It is about nine pm last Wednesday night when I go with my friend - Mike, also enrolled in Women's Studies 190 - to Sheetz, for a typical midnight snack. I'll admit here that I am slightly inebriated (it's okay, I'm 21), and already feeling a little paranoid about being in public, but hey - I had been really feeling a few mac 'n cheese bites and Mike, hungry, was feeling food as well.
I am standing at the touch-screen-operated computer ordering my food when I notice a man who looks starkly different than me. Black, wearing a hoodie, I watch him from the corner of my eye as he spills out the coins from his pocket onto the cashier's counter, pay for the food, and disembark from the establishment. I exhale - in my intoxicated conscious, for some reason, I thought this guy was going to take his food and run without paying.
I double-take a second later. I am a straight-up racist, and I feel completely ashamed of myself. What is my problem? I just immediately categorized this person and placed him under a particular stereotype. Did I do it because of his skin color and the way he was dressed? Probably. Let's be honest; I've covered this numerous times in my blogs: I am a sheltered kid from a sheltered upbringing.
But I guess - in a sad, very sad - way, this is completely indicative of our culture's way of deciphering between blackness and whiteness, a theme which I picked up in the second Winter chapter of The Bluest Eye. People judge, classify, and behave a certain way almost too frequently because of the way they look, act, and dress. In the last chapter of Winter, Geraldine behaves a certain way, too, holding people to higher expectations because of her formulations of class.
The relationship between Geraldine and other African-Americans in the novel represent an important dichotomy in our culture, because Geraldine, like other characters in the novel, is Black. But she holds herself to a "higher standard," disallowing Junior to hang out with and interact with Blacks of a particular class. Is it her wealth that she feels distinguishes herself from other Blacks in the novel, even though she too is Black, like many of the characters?
It's truly unfortunate that Whites - like myself - are so ignorant of what goes on in Black culture, that in some instances we have these highly racialized preconceptions of how someone is because of their skin color, but I suppose this also exists in African American culture. When we are being introduced to Geraldine, Morrison describes her as living "in quiet Black neighborhoods where everybody is gainfully employed" (82). It almost makes Geraldine appear slightly pretentious, that some Black people are not good enough for her. But perhaps she feels that way because she does come from an affluent Black culture, where people enjoy and want to talk to her.
What The Bluest Eye does so well is juxtapose these characters with Pecola, who has been mercifully demeaned throughout the book. It's especially insightful for me, because I am so ignorant of Black culture. What does it say about Whiteness versus Blackness - or just different facets of Blackness?
I think in this instance my own personal sheltered whiteness has coated my understanding of the book, for I have gleaned a great sense of the expanse of Black culture. I am surprised to see such a distinct separation from the two sets of characters and the way they perceive other characters. Me being white has affected my understanding of the novel; I was completely caught off guard when I read that Geraldine said to Junior that she wanted him to hang with wealthier "colored" people opposed to lower-class "niggers."
I mean, how crazy is that? Would I have judged the guy in Sheetz if he had been wearing a suit, looking sharp, like he just got out of work somewhere? Does wealth affect racial depictions? I don't know for sure, but I think evidence from the The Bluest Eye has helped paint this understanding for me, as sad as that is. Blackness, from the perspective of someone entrenched deep in whiteness, is an entity must greater than I originally thought, one which - according to Geraldine - can also be constructed heavily by wealth. Interesting.
Sam, I appreciate your frank discussion of prejudice. You say that this novel has given you invaluable insight into Black culture, and you touched on the role of class in the construction of these characters. I think you can tease this out a little bit further. The characters in this book exist at the cross-sections of multiple oppressors, and this intersectionality is what dictates how they understand themselves and others. Don't take the book to be simply about Black culture, because it isn't. It is about the constructions of race, class, age, displacement, etc. and where and how this shapes experience. It is in the broadest sense of about hegemonic forces in the lives of people against the backdrop of the midwest at the end of the great depression.
ReplyDeleteSam, I applaud you for openly expressing your experience. I think the fact that you recognized that you were being prejudiced when it came to that black man at Sheetz proves that you aren’t a racist. In my conception of racists I feel like they don’t want to learn about other cultures (as you do). You can help your upbringing, or how you have been conditioned to think of things. In televisions shows and in movies robberies often take place by poorly dressed black people in gas station centers like Sheetz. You understand that it was wrong of you to judge like that. And like you, I have also found caught myself being racially prejudiced -though I’ve never been to a Sheetz drunk (cause I’m not 21 ….ahem) I have found myself judging others on their skin color and their perceived socio-economic status; and I don’t have the excuse of being a less than mentally sound state due to the effects of alcohol. That being said, I would like to bring into the discussion that it might not be just in black cultures where a subset of racial hierarchies exists. For a light skinned African Americans, like Geraldine’s character, they look down upon black people with darker skin than theirs. To a lesser extent, I have seen similar set ups of skin color hierarchy in white cultural expectations I was surrounded by. White girls with tanned skinned were always the “popular” and “prettiest” kids. This made me buy spray tanner when I was 12 years old. I thought I’d be prettier and my life would be better if I had tanned skin. Freckles and pale complexions is another example of an “undesirable trait” set by the culture. Those with freckles are made fun of and called “freckle face,” etc. Obviously these are in no way at the same level of insults as the n-word, nor are people with freckles considered outcasts in mainstream society. My only point is that physical appearance in all cultures, like white American culture, has a type of beauty spectrum filled with the “good” features and then the “bad” features.
ReplyDeleteIn some cases I think clothing can have a bigger impact on a person preconception that skin color. Whenever I see a group of boys/men wearing their jeans past their bums, with baggy pants, unkempt hair, slouching, smoking, with body piercing or tattoos, I immediately think they must be lazy, thugs, criminals, or troublemakers, and this is the case whether they are brown, black, or white. I think this type of prejudice can be very dangerous in a way because it is at first hard for me to recognize it as prejudice, whereas if I’m only getting a cue from the skin I can quickly identify my mindset as racist. I need to keep in mind that no matter what a person wears or how they are dressing is not always an indication of their lifestyle, if they are poor, or if they take care of themselves. I have a friend who has over 15 piercings, and 4 large tattoos. People admit to my friend that they were a little scared of her when they first saw her. I myself was intimidated when I first saw her. I thought she must be mean and was likely a person that did drugs. (This is very embarrassing for me to admit by the way. And I hate myself for even momentarily, before I had even spoken to her, thought that these were possible character traits of hers.) However she is the nicest person I have ever met! She is also a devoted church attendee that is staunchly anti-recreational drug use (even cigarette smoking) and one of her favorite pastimes is to watch Disney movies. I find it sad when she tells me that back in high school many of her friend’s parents forbade their children to hang out with her because of her appearance. They just assumed she lead a certain lifestyle and was a particular type of person because of her dress. Again, this might go back to the media’s negative portrayal of tattooed and pierced kids.
Oh, sorry that my above comment was super long. I didn't realize I was writing that much.....oops.
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