Southern View of Religion in Lillian Smith’s Killers of the Dream
“Our first lesson about God made the deepest impression on us. We were told that He loved us, and then we were told that He would burn us in everlasting flames of hell if we displeased Him. We were told we should love Him for He gives us everything good that we have, and then we were told that we should fear Him because He has the power to do evil to us whenever He cares to. We learned from this part of the lesson another: that “people,” like God and parents, can love you and hate you at the same time; and though they may love you, if you displease them they may do you great injury; hence being loved by them does not give you protection from being harmed by them. We
…show more content…
The Negroes are expected to be grateful to the whites for “everything good that we have,” as satirized by Smith in her parable of Mr. Black Man knocking on Mr. Rich White Man’s back door and coming away with a trifling handout. At the same time, the whites are free to do evil to the blacks “whenever they care to,” as Smith later illustrates with the statistics of lynch mob convictions (approximately 300 individual convictions for over 3,000 incidents.) This sense of careless power is a prevalent theme throughout the book.
Smith also parallels another black-and-white societal phenomenon with this passage. She writes, “We learned from this part of the lesson another: that “people,” like God and parents, can love you and hate you at the same time; and though they may love you, if you displease them they may do you great injury; hence being loved by them does not give you protection from being harmed by them.” Smith’s use of “people” in hyphens not only references a more human (not humane) view of God, but could also be used to suggest that rarely do the “people” of the South act as humans when it comes to race relations. Despite the fact that a child’s first real love relationship is often with his black Mammy, society later teaches him to trivialize this relationship. In the chapter “Three Ghost Stories,” Smith illustrates that white Southerners tend to love black
“I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’ that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible ‘devil’”.
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin has a chapter dedicated to white trash, I did not buy the book yet, which addressed the differences between the north and south, how the slaves, free black people, and whites viewed them, and how many looked down on black people because they wanted someone lower than them (Stowe, 1854).” “T. Wise asked what stereotype is working against me as a white person (Mann, 2013).”
He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.
Have you ever wondered how far back in our history the world has been full of hate, prejudice, and rage? It has been seen in the form of war, mass genocide, enslavement, and even something minimal compared to the others, like riots and looting for centuries. Despite this common knowledge, there are many forms of violence, injustice, and rage that go unseen. Carol Anderson’s, White Rage, dives deep into the idea that maybe the worst forms of rage do not come from the most obvious and attention-capturing events, but the ones who stay hidden and subside deep in their privileged and ‘noble’ positions. She wants to show you, through the eyes of a minority, what it is like to constantly be looked past and looked down upon. Anderson argues the fact that no matter how many laws and regulations are put into place to cease the existence of racism, the rage in America continues to thwart African American advancement. Through precisely compelling choice of words and a structural design that pulls everything apart only to piece it back together to form a much larger picture, Anderson brings rage, the white rage, into a new and different light. This shows readers the depth of the racial problems in our country through a recap of groundbreaking historical events, advancing or obstructing African Americans, along with the white backlash.
First, ask yourself how would you feel after hearing the news that one of your family members had been lynched? Throughout the chapters 1-8, we can experience and observe the disheartening history of violence and lies. It is additionally an irritating depiction of a partitioned country on the very edge of the social equality development and an eerie contemplation on race, history, and the battle for truth. Throughout history, the conditions of the lynching, how it affected the legislators of the day, quickened the social equality development and keeps on shadowing the Georgia people group where these homicides occurred. During the 1900s until 19600s various African-Americans experienced various harsh conditions of violence, never being granted the right to vote and being segregated from whites based on their race and skin-color from their white masters. In general racism between whites and blacks can be seen throughout the globe during the era of slavery
. . but specifics [to him] didn’t matter because the victims were now symbols of injustice: a NAACP cause” (78). Especially given the long-past, over-60-years-old nature of the lynching, Wexler’s goal, and therefore also her writing, must more profound, and compelling, than this, and therefore she, unlike White, is interested in the specifics: “Roger and Dorothy Malcolm, and George and Mae Murray [the lynching victims] . . . I have tried to bring them to life” (266). Wexler succeeds in that, rather than merely mentioning these victims in the context of the lynching, she includes detailed biographies of each, as well as of their relations, and describes their actions long before and immediately leading up to the lynching, in an attempt to give the reader a better understanding of and greater empathy for them.
In Fredrick Douglas’s essay on the convict lease system, he purposely does not use words like “racism,” nor does he outright blame the whites for the situation. Instead, he uses gentle language to state the injustices done, allowing the reader to guilt himself. He says that white people have “done little to prevent the Negro becoming a criminal” (Douglas 1), condemning their inaction, rather than their actions. Douglas talks about injustices such as exclusion from churches and schools, as well as unfair trials, but does not talk about the convict lease system’s “legal” slavery because he wants the reader to come to the realization of his guilt on his own. He avoids talking about unwarranted lynchings and unfair incarceration in order to draw attention to the metaphorical “elephant in the room”. The more he avoids talking about it, the more the reader thinks about its blatant absence and about their actions, subtly making the reader feel guilty for actions done in the past.
The discriminating social stratification in 1950’s developed a set of servile behavior on the blacks. They were thought to be inferior to whites, and were treated accordingly. Moreover, different parts of the country had various ranges of sensitivities while dealing with the blacks. For example, in Mississippi things were particularly tense after the Parker lynch case. No black man would dare look into any white man’s eyes in fear of the repercussions. On the bus, a man warned Griffin to watch himself closely until he caught onto Mississippi’s ways. In an extreme case like this, it was vital to learn about their roles and behave accordingly.
The woman who raised and loved him did not know him any longer. This is one of many instances that illustrates the white society’s “lack of mercy and compassion” (22). Malcolm X blames whites for robbing his mother’s dignity, for separating his siblings, and for “disintegrating” his home and unity. Therefore, Malcolm X states he has no compassion for “a white society that will crush people” (22). The word “crushed” imparts the same horror he feels on the audience to illuminate the extremity of racism so that the audience can sympathize with his reasoned anger. Being called the ‘n-word’ in his life is another factor in Malcolm X’s belief that white society is demeaning to blacks. When Malcolm X told his English teacher that he wanted to be a lawyer, she replied, “That’s no realistic goal for a n-word” (118). The teacher’s statement is a clear portrayal of the widely accepted sentiment in that time period that African Americans are too incompetent to have good jobs and have ambitions. As a result, this incident deeply affected Malcolm X and has contributed to his disapproval of blacks being servile in a white society. Malcolm X appeals to the audience 's sense of horror and hatred by sharing his experiences in order for paint a more illuminated picture of racism.
“Vicious mobs lynch” and “drown your sisters and brothers” shows the fear that individuals live through each day. Equally, the “hate-filled policemen” support these unjust actions, meaning African-Americans lack any support and protection. Citing “twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty” reveals the hardships they must endure due to this discrimination. Similarly, King reminisces:
“The Negro, too, for his part, has idols of the tribe to smash. If on the one hand the white man has erred in making the Negro appear to be that which would excuse or extenuate his treatment of him, the Negro, in turn, has too often unnecessarily excused himself because of the way he has been treated. The
In A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest Gaines addresses racism within a mid-twentieth century Louisiana town through a story about the murder of Beau Boutan, a white man, by Charlie Biggs, a black man. To protect Charlie, most of the elderly men of the black community gather and protest the sheriff taking him to almost certain capital punishment without examining the case. When Luke Will, an old friend of the Boutan family, learns of Beau’s death, he immediately declares that “the trouble already been started… when n-----s start shooting down white men in broad daylight, the trouble was started then. Somebody got to (settle it) ‘fore it gets out of hand.” (149) Will, like the old men, wants to retaliate against injustice, but rather than a logical protest, he relies on threats and mindless violence. Bringing a group with guns to the scene, Will brings the tension of the novel to a boiling point and sets up for a final conflict.
“That one has a jail-cell with his name on it”, (Ferguson 1). A quote this powerful lays a foundation of the stories shared within the book Bad Boys. This book allows us to see how the public school system is shaping black masculinity, and the affect it brings on these young boys.Yet, in the book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, it tells us about Robert’s struggle from poverty, the streets of Newark, and his education at Yale. These two books give us a powerful message. One that allows us to see the underlying triumphs Black men face. With poverty, biases, prejudices, and many more obstacles thrown in their path, they will always be set to prove themselves. The odds are constantly against them, as they are seen and viewed as
Lynching was way of life in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. As Wells-Barnett points out, although most white people try to say that they did not want to discuss the noisy, because it will drag the reputation of angry white women, the vast majority of lynching had been completed, white people thought like lynching or burning some black people just to teach them their place. Wells intends to dissolve these myths and reasons into lynching, especially black rape white women. She repeats and the objectivity of the news proves that most black corpses killed black citizens are innocent and that their murders are not punished.
Hatred for white society was a common sentiment among the black community during the 1950s. These feelings were expressed through different mediums, ranging from music and art, to the written word. But James Baldwin, a popular black writer during this time period, does not harp on this subject. Instead of preaching about his hatred for white America, Baldwin utilizes his narrative and analysis techniques to illustrate the destructive nature of the black society’s hatred for white society in “Notes of a Native Son”.