergeant Waters’s attitude towards the black military his death also depicts blacks versus blacks. The death of Waters shows that not only did he hate those of his kind but that they hated him as well because of his ill treatment of them. The film offers increased racial tension among blacks themselves by allowing the murder to be committed by, Peterson, who is a black soldier.
Starting positions are very limited, so that is why the African Americans and whites fight over them. To make an African American player look bad, the white football players wouldn’t block for the African American during practice. The white people just wanted to make the African Americans look bad. All the white football players cared about was to make sure that all the starting positions were filled with their own race. It caused many conflicts between the players, not only during practice but during games.
He did not believe black people could remain in a white man’s world and be successful. He had now made for himself a name all over the world as a leader, and he was black. He felt accomplished but he had been set up for failure from those among his own followers. He was fighting for a Negro nation in Africa and did not agree with the mixing of the races. He said it took away the purity.
There are also many other important issues and problems brought up in the book that were linked directly to the real life social problems in rural California which Steinbeck brings to life in a variety of techniques and language styles. The first and most obvious issue involved with inequality is racism, because crooks is black, he is looked upon in a typical and prejudice way, which was normal and socially acceptable in the 1930’s. His views and opinions are seen as worthless, “Why its just a nigger saying it.” Crooks is socially outcast in the ranch, he lives and sleeps alone, no-body had ever entered his room or decided to discuss things with him until the conversation he has with Lennie. I think it is ironic in the way that crooks dismisses Lennie as being the same as all the other white men, “You got no right to be in my room, Nobody got any right in here but me.” Considering Lennie to be racist is being racist himself. I also think it is very ironic that the most unintelligent person on the ranch is the only one who ignores the very unintelligent social hierarchy of racism, which the other supposedly better educated workers take part in.
Grampa does not like black folks. They go to the court house every day to do a little business and Hiram sits out side with a pop and or candy. Grampa is actually involved with the WCC where he believes that “Black people should know their place and that is underneath white folk.”(126) Grampa ends up having a stroke and is in a wheel chair which is very different for Hiram. Dad finally lets Hiram return to Mississippi for the summer but worries about how things will go. Grampa loans out his blue ford pickup often to different folks.
In Lowndes, African Americans attended separate and unequal schools, lived in homes that were more like hovels, and were forced to work as underpaid and overworked domestics and laborers. In Lowndes, African Americans were completely shut out of the political process; “there were five thousand African Americans of voting age in the overwhelmingly black rural county, but not a single one was registered.”(Jeffries, pg 1) Jeffries main argument throughout the book is that winning the battle for racial equality in Lowndes County, and other towns like Lowndes, is what lead to the black masses winning the war for civil rights. “Their bold bid to take over local government transformed Lowndes County from an unheard bastion of white supremacy to the center of southern black militancy.” (Jeffries, pg 1) Jeffries argues his thesis by focusing on three important areas where the black masses took control; grassroots organization, education, and independent black
Jefferson’s attorney was the reason that Jefferson lost his self-respect. Jefferson’s attorney is a symbol of racism. Defending Jefferson as a “hog” because he sees him as one, he assumes he is guilty because of his race, no second thoughts, and even though the lawyer is assigned as an attorney to help him, he doesn’t care about Jefferson either way. Whites saw African Americans as unintelligent, so the attorney defends Jefferson the way the whites see him. An example would be when the lawyer says, “He does not even know the size of his clothes or his shoes”, another example of the attorney seeing Jefferson as unintelligent was when he stated “Ask him to quote one passage from the constitution or Bill of Rights.” When the lawyer says, “What you see here is a thing that acts on command.” Shows that the lawyer doesn’t show any sign of respect he has for Jefferson what so ever.
Crooks attempts to make Lennie realize his isolation from the other workers, he freely admits it. Crooks like so many other black people had to live in their own isolation for years and were not allowed to associate with white people. When Lennie begins to talk to Crooks, Crooks finds that Lennie doesn't see him as a coloured person but as just another worker on the
He pointed out why one riot started as a result of a white store owner servicing blacks, yet refuse to keep blacks in key positions and not employing enough of them. Roosevelt, Frankln, D., Letter to the Nation's Clergy. FDR Library, President's Personal File. September 24, 1935, Entry 21, box 1 President F.D.Roosevelt wanted to ensure the success of the Social Security Administration by writing a national letter to all clergy,asking for their input, so that he maybe able to address the issues within each community. Although the African American community seemed to have been a special case, there has not been anything hihglighting the special needs of the black community.
Black servicemen, sobered by the experience of fighting in a racially segregated military, returned from overseas to find that few civil rights gains had been made on the home front. “Though I have found no Negroes who want to see the United Nations lose this war,” said the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, A. Philip Randolph, “I have found many who want to see the stuffing knocked out of white supremacy. ... American Negroes ... are confronted not only with a choice but with the challenge both to win democracy for ourselves at home and to help win the war for democracy the world over.” And while much of America began to enjoy newfound prosperity, many blacks now faced new displacements and upheavals, from pervasive employment discrimination to poor educational opportunities to increased racial conflict as the country struggled toward greater