De/Constructing White Supremacy: Contending Antipodal Politics in Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940)

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niyi Akingbe ◽  
Emmanuel Adeniyi
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
Racial Stratification ◽  
Native Son ◽  
Black Protest ◽  
Inferiority Complex ◽  
American Society ◽  
White Hegemony ◽  
Collective Psyche

Arguably, fear, anger and despair dominate the poor, uneducated, twenty-year-old Bigger Thomas’s daily existence in Richard Wright’s Native Son. Nevertheless, old lies of white supremacy that have held black people in perpetual turmoil are crushed through violent reaction when Bigger strikes at white hegemony through the killing of Mary Dalton. This backlash throws the white community into panic mode. Apparently, African Americans’ increased susceptibility to the inferiority complex of the 1930s was dictated by the dubious racial stratification that allotted a place of superiority to the white race over the black race, which was considered inferior. This misconception was supported by Arthur de Gobineau’s The Inequality of Human Races ([1853] 1915) and Lucien Levy-Bruhl’s How Natives Think (1926). Bigger’s humanity, like that of other African-American youth of this period, is overwhelmed by the racial prejudices of the supremacist whites which demand that they must be meek, submissive and self-debased. As summed up at the trial of Bigger, American society gives black people no options in life and essentially denies them the basic rights of all humans to fulfil their destiny in relationship to the measure of their intelligence and talents. These denials have led to anger, shame and fear which have snowballed into crime and murder. We may, without difficulty, agree that Wright’s portrayal of the killing of Mary is not in any way designed to make Bigger a hero of the black protest against racial marginality. Rather, Bigger is created to accentuate the effects of suffocating social conditions that could turn an individual into an American “native son” raised in an atmosphere of transcendental hopelessness and weaned on the diet of violence, hatred and viciousness which provided the immediate platform for the launching of a backlash against American racism. Using the foregoing as its standpoint, this article examines white/black antipodes and race tensions in Richard Wright’s Native Son. It employs the Freudian conceptual construct of the human psyche, divided into the id, ego and superego, as a theoretical framework. A parallel of the hypothesis is conceived to expound the white/black taxonomy in race discourse. In Freudian psychology, the id is irrational and it projects pleasure principles. The ego is, however, rational and mature, while the superego mediates between the id and the ego. These paradigms are used to explore the collective psyche of race theorists in the paper. 

The Black Lives Matter movement: A call to action: Acts 10:11–16, 25–28, 34–35

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Alfred Smith
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Black Life ◽  
Black Christians ◽  
American Society ◽  
Justice Movements

The Black Lives Matter movement is one of the most dynamic social justice movements currently emerging in the USA. This movement led by young Blacks unapologetically calls out the shameful, historical legacy of American racism and White supremacy while asserting the humanity and sacredness of Black lives, particularly those of unarmed persons senselessly murdered by police officers. While Black Lives Matter is a new movement, it is also an extension of the 400-year struggle of Black people in America to affirm Black dignity, equality, and human rights, even while the major institutions of American society have propagated doctrines and enforced unjust rules/laws to denigrate Black life. Black Christians have found hope and inspiration from the Gospel to claim their humanity and to struggle to gain justice for Black lives and for the lives of all oppressed people. In addition, the Black Lives Matter movement provides a helpful critique of many Black churches, challenging them to confront their biases, which label young Black males as “thugs” (the new N-word) and which cruelly demonize the LGBTQ community. The story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10 provides a scriptural basis for Christian introspection and responses to God’s vision for beloved community, and for the call to action from the Black Lives Matter movement.

scholarly journals STATE OF EXCEPTION THROUGH RASISME IN GO SET A WATCHMAN IN AGAMBEN’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-134
Author(s):  
Damay Rahmawati ◽  
Ramadhani Ardianto Karsa Sunaryono ◽  
Mira Utami
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Black People ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Harper Lee

This study aims to see racism in the novel Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee as state of exception; a political philosophy of Agamben. Agamben's idea of ​​state of exception is used in this study as the theoretical framework. This research specifically reveals how racism becomes part of state of exception in American society around 1960s when the novel was written. The analysis focuses on issues of racism in American society as depicted in the novel. The issue of racism is taken with the aim of analyzing state of exception in USA, in dealing with racial discrimination. After analyzing the issues of racism and state of exception in the novel, this study reveals that racism in American society is politically structured. The finding of this study is the discrimination experienced by lower class citizens who are dominated by black people, as the impact of state of exception which affects their citizenship rights.

Blackface Minstrelsy

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Leisure Activity ◽  
Popular Entertainment ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
To Come ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Minstrel Shows ◽  
American Society

According to most scholars whose primary focus is on this topic, minstrel shows were one of the most disgraceful yet complex chapters in the history of American musicals. Popularized during the early to mid-19th century, minstrelsy incorporated and emphasized the prevailing racism, racial stereotypes, and white supremacy mentality that had permeated almost every aspect of American society since the mid-1600s. More specifically, minstrel shows transferred and translated concepts of race and racism into a form of leisure activity in which ridiculous and obscene Black American images, such as “Sambo” or “Zip Coon,” who were slow witted “plantation darky” and ignorant free Black Americans, were used to justify racial segregation, political oppression, and at times, uncontrolled racial violence. Despite the ongoing debate within the academy, most scholars contend that the first series of minstrel shows emerged during the 1820s, reached their zenith soon after the Civil War ended, and remained relatively popular well into the early 1900s. As America’s first form of popular entertainment, during its origins minstrel shows were performed by white men, mostly of Irish descent, who blackened their faces with burnt cork, cooled ashes, or dirt and began to ridicule and depict a distorted view of African American life on southern plantations through both songs and dances. Additionally, Black Americans were normally shown as naive buffoons or uncontrollable children who danced their way through and expressed a fondness for the system of slavery. At the same, this musical genre also helped to launch the careers of many well-known entertainers of the era, both African Americans and non-African Americans, such as James Bland, Stephen Foster, Al Jolson, and Bert Williams. In the end, the culture that embraced this type of “popular entertainment” was either wholly enchanted by such racially charged images or took these images as the truth about the history and experience of all African Americans. Additional scholars such as Eric Lott and Robert Toll contend that the origins, development, and legacy of minstrelsy, especially after the mid-1840s, in some ways, was a response to the economic depression of the 1830s and early 1840s, as an attempt to reassure the dominate white society that their societal status and political dominance would continue for decades to come. In some ways, these notions are still alive today. Finally, many studies on the topic of minstrelsy can be divided into historical periods such as: (1) early writings (1930s–1950s); (2) the revisionist era (1960s and 1970s); and the contemporary era (1980s to the present).

The “New Crowd” Goes Global

Race News ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Carroll
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Black Newspapers ◽  
Black Protest ◽  
War Correspondents ◽  
The World ◽  
White Press

The United States' entry into World War II led the federal government to renew its surveillance and censorship of black journalists who struck at segregation in wartime. Simultaneously, the white press dismissed black reporters for failing to uphold the doctrine of objectivity. National black newspapers reconciled black protest and white scrutiny by forsaking explicit textual radicalism for a more coded militancy, as illustrated by the “Double V” campaign. Black war correspondents – including Edgar Rouzeau, Deton "Jack" Brooks, Roi Ottley, and George Padmore – praised black troops for their patriotism and sacrifice but also explained how white supremacy structured the lives of people of color elsewhere in the world. By the war's end, black journalists had achieved an uneasy détente with federal officials and white journalists.

Selling White Supremacy in the United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Grant
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Party ◽  
Black Protest ◽  
Sustained Effort ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter traces South African foreign policy responses to the civil rights movement in the United States. It explores how the National Party engaged with the racial politics of the Cold War in an attempt legitimize apartheid to an increasingly sceptical global audience. The National Party did not shy away from challenging negative portrayals of apartheid. In the United States, South African diplomatic officials mounted a systematic propaganda campaign to correct “misconceptions” and present the apartheid system in a positive light. Equating black protest with communist subversion, South African diplomats engaged in a deliberate and sustained effort to defend apartheid in the United States.

Predatory Inclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 253-262
Author(s):  
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Housing Market ◽  
Black People ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
Rental Market ◽  
American Society ◽  
The U.S

Homeownership in the U.S. is often touted as a means to escape poverty, build wealth, and fully participate in American society. However, racism in the broader American society ultimately resulted in a racist housing market that excludes Black people from homeownership and depresses the value of property inhabited by African Americans. The perception that Black buyers are risky has continued to fuel predatory practices in real estate. The author notes that African Americans should not be limited to the rental market because of inequality in the housing market. Instead, she suggests people should question American society, a society in which full citizenship is reliant upon home ownership.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Niambi Michele Carter
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Body Politic

Using a personal anecdote to set the stage, the author introduces the fundamental argument of the book, which is that black people respond to the “threat” of immigration by critiquing a system of white supremacy that excludes blacks through the exploitation of other groups. In particular the book examines the ways in which blacks use immigration as a lens to evaluate their own status as citizens. In other words, as blacks think about what immigration means for the nation, they are also thinking about what it means for their group. The context within which they look at immigration is through their own group’s racial experience, which has often found blacks struggling for belonging in the American body politic because of white supremacy.

The science of statistics in victimhood culture: Dignity and dishonor

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-195
Author(s):  
Igor Mandel
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
American Statistical Association ◽  
Statistical Association ◽  
The Us ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
American Society ◽  
The One ◽  
Speech Research

Recent renaming of the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship without official discussion among members of American Statistical Association (ASA), along with other events of similar type, was an important step in creating a new atmosphere in science in general. On the one hand, this is tightly related to such critical issues as freedom of speech, research and opinion, while on the other hand, it is related to conformity, yielding to irrelevant demand, and to denial of evidence as a first basic principle in science. The paper shows that a) all accusations against R. Fisher are factually groundless; b) the decision was motivated not by the facts, but by political and moral pressure, connected with allegedly “institutional racism” of the American society and the US police specifically; c) the decision was a natural consequence of the victimhood culture, which penetrates more and more into academia; d) this culture, in turn, is counter-scientific in a sense that it does not need any evidence; e) particularly, the most popular current thesis about “police bias against black people” – which seems a direct real trigger of the lecture renaming – cannot be confirmed by available data. Showing all that, the paper could be considered a warning against dangerous social tendencies in modern science in general and statistics in particular.

Measuring Whiteness: A Systematic Review of Instruments and Call to Action

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Schooley ◽  
Debbiesiu L. Lee ◽  
Lisa B. Spanierman
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Psychological Study ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Modern Racism

The psychological study of Whiteness provides one avenue for researchers to help combat racial injustice in the United States. This article is a call to action for counseling psychologists to engage in much needed scholarship and critical examinations of Whiteness. In this systematic review and content analysis, we provide an overview of 18 quantitative measures focusing on various aspects of Whiteness published between 1967 and 2017. We summarize the constructs and psychometric properties of these measures. Our content analysis indicated that constructs assessed by Whiteness measures have shifted in focus over time across four themes: (a) Attitudes Toward Black People/Integration, (b) Modern Racism, (c) White Racial Identity, and (d) White Privilege and Antiracism. We conclude with suggestions on how advancement, development, and use of Whiteness measures could further our knowledge through research examining present-day racial justice issues. The issues highlighted include police brutality, xenophobia, immigration, White supremacy, activism, and training in the field.

From slavery and colonialism to Black Lives Matter: new mood music or more fundamental change?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelarine Cornelius
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Black Africa ◽  
Chattel Slavery ◽  
The Usa

Purpose2020 has proved to be a challenging year. In addition to the challenges of COVID-19, yet again, the USA has witnessed police brutality leading to the death of a Black man, George Floyd. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, founded in the US but now an international organisation which challenges white supremacy and deliberates harm against Black people, mobilised hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets across the globe. Increasingly, the protests focus not only on George Floyd's murder but also the continued failure to challenge the celebrity of those involved in the transatlantic slave trade and European imperialism. In this article, the author will contend that many organisations are now reexamining their association with these historical wrongs against Black Africa and its diaspora. Further, the author will contend but that the failure to highlight the role of Black chattel slavery and imperialism in the accumulation of economic, commercial and political benefits reaped by the global north is a source of shame not only for many firms and institutions but also for universities.Design/methodology/approachThe author has reviewed the online media for the latest developments in response to Black Lives Matter's George Floyd campaign in 2020 and reviewed the literature on the link between European global ambition and its impact on the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa.FindingsInternationally, there is a discernible change in outlook towards the importance of the evils of slavery and colonialism on the Black experience today. These small steps will require scholars to embark on a fresh reexamination of race, society and work.Originality/valueFor decades, the slave trade and colonialism were issues rarely raised in government, firms and business schools. This will inevitably change especially in those countries that are the main beneficiaries of Black chattel slavery and colonial exploitation. Much Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practice is fundamentally tokenism. A root and branch reappraisal will be needed to create more effective EDI policy and practice in support of race equality and anti-racism.

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