Theme Of Racism In A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying is set in rural Louisiana in the 1940’s. The setting is ripe for the racism displayed in the novel. Ernest J. Gaines weaves an intricate web of human connections, using the character growth of Grant Wiggins and Jefferson to subtly expose the effect people have on one another (Poston A1). Each and every character along the way shows some inkling of being a racist. However, Paul is an exception. He treats everyone as if he or she is equal to him whether the person is black or white. In A Lesson Before Dying, author Ernest J. Gaines displays the different levels of racism during the 1940’s through his use of characterization.

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated; that is 60% of 30% of the African American population. African Americas are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. “Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age groups." (Carson, E. Ann, and Sabol, William J. 2011.) Stated on Americanprogram.org “ The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison.” Hispanics and African Americans make up 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population. (Henderson 2000). Slightly 15% of the inmate population is made up of 283,000 Hispanic prisoners.

Human Rights Watch research shows that in every state, the proportion of blacks in prison exceeds, sometimes by a considerable amount, their proportion in the general population. In Minnesota and Iowa, blacks constitute a share of the prison population that is twelve times greater than their share of the state population. In eleven

Of the many tribulations that plague Americans today, the increase in the amount of African American men and women in prisons is unbelievable. It would be naïve to say that the increase is due to the fact that more African Americans are committing crimes now than before. When in actuality it has very prevalent connections to a systematic plan to incarcerate a race of people by creating harsh drug laws to

All societal groups are affected by the issue of imprisonment, but it is a far more likely occurrence among marginalized cultural groups, particularly African Americans. As the United States celebrates the nation's triumph over race with the selection of Barack Obama as the first African American male president, a majority of young black males in major American cities are locked behind bars, or categorized felons for life (Alexander, 2010, p. 1). Bonczar and Beck (1997) report that:

American has a legacy of the mistreatment and disenfranchisement of African Americans. The same bad treatment that many think only took place in the past is in fact still intact, it’s just presented in a new way. The mass incarceration of blacks in the Unites States can be attributed to the “racial hierarchy” that has always existed. The U.S contributes to about 5% of the worlds overall population, and about 25% of the worlds prison population (Holland 1), “if those rates reflected jail, probation and parole populations, the numbers would rise exponentially”(Griffith 9). Statics show that there is a chance that about 1 in 3 black males are expected end up in prison (Jacobson). Although, in terms of the entire United States population African Americans only make up about 13% (Prison Activist Resource Center. Racism Fact Sheets: “ Latinos and the Criminal Injustice System.” 2003). There is a huge number of African Americans involved in the criminal justice system in some way. The average person does not know about mass incarceration nor about the racism that is in just about every part of the criminal justice system. When most people think about racism their thoughts often drift to slavery or Jim Crow laws, but for most, they do not consider how the amount of African Americans in prison today could be due to bias or racism. A significant cause of mass incarceration is the same racism that produced the Jim Crow era.

Racism could be defined as discrimination directed against a different race based on the idea that one's own race is superior (Oxford Dictionary). In A Lesson Before Dying, racism was a concurrent conflict that was the basis of many problems the characters faced.  Rumors and gossip tend to spread quickly by word-of-mouth in the small town of Bayonne. Establishing setting is important as it depicts an image in the reader’s mind of the problems that the characters’ face. Throughout the novel, many references to the setting made the novel further understandable as it emphasizes discrimination of race. Gaines uses the setting of the schools, homes, and prisons to establish racism, through the segregation of the town, lack of resources for education, and bias towards black criminals. While the actual story of A Lesson before Dying focuses on Jefferson's execution, the setting focuses on the struggles of oppressed people within a hostile and racist environment.

During Jefferson’s trial, his lawyer cruelly refers him as a mindless hog. As the lawyer addresses the twelve white male jurors, he tells them that Jefferson has a “modicum of intelligence”, that he is “a thing to handle a plow, a thing to load your bales of cotton.” (7). His attorney also notes to the jurors that, “A fool got into that automobile. A fool rode to the grocery store. A fool stood by and watched this happen, not having sense to run.” (7). His attorney says,

Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A Lesson Before Dying, is about a young black man, named Jefferson. Jefferson is sentenced to death as a result of a crime he seemingly did not commit. Jefferson’s god mother, Miss Emma, wants Grant Wiggins to teach Jefferson to die like a man with dignity. Grant cannot decide whether he should help Miss Emma, or leave the state. Eventually he decides to visit Jefferson, and attempts to make Jefferson act like the man Miss Emma wants him to be.

Jefferson determined, although not with absolute certainty because he had not studied the subject with scientific rigor “that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and conditions, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind." Historians view Jefferson's reasoning as an example of how even the most brilliant of minds can fail to escape the cultural baggage and context of its

That unequal incarceration rates is a result of crimes committed, and not racial bias. Being more black males were in jail or prison, does not mean the criminal justice system is racist. “ They concluded that large racial differences in criminal offending; not racism, explained why more blacks were in prison proportionally more than whites and for longer terms.” They also stated “For example found that blacks frequently received more lenient punishment.” A 1994 justice department survey of felony cases from the country’s largest urban areas discovered that blacks actually had a lower chance of prosecution following a felony than whites did and that they were less likely to be found guilty at trial. Blacks were more likely to receive prison

Racism is the belief that innate differences between races dictate cultural achievement and includes the idea that one race is above another. This is a universal problem and is the root of discrimination. Lately, police officers face accusations of racial profiling and being responsible for several unjust murders. The deaths that are due to the victims’ skin pigment recognize that social oppression is an active practice. In the book A Lesson Before Dying, author Ernest Gaines reveals how racism is an oppressive force through multiple characters and situations.

“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison” (Alexander, 2012). The numbers tell the story better than words can: black people are more likely to go to prison than any other race in the United States, shown by the fact that more than 60% of the prison population is composed of people of color (The Sentencing Project, 2016). These statistics can be traced back to several different cause, including the Era of Jim Crow and the War on Drugs, both of which led to higher policing in minority areas.

Throughout human history, racism has reared its head in a wide range of ideologies. For several centuries, many have ignored the blatant echoes of prejudice throughout our society. Despite being members of the same species, it has become shockingly common to demonize an individual based on skin color. Jefferson as a person is quiet, and likes to get whatever he has to do done. He worked on a plantation for garnished wages for most of his childhood and adult life which led him to being far less intelligent than the others he worked with due to the lack of education and funding for schools of color.”A white man had been killed during a robbery, and though two of the robbers had been killed on the spot, one had been captured, and he, too,

The criminal System is split into two different type of correction faculty’s. Jail which is county and there is prison which is federal. “Between 1980 and 2015, the number of people incarcerated in America increased from roughly 500,000 to< over 2.2 million” (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet) Vast growth in the criminal justice system in just 35 years. “Today, the United States makes up about 5% of the world’s population and has 21% of the world’s prisoners. In 2014, African Americans constituted 2.3 million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million correctional population.” (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet) African Americans make up the largest portion of the prison system. If blacks take up 34 % there