Willie Lynch
The Sad Truth
294 years ago Willie Lynch of the infamous "Willie Lynch Letter: The Making Of A Slave" read his manual to those who were present that day in the Virginia Colony. In his letter Lynch spoke about how if his procedure is used correctly then "It will control the slaves for at least 300 hundred years".
As of right now the year is 2006 and the effects are still felt and it is not even 300 years, reading Willie Lynch's letter you hear some African American/Black people say that they get mad but to me a lot of it's the truth and its sad to say that we as Black people do it to each other.
So far the life I have lived I can honestly say that Black people are the most self-hated people in the world. You can look at every race and see that there is some type of cohesion between them. White people are a great example, they may hate each other but if something goes wrong to were they may lose some power, they will come together to stop the force or those people from prospering. Asian and Hispanics those two races are probably the most independent cultures that will look out for each other. But Black people we sell each other out in a heart beat as long a we (the individual) are taken care of.
Back to Willie Lynch, every versus tandem he has put together is that of a problem in the Black society: Old Male vs. Young Male, Male vs. Female and the age old battle of Light Skinned vs. Dark Skinned. The Old Male vs. Young Male is not so much of a problem because there will always be some type of generation clash, but the other two are somewhat of a problem. In the case of Male vs. Female due to Willie Lynch I will say that it is bitter sweet.
In the part "The Breaking Process Of The African Woman" Lynch describes of ways to destroy the male image of the Black man so the Black Woman herself will become independent and she will raise her offspring in reversed roles. That means the Mother will make the son mentally weak, dependent, but physically strong so that he will not have the same fate as the male image that was once there, next she will raise he daughter to be psychologically independent.
Lynching of black men was common place in the south as Billie Holiday sang her song “Strange Fruit” and the eyes of justice looked the other way. On the other side of the coin, justice was brought swiftly to those blacks who stepped out of line and brought harm to the white race. Take for instance Nate Turner, the slave who led a rebellion against whites. Even the Teel’s brought their own form of justice to Henry Marrow because he “said something” to one of their white wives (1). Flashing forward a few years later past the days of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, several, but not all in the younger generation see the members of the black and white race as equal and find it hard to fathom that only a few years ago the atmosphere surrounding racial relations was anything but pleasant.
is a bleak one to say the least. At this time African American are treated only a little better than
We saw the Thirteenth Amendment occur to abolish slavery. We also saw the Civil Rights Acts which gave full citizenship, as well as the prohibiting the denial of due process, etc. Having the civil rights laws enabled African Americans to new freedoms which they did not used to have. There was positive change occurring in the lives of African Americans. However, there was still a fight to suppress African Americans and maintain the racial hierarchy by poll taxes and lengthy and expensive court proceedings. Sadly, this is when Jim Crow laws appeared. During this time African Americans were losing their stride, there was an increase in prison populations and convict labor, and the convicts were
“People say that it can’t work, black and white. Here, we make it work every day. We still have our disagreements, of course, but before we reach for hate, always, always, we remember the Titans.” (Yakin)The team captains in the film Gerry Bertier and arguably Julius Campbell consistently come into conflict regarding prejudice views of each other. Superiority is the basis of racism; it determines the systemic forms that categorize privileges based on the color of skin.
He imagined his mother lying desperately ill and his being able to secure only a Negro doctor for her. He toyed with that idea for a few minutes and then dropped it for a momentary vision of himself participating as a sympathiser in a sit-in demonstration. This was possible but he did not linger with it. Instead, he approached the ultimate horror. He brought home a beautiful suspiciously Negroid woman. Prepare yourself, he said. There is nothing you can do about it. This is the woman I have chosen. (15)
In D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation the interactions between black and white characters represent Griffith’s view of an appropriate racial construct in America. His ideological construction is white dominance and black subordination. Characters, such as the southern Cameron’s and their house maid, who interact within these boundaries, are portrayed as decent people. Whereas characters who cross the line of racial oppression; such as Austin Stoneman, Gus and Silas Lynch, are portrayed as bad. Both Lynch and Lydia Brown, the mulatto characters, are cast in a very negative light because they confuse the ideological construct the most. The mixing of races puts blacks and whites on a common ground, which, in Griffith’s view, is a big step in the wrong direction. Griffith portrays how the relationship between blacks and whites can be good only if the color line and positions of dominance and subordination are maintained. Through the mulatto characters he illustrates the danger that blurring the color line poses to American society.
Because of the thirst of superiority whites had, they wanted to restructure the behaviors of blacks in ways that would make them behave inferior. This was aided by the Jim Crow Laws enacted during the Jim Crow period. “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow” in Uncle Tom’s Children explains how the natural behaviors of blacks were affected by Jim Crow laws. Wright explains how these laws affected him personally. Right from his childhood, blacks have been restricted from having anything to do with whites. Black children were brought up in ways that would make them scared of the whites. This continued even in his adulthood. Only few blacks were fortunate to work in places where whites were, but they were always treated badly. Wright got a job in an optical company, where he worked alongside two whites, Mr. Morrie and Mr. Pease. When Wright asked both of his coworkers Mr. Morrie and Mr. Pease to tell him about the work, they turned against him. One day Mr. Morrie told Mr. Pease that Richard referred to him as "Pease," so they queried him. Because he was trapped between calling one white man a liar and having referred to the other without saying "Mr." Wright promised that he would leave the factory. They warned him, while he was leaving, that he should not tell the boss about it. Blacks were made to live and grow up under conditions that made them regard whites as superior. Whites also used blacks’ natural behaviors against them by sexually abusing them. It is natural for people to have sex, but if they forced or abused sexually this means that their natural behavior is being used against them because sexual abuse is not natural. Sarah, in “Long Black Song,” is an example of a black female that was sexually abused by whites. Sarah was married and had a child but when the white man came to her house he did not hesitate to have sex with her. She resisted him initially
From that time until now there have been new laws passed and things have gotten better. But even now blacks and other minorities are involved in the civil rights movement. Lots of like Spanish Americans, Jews, Orientals, Native Americans, immigrants, homosexuals and others are involved now. The leaders, black and white, sometimes don’t agree on how to win civil rights. Most people are working peacefully, but others, that are called militants, think peace hasn’t worked and that violence is necessary. Many people think that blacks still do not receive fair treatment from authorities like the police. Even now the civil rights movement is still working for equal rights for all like we were promised in the Declaration of Independence.
Today Detroit remains one of the most segregated cities in the United States, although segregation was outlawed years ago because of the economy. Citizens of Detroit are faced with loss of jobs, for closures, schooling changes, and constant leader changes within the city. Personally I don’t think blacks and whites or any other race have problems with each other it’s just certain circumstances in Detroit brings the issue of division among races.
In the black community, African-Americans are discriminating against each other, putting those with lighter skin complexion against ones whose skin is darker. In the African American community it’s like a battle of the skin tones. This type of racism is also known as colorism, the belief that those with lighter, fairer skin are treated with a higher respect than those with darker skin, this issue has been happening for a long time within the African American community. This form of racism is more offensive, severe, and different than the common traditional racism. The African American community is supposed to be united under the race Black, but that is where the problems come in. Under the ethnicity of African American, and have pride in their skin color and supposed to be joined together, there is a system of separation within the different shades of “Black.” In the black community, there are all kinds of shades of black, yellows, light, brown, dark brown, and other shades. According to Dr. Ronald Hall, a social work professor at Michigan State University, "As a result of having been colonized particularly by Spaniards, the British, etcetera, a lot of people...
After the war, issues of race weren't ignored. Black men had come back from a war were they were treated like men. They still weren't treated as equally as whites, but they were treated better during the war than they were back home where they were treated like objects. This gave them more motivation to demand equality when they returned. But after the war, white hostility towards blacks increased. This became a dichotomy when there was competition for low wage jobs between the blacks and whites. There was also black encroachment into white neighborhoods. The whites d...
...on of African Americans is historic with racism as the primary source. Racism is not confined in the Southern states as it was once viewed. We are all born free but far from being equal as society fights to manage their differences fifty five years after the March on Washington in 1963 for jobs and freedom. Consequently, racial inequality toward African American is here to stay.
Throughout history, African Americans have encountered an overwhelming amount of obstacles for justice and equality. You can see instances of these obstacles especially during the 1800’s where there were various forms of segregation and racism such as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan terrorism, Jim- Crow laws, voting restrictions. These negative forces asserted by societal racism were present both pre and post slavery. Although blacks were often seen as being a core foundation for the creation of society and what it is today, they never were given credit for their work although forced. This was due to the various laws and social morals that were sustained for over 100 years throughout the United States. However, what the world didn’t know was that African Americans were a strong ethnic group and these oppressions and suffrage enabled African Americans for greatness. It forced African Americans to constantly have to explore alternative routes of intellectuality, autonomy and other opportunities to achieve the “American Dream” especially after the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed after the Civil War.
There are things that are going on today where men, specifically black men, are being mixed up for being a risk towards white individuals and the final product being sent away to jail or being killed for reasons unknown by any means. Black men are being dealt with unjustifiably, than white men. On the off chance that a black man was to stroll into a store with a dark hoodie on he will be viewed as a risk yet in the event that a white man was to do precisely the same he wouldn’t appear to be identical.
Her race wants him to win and overcome the pain and sufferance they had till then. The description of the men staying away from the walls, and the women clenching onto their babies, showed fear. No one could breathe, or blink as it was the moment of suspense which could go in either way was a turning point where black people felt it was all over.