The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

No matter how much we study and learn about racism in school, I still get angry and dismayed when I read stories such as this one. I think that in today’s society it can be easy to generalize racism and say that “it was a bad part of American history”. I think that it is when we hear specific, first person stories such as Mr. Right’s that we can more easily grasp how racism was an all consuming and uncontrollable thing that ruled over every aspect of people lives.  In Mr. Right’s case specifically, it affected everything from his neighborhood to his job. Above all, this affected his safety and it is a challenge that he had to face throughout his entire life.

One of the common themes that I noticed throughout this article is that during that time period, colored people had to be in control at all times. To them, there is no such thing as slipping up and snapping at a white person. They could never show any angry or frustrated emotions because it could have fatal repercussions. This fact forced Mr. Right to ingenuinely do things such as laugh at white people’s racist jokes and sexual harassment. There was no circumstance in which a black person could forget a simple thing such as saying “yessir” or “nosir”. Right learned this lesson on his ride to town with his broken bicycle. The uncommon nice gesture from white people quickly turned condescending and violent when Right declined a drink in an impolite way. With time Mr. Right learned how to correctly navigate these situations and learned how to be in control at all times. An example of this would be when he was in the elevator and conveniently dropped the packages to avoid being impolite to a white person.

This article not only taught me more about racism in the past but also made me think about racism today. I believe that racism still exists today and that denying it won’t solve anything. Just a quick internet search can find thousands of examples of racism in today’s society. An article that I found written by Jamelle Bouie (link below) gave various specific examples that showed that America has not made as much progress on the subject of racism as we might think. I’m not denying the progress that we have made; I just think that this is still an issue that needs more attention.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/03/racism-not-a-problem-anymore-don-t-be-ridiculous-it-s-still-a-big-issue.html

 

Talk of the Town

Talk of the Town

 

The two different authors who contributed to this article, John Updike and Susan Sontag, took vastly different approaches to discussing the horrific event that plagued our country on September 11. I was only four years old when this destruction happened. I personally don’t remember the event but since then I have visited ground zero several times as well as learned about the event in school. After gaining more knowledge, I can only imagine how horrific it must have been to live through this.

While reading Updike’s portion of the article, I immediately felt like he had some sort legitimacy because he witnessed the event first hand. I think that people who saw the destruction can have a better understanding and view of the event. They were able to see and live through things that were not aired on TV and that the viewers didn’t get to see.  I found it very interesting when Updike talked about “risk being a price of freedom.” I think this idea hold’s very much truth in our society. When we give people freedom to do, say, and believe what they want, we give up the ability to control what happens all the time. With everyone having freedom, the rest of the world has to deal with the risk that one person will use the freedom to harm others. At the end of the day, I think that the risk is worth the freedom. I think Updike put it very well when he said “freedom is mankind’s elixir, even if a few turn it to poison”

Susan Sontag took a different approach to the dealing with the event. I found her part of the article very political and accusatory compared to Updike’s portion. While I think that Sontag makes some very interesting and legitimate arguments, she is taking a very cynical and distrustful view on the situation. One of the arguments Sontag brought up that I found especially intriguing is when she touched on America always putting on a front that it is “strong” and “unbreakable” even when it appears to be quite the opposite. I am in New York right now and just today I visited ground zero, now called the Freedom Tower. I have to disagree with Sontag’s view about how bad it is for America to put on a strong face in times of adversity. In this case, I think that building the Freedom Tower in the place of the twin towers is a great thing. I think it symbolizes that America does recognize and grieve for the loss on 9-11 but that we have used it to learn from and to better our country. Sontag also made some comments about our “robotic president” and compliant public figures. I don’t think that when 9-11 occurred that there was time for the government to show weakness. In order to protect our country and our safety, the government had to put on a united front and a brave face. While I give much respect for Sontag for questioning the nature of our beliefs, in this particular case I think that America’s perseverance and unity in handling the events of 9-11 is the reason that we are still a strong and powerful country to this day.