Breaking Out of White Supremacy
JiHee Kim
Professor Tchaiko Kwayana
English 101
12/8/13
JiHee Kim
Professor Tchaiko Kwayana
English 101
12/8/13
Breaking Out of White Supremacy
The European, or “white” man has long been assured of possessing a “superior” status to those of the other races, particularly the colored. This is a carefully cultivated concept so embedded in the minds of society that it has become an unconscious truth. The birth of the concept that “whites are superior” dates back to the colonial era,where plantation owners/big time farmers needed a labor force that was not only cheap and inexpensive, but could be worked to the bone; in other words, a labor force that could be exploited. They found indentured servants to be expensive: employers had to pay for the servants’ passage, supply them with clothes, and treat them moderately well—they didn’t want to discourage immigrants from coming after all. While searching for a more inexpensive alternative, a certain Dutch ship landed on American soil. It had 15 Africans aboard whom they sold into indentured servitude(Norton Anthology of African-American Literature), which brings us to an unexpected truth. Africans didn’t start off as slaves in America. Also, the now pervasive white supremacist attitude had not developed. Americans found Africans to be hardy workers and came to desire them for a labor force. Then, they adopted the idea of slavery, and with the humanitarian excuse of the white man’s burden(the concept that Africans are a more inferior and barbaric race, and that the white man has the duty to “civilize” them and introduce them to God).
This was to counteract any guilt that they may have and also to rationalize any actions they took on “lower races”-those they subjugated and exploited by forcing them into enslavement. They could ease their consciences by declaring that this was to help the Africans—that it was not out of self-interest. Ever since they enslaved people, the rich grew richer. In order to protect their interests, the rich used various methods and mediums throughout the changing eras to ensure that Africans would remain subjugated and depicted as “inferior” to the white man.
The categories into which these acts of terror fall under are two: hot and cold. Hot terror is violence, particularly that of the physical nature, such as lynching.Lynching was prevalent in the time between the end of the Reconstruction and the beginning of the Great Depression after slavery was abolished. It only ended early in the last century. Lynching was treated as an event for which many gathered together to watch for amusement. This was frequently carried out by “good Christian folk” in the BibleBelt as a means with which to control them in place of slavery (Ray).
Cold terror, on the other hand, is emotional and mental. It uses the people’s negative feelings and ways of thinking (popular opinion) to make them feel ashamed, scared, or hate. One example of cold terror is the way an increasing number of African Americans have recently been bleaching their skin(Swoope). Though people have been alerted that long-term effects of doing so include cancer and damage to your health, many still do so to achieve a lighter skin tone. Some, like NomasontoMnisi—an African American musician-- say it’s because “she likes theway it makes her look”. Others do so due to self-hate. They hate their skin color, or find “that side”, with thelighter skin tone to look “more beautiful”(Maya). Certain people likeIatisha have gone to extremes, going so far as to put laundry bleach on her face after finding “nothing else worked” for her. A mother named Iatosha regularly bleaches her
children(ages 8, 6, and 4).People have been influenced by hurtful comments and popular opinionregarding color, as well as the manner in which people treat othersbased on their color. Iatisha has been called “smutty” when her skin became darker due to her pregnancy, and she was raised by a mother who bleached her skin regularly, saying “a lighter skin will bring it[your beauty] out more”.Iatosha has always been told she was “beautiful…but dark”.Both Iatisha and Iatosha have been told that they would be more beautiful if they had lighter skin. Iatisha, by her own mother.Iatosha, by her closest friends.These kinds of attitudes and remarks erode one’s sense of self-worth.
Stereotypes also come into play in cold terror. There is a stereotype that black men are more sexually active so have a tendency to become rapists, more violent than men from other races, and less able to raise kids as they are perpetually absent. The black woman’s stereotype is that she will be pregnant at an early age. Both black men and women are depicted as being without restraint and more unintelligent in comparison to everyone else(Patterson).People mistakenly develop these conclusions based on the past; they don’t take into account the circumstances in which these stereotypes were wrought, nor why or how they were created. These stereotypes originated from the slavery era in American history. In this era, the enslaved were forced to breed so their master could have a continuous source of slaves. The master frequently took part in the breeding as well. Once the children were born they were taken away and given to one of the elderly enslaved who would take care of them until they could be used. Parents were never allowed to see their children again(Norton Anthology of African-American Literature). So one can see how these stereotypes are mistaken; however, hearing and seeing such stereotypes repeatedly starts making a person believe them even though they are not true.
The media also took part in cold terror. It published pictures illustrating Africans to be like monkeys or devils, all grotesque. Currier & Ives was a printmaking shop that produced these types of lithographs(“Images of Blacks by Currier & Ives”.). They produced numerous caricatures of black men, many of which depicted them as buffoons. This helped spread the belief in the stereotype.
Many Africans, both enslaved and free, refused to let others “define” them with such propaganda. Some deliberately set out to destroy the stereotype from the ground on up. Others adopted the attitude in which they simply brushed it off. Frederick Douglass, for example, learned to adapt to his environment, and make the best out of things. He identified a medium through which he could fight the propaganda of the stereotype—the written word—and developed his writing skills. OlaudahEquiano,survived the Middle Passage and identified economics as his weapon of choice. He bought himself out of slavery and wrote eloquent speeches detailing the inhumanity of enslaving an intelligent race(Norton Anthology of African-American Literature). Henry Blair, an inventor, managed to develop a seed planter(Karenga). African inventors, whether intentionally or unintentionally, helped contribute toward destroying the stereotype. They did not let the stereotype of the “unintelligent black man” define them. On the contrary, they disproved it. In doing so, they helped weaken the white man’s argument of “the white man’s burden”, and also managed to contribute to American society as a whole. Though these Africans’ lives were difficult, they managed to hold up an optimistic view and found a purpose in their lives.
The concept of white supremacy still exists today, and so does the hot and cold terror that supports it. Society has been conditioned to hold negative stereotypes of African Americans—but this needs to change, and society needs people with the spirits of OlaudahEquiano, Frederick Douglass, and the inventors of old to do so.
Works Cited
Braziel, Jana Evans. “History of Lynching in the United States”.ACLAnet. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <
Iatisha.
Iatosha.
“Images of Blacks by Currier & Ives”.Philadelphia Print Shop. 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <
Karenga, Maulana. “Africans in America”.Introduction to Black Studies. Print.
Maya.
Mnisi, Nomasonto.
Norton Anthology of African-American Literature.Ed.Gates, Henry Louis. McKay, Nellie Y. New York : W.W. Norton & Co. 2nd ed. 2004. Print.
Patterson, Orlando.“A Poverty of the Mind”. 26 March. Cambridge, Mass. 2006. Print.
Ray, Stephen G. “The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone”. Christian Century. 31 Jan. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <
Swoope, Terry. “Skin Bleaching Black Women”.Youtube. Youtube, 5 Jul. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
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