Personal Narrative: The White Men

The worker contacted Misty Black who is a friend of Brittany Hardin. Mrs. Black stated “Brittany was in a situation where her ex (well she told me they were already broken up at the time) had assaulted her. Brittany had called me after Ronita Grady had hit her so I immediately called the police and made my way to Brittany. When I arrived the OCPD were already there speaking to Brittany. The officers also spoke to me and I told him I was the one who called them. After the police left Brittany and the boys stayed with me for a couple days because Brittany was still shaken up. The boys all seemed okay, I don’t think they really knew what had just happened. Brittany thanked me for helping her, because at the time we weren’t really speaking to

The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man depicts the narrator as a liminal character. Beginning with an oblivious knowledge of race as a child, and which racial group he belonged, to his well knowing of “white” and “black” and the ability to pass as both. On the account of liminality, the narrator is presenting himself as an outsider. Because he is both a “white” and “black” male, he does not fit in with either racial group. In the autobiography of an Ex-colored man, James Weldon Johnson uses double consciousness to show the narrators stance as a person that gives up his birthright for the “privilege of whiteness”.

The culture I was exposed to as a child was marked by Sundays in church, home cooked southern food, and at least one TV in the house always playing Fox News, droning on and on about the state of our nation.

Slavery was abolished after the Civil War, but the Negro race still was not accepted as equals into American society. To attain a better understanding of the events and struggles faced during this period, one must take a look at its' literature. James Weldon Johnson does an excellent job of vividly depicting an accurate portrait of the adversities faced before the Civil Rights Movement by the black community in his novel “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.” One does not only read this book, but instead one takes a journey alongside a burdened mulatto man as he struggles to claim one race as his own.

Identity communicates a strong characteristic that cannot naturally be expressed in terms of a social category. Social and personal identity enable the formation of an individual, reflecting the idea that social categories are assured with the bases of an individual’s self esteem. “Race and racial identity are identifiable as a social constriction culture” (Little and McGivern, 328). However, issuing social categories based on race or ethnicity links to biased regulations and practices. Johnson’s novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, examines ways racial identity is socially constructed through the segregation of Jim Crow Laws, the act of "passing off” another race, and through practices of lynching. The Autobiography of an Ex Colored Man explores the way racial identity is socially constructed within legally sanctioned forms of racism and discrimination.

When we talk about education we focus on those topics that have become near and dear to the hearts of this country: math, science, and whether or not art programs are funded. It's all anyone ever talks about, the calculators and the paintbrushes. But a part of the american education system that does not receive nearly enough emphasis is the social studies and history department. It's almost a null topic for everyone: the kids just need to learn this so they can understand how things work. But no one ever looks closely enough at the material because it is boring. And I agree, white male history is boring. An endless parade of Jean, Jon, and John inventing that new thing and changing the world? Count me out. But in this new era of true multiculturalism I have discovered just how vibrant history can be. School curriculums focus on an endless cycle of white men and then throw in a few white women (suffragettes), one - or two if its an AP class - black men (MLK and Malcolm X), and two black women (Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks). But those names are probably about .001% of what is discussed in a basic level history course. I'm lucky come from a school district that implemented an ‘ancient cultures’ section of the curriculum where we went over some

I grew up here in the U.S.A and my parents from the U.S also. I live in an ethnically diverse community that the residents show a deeper understanding of their ancestry’s culture. The term of senses that I witness is sight and audio. Since on the daily basis I hear, people speak other languages such as Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, French, and Japanese. In the term of sight, I see who are from Asian background bow to each, African American nod at each other when walking pass, and people just slight smiling at each other. From my culture since I am African American we really do not that many of greeting each other. We would slight nod or smile and make eye contact or for the males who do a doing the handshake and shoulder bump maneuver.

In my own experience, race has never been an issue and hasn’t restricted me in any areas. Being white, however, I may have unknowingly reaped benefits. Due to this, it is sometimes hard to wrap my mind around the obstacles other people run into based on their race. My stance on race has not evolved much from age four to seventeen. However, with information obtained through social media and in-school discussions on the topic, I have come to better understand the views of others on racial issues.

With my recent launch of the Black Men Lead Initiative, it may easy for some to postulate that I have it all together as a black man. It might be part of a natural and logical progression to establish the belief that I have excelled in the area of being a strong, engaged and infallible black man. However, your speculations and assumptions would be inaccurate. Although I consider myself to be the quintessential black man, I am far from perfect. I have failed on many occasions, by the world’s standard of failure.

My name is Stephen. Today was some heck of a day. There are now African American male soldiers that are allowed to enlist in the war, and quite frankly, I'm not that surprised. I'm sure that sooner or later African American men and women will get the same respect as the white folks like me, we just gotta pray for better times. The other day I overheard some other soldiers say that the African Americans in the camps a few miles south of us were pretty rough, they weren't getting stuff that we were getting. I felt bad when I heard the news, I can't stand- never mind. Anyways, I have been in the camp for a while now, and I ain't gonna lie, it's been hard. We barely spend any time fighting in combat, were always in that dang camp. We don’t have

The narrator of The Autobiography grows up his whole life thinking that he is white. It is not until one fateful day in school where a teacher indirectly tells him that he is black that he finds out. This revelation, which he himself describes as “a sword-thrust” (Johnson 13), suggests a transformation, a great change, a development in the Ex-Colored Man’s racial consciousness in the future. However, as M. Giulia Fabi says, “[The ECM’s] proclaimed loyalty to his ‘mother’s people’ is continuously undercut by his admiration for and identification with mainstream white America” (375). She also indicates how when contrasted with previous passers, “the Ex-Colored Man’s oft-noted cowardice,

One morning, I was waking up and brushing my teeth and doing my hair. Awhile later, I wore my taekwondo clothing and ate breakfast, I tied my belt on myself. Then, It was time for me to go to the tournament, I was super ready to win my gold medal. I arrived at the tournament stadium, I walked inside, all I hear were audiences chearing on the students competing. I just sat next to my friends and just waited for the judges to call me up. Later on, the judges called out loudly, "Kevin Trinh please go on the mat". I walked on the mat and noticed right away, I was going against a white belt, so the judges told us to begin and we did our forms. It was a pretty easy win. The room was quiet because they were watching a green belt versing a white belt.

I went forward, and ordered the chain to be hauled in short, so as to be ready to trip the anchor and move the steamboat at once if necessary. ‘Will they attack?’ whispered an awed voice. ‘We will be all butchered in this fog,’ murmured another. The faces twitched with the strain, the hands trembled slightly, the eyes forgot to wink.

The weekend of August 15, 2015 was life changing. I was very excited to start my sophomore year and Cross Country season because our team had just ended an amazing year, making it to State. This weekend was the last one before my sister left for her Freshman year of college. It was also my family’s last camping trip of the season. We picked a campground that was close by because I had practice on Saturday morning that I refused to miss.

Getting arrested for not giving up my “colored” seat to a white man. This was an absolute outrage for many people like me. I was on my way home to work when I climbed in the bus for a ride. I sat in a colored seat specially made for colored people. The bus was fairly packed, so there weren't very many seats available. Then, a white man gets in the bus in need of a white seat. Because I was sitting near the white seats, the bus driver thought I should be the one to give up my seat.