White Like Me: Extra Credit Assignment

John Howard Griffin, the author and main character of “Black Like Me”, is a middle-aged white man who is living in Mansfield, Texas in 1959. Deeply devoted to the finding justice for racism and frustrated by his inability as a white man to understand the black experience, Griffin decides to take stand: he decides to change the color of his skin and temporarily become a black man. After securing the support of his wife and of George Levitan, the editor of a black-oriented magazine called Sepia which will fund Griffin 's experience in return for an article about it, Griffin sets out for New Orleans to begin his life as a black man. He finds a contact in the black community, a soft-spoken, articulate shoe-shiner named Sterling Williams, Eventually, Griffin looks in the mirror and sees a black man looking back. He briefly panics, feeling that he has lost his identity, and then he sets out to explore the black community.

In John Griffin’s experiment to see what it’s like on the other side have white people –and black- see the hypocrisy that lies within their behavior. The novel Black like Me is a journal of the excursions that Griffin has a black person in the South. The time, 1959, was just before the height of the Civil Rights Movement. John Griffin actually lived in the South and even visited the places he would reencounter as a black man, so he was able to truthfully account the differences he would encounter. In this double-life novel John Griffin unveils the ugly truth on America’s never-ending hypocrisy.

What if we could walk in each other’s shoes? What if we could truly understand what our brothers and sisters are going through? These questions and more are what John Howard Griffin strived to answer when he surgically changed his complexion to resemble that of a black man in his book, Black Like Me. He set out to write a biting commentary about the state of race in the United States, but what he experienced changed his life forever. Griffin learned two very valuable lessons that dominated his experience; good can exist in the midst of suffocating evil and to bridge the gap between races there must be mutual understanding. To analyze such a powerful book, I will start with a summary and then explain my thoughts on the text.

Black Like Me is the story of a man named John Howard Griffin, who underwent a series of medical treatments to change his skin color

Page 1: The meaning of the first chapters title “Born to Belonging” is that quite literally whites won’t be questioned about whether they deserve to be here, living in this condition. They won’t be questioned about how they got such wealth and it is easy for them to get this wealth. For example, his grandfather Jacob with his good work ethics was able to come upon success. His success sees normal. However, there are many people of color who have good or better work ethics than Jacob and still they are not recognized or reach success because they aren’t “Born to Belonging”. Also it is easier for those of the white complexion to eventually become part of the white society and eventually belong.

The white men in “Black Like Me” would teach their children to use racial slurs

What Would I Do White? is a poem that not only emphasized how the African American Community viewed White People, but realized that they did not want to be like them. At the beginning of the last stanza there is a line which acknowledges that the Black Community registered that they “would do nothing” if they were white (Jordan, 101). This is significantly important because the start of the poem kicks off with a question. “What would I do White?” or what would I do if I was white (Jordan, 101)? June Jordan, the writer of this poem then continues giving uncomplimentary information about White Community. The second and third stanza contain the lifestyle that Jordan sees white people have during her time. She explains that not

Tim Wise’s film “White Like Me” is an educational documentary about racism and white privilege. The film begins with Wise’s personal story on how he learned the importance of race at a young age after attending preschool at Tennessee State University, a historically African American college. Being one of the only Caucasian students and being taught by predominantly African American administrators, allowed Wise to gain respect for African American authority figures which ultimately made a huge difference in how he came to see the world. Throughout the film, Wise expands on his personal encounters with race while incorporating interviews with scholars and candid comments from white students discussing their opinions on some heavy questions

The election of Barack Obama as the 56th president of the United States raised many hopes that the “Black struggles” was finally over. For conservatives, Obama victory reassured their beliefs that there was no longer such thing as racism and that every American had equal rights and opportunity to pursue the American dream. While many people have come to believe that all races have equal rights in America, Tim Wise argues in his documentary “White Like Me” that not only does racism and unconscious racial bias still exist, but that also White Americans are unable to simply relate to the variety of forms racism and inequality Blacks experience. This is mainly because of the privileges they get as the “default.” While Wise explores the variety forms of racism and inequality today such as unconscious racism, Black poverty, unemployment, inadequate education system, and prison system, the articles by the New York Times Editorial Board, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Adam Liptak further explore some the disparities in the criminal justice system. Ana Swanson points out in her article, “The Stubborn Persistence of Black-White Inequality, 50 Years after Selma” that while the “U.S. has made big strides towards equal rights,” significant gaps still remains between the two races. With the Supreme Court striking down a “portion of the Voting Rights Act that stopped discriminatory voting laws from going into effect in areas of the country with histories of disenfranchisement,” civil

Rather than merely examining the affects of racism on people of color, the book turns its attention to whiteness and how a system of white privilege, supported and perpetuated by whites, also damages whites by inhibiting them from making meaningful connections with other human beings. Until I almost reached the end of this book I was uncomfortable and disturbed by the way the book made me feel. As a white male, I am aware of the pain that my ancestors have created for others to advance the free world. I have pain for those who suffered and disagree with actions that were taken by my white predecessors. But I believed that we are now in a much more advanced world where we have chosen the first black president and equality was a focus of most Americans. Identifying with my culture as currently being a white supremacist society is something I have never considered, or would not want to consider. In Neuliep, within the Coudon and Yousef’s Value orientations, we perceive the human nature orientation within the United States with people being essentially rational. This term, rational, can be somewhat subjective. And if we continue with the same value system, and look from ‘the self’ values, we foster our self-identities from the influence of our culture’s values. If we are to reflect truthfully to how our country evolved and what we ‘had to do’ to create our freedom by limiting the freedom of other, how would we then perceive

Over the course of the semester, we have read many short stories that have shared very similar themes. The two stories that stood out the most to me were You Want Me White and The Youngest Doll. Not only were the stories both very compelling they share parallel themes such a social issues concerning women and form of gender disparity. Both authors Alfosina Storni and Rosario Ferre wrote during a time male dominance was an issue, women were looked at as objects that needed to devote themselves to their men.

In life people are often misunderstood for who or what they are. Whether it being who they are or their skin, hair, personality, traits, clothing, religion, or their body. When growing up it seems no matter where I go I always see be misjudged. Usually is my skin, or the way I talk,or the way I act.

In the United States, there are many different races. Sometimes because of this, the race that you have seem to affect the way the public thinks of you. Although you cannot help what skin color you have society seems to label you because of it. I feel that many countries do not welcome as abounding races as America does, and because of people have varying opinions on the topic. For countless of people, they carry certain feelings on being a member of their race, which can be negative or positive.

The sketch follows the structure of a documentary-style narration, detailing Bigsby's upbringing and indoctrination into the white supremacist ideology; this happens all while he remains unaware of his own racial identity. This opening establishes a comedic exploration of racial hypocrisy and the absurdity of bigotry based on skin color. The superiority theory is evident in the audience's amusement at the irony of a black man passionately supporting white supremacist beliefs, creating a situation where the audience feels intellectually superior to the character. One of the key scenes in White Like Me that aligns with the superiority theory is when Chappelle's character goes to a bank and is given a loan without any hassle; this is a stark contrast to the discrimination he faced when he appeared as a black man. The humor comes from the irony of the situation, as the audience understands the unfairness of racial privilege.

Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless