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The Bubonic Plague Of Racism Analysis

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The deep divide between those of different ethnicities root back to America's slavery days. Racism is contagious like it's a flea in the Bubonic plague, an ideology that is nothing more than hate and ignorance. A problem with battling such animosity today is that racism isn’t so blatantly obvious as it once was. It seems as if the only ones that can recognize this evil are the ones that allow themselves to see it. Hence the reason why our society still has a long way to go. We as a people need to recognize our own bigoted views that we have been conditioned to assume that those beliefs are reality. As of consequence, the lack of knowingness of Black life and history by those that are non-color has created a society that lacks understandment …show more content…

This is due people not understanding the roots and meaning of those words. These words are so popular in today's culture, that they seem to have developed a new meaning. For example, “The use of the word nigger isn’t so much about “racism” as it is about ‘status” (Wiley 104). Similar to what happened in Pulp Fiction, when gang boss Marsellus Wallace (who is black) asked Butch Collidge (who is white) “Are you my nigga?”. Wallace used the term “nigga” in the sense dependency and trust, ironically a slave master would use the term “nigger” as ownership over his slave. The redefining of hateful terms has become popular in today's culture. In particular, “There is a small but deadly clot of epithets that circulate in the stream of rap rhetoric, none more derogatory than “bitch”. The mother of all female insults is especially damaging because it is rooted in unjust social conditions” (Holler If You Hear Me 177). In the same way in Bamboozle, character Thomas Dunwitty was using the word “nigger” as if it was perfectly okay. He didn’t take in context that he was speaking with a black man, and that the word carries so much power and history. He seemed to have thought since he didn’t view himself as a racist, that it was okay for him to say “nigger”. What was shown in that scene was someone who should never use the word nigger, feel self-entitled to use that word. Which resembles in …show more content…

Sadly, the perception that black people are of a lower importance and ability still infects minds of today. Those minds find blacks incapable of many features that may seem appealing, like in Human Stain, Coleman Silk once at the time girlfriend, broke up with him because she found out he was black. A quote that ties into this is “Before the visitor had time to answer, the painter said, ‘No! You just got mad because you thought a black man was hitting a white woman’”(Hughes 457). Both Silk and the white woman in the diner were able to receive the compassion from a white person due to their external looks. But when the white people found out that they were black, then it delegitimize and feelings or attachment to that person. What is extremely special is the case with Silk and his girlfriend, this relates to Willard Motley's story of The Almost White Boy, when he confessed to his white girlfriend that he was black, and her response was “Her eyes met his, burning angrily, at the softness in his yes. “You damn dirty nigger!” she said, and jumped up and walked away from him as fast as she could”(Motley 466). For both men, it's as if the memories and feelings shared between their white counterpart had no value because they were of a different ethnicities. It just goes to highlight how strong the hatred towards blacks are. Alternatively though, another way racist get to pursue their

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