In 1985, a poem called "Afro-German 1" was written by May Ayim, an Afro-German woman. Contrastingly, the lyric persona of this poem is from the point of view of a white German. And, the audience that the poem is targeted towards is any Afro-German born after WWII who can relate to constantly having their identity called into question by those around them. Through reading this poem, it is evident that there is still a lasting effect of prejudice towards Afro-Germans within this postwar environment of Germany, despite the war being over. As a result, the display of prejudice towards Afro-Germans in Germany has shifted, from coming off as blunt hatred to coming off as curiosity sprung from a place of ignorance. The context of this poem is a …show more content…
casual conversation occurring between a white German and an Afro-German. Since the entire poem is written from the white German's perspective, there are several signs of extreme prejudice towards Afro-Germans. Within each stanza of this poem, there are elements that showcase the prejudice views that were geared towards Afro-Germans during this postwar time period. These elements include the use of repetitive questions, the negative connotation of word choices, juxtaposition, and unnecessary assertions. By the first, third, and sixth stanza of the poem consisting of a question and response format, it is apparent that there is a feeling of disbelief and shock in regards to the concept of Afro-Germans being of not one, but two races. The emphasis that these repetitive questions are placing on the idea of an individual consisting of both African and German decent portrays the curiosity of white Germans towards Afro-Germans, clearly coming from a place of confusion. It is most likely that Afro-Germans encountered many questions that were asked by white Germans during this time period of unaddressed racial tensions because that is what people do when they are confused, they ask questions. Furthermore, within the context of this poem, there are several word choices that convey a negative attitude towards Afro-Germans. This is evident within the terminology that is used to describe both Afro-Germans as biracial individuals, along with Africa as a continent. For example, within the first stanza of the poem, the word choice of "interesting mixture" and "mulattos" are used when referring to Afro-Germans (Lines 3&5). Both of these descriptions carry such negative connotations towards biracial individuals, and as a result, they highlight the racial prejudice that white Germans felt towards Afro-Germans. Another example of a poor choice of words is also shown in the second stanza when the word "lucky" within the phrase, "you're pretty lucky you grew up here," is used to describe Afro-Germans who grew up living in Germany (Line 10).
In this instance, the word choice of "lucky" carries a negative connotation, despite appearing positive on the surface. This is because it demonstrates the mentality that white Germans had to assume that growing up in Germany was much better than growing up in Africa. This same assertion is made in the poem when the word "bush" is used to describe Africa within the phrase, "be glad you didn't stay in the bush" (Line 23). This metaphor, comparing Africa to a mere bush, is used in an extremely condescending manner, as it underplays and lessens both the size and the vast landscape of Africa. It also conveys the false ideology of racial superiority that is still present in German society even after the war had …show more content…
ended. Additionally, in the third stanza of the poem, the word "origin" is used to describe Africa in relation to where Afro-Germans should feel a sense of belonging to (Line 16).
This is seen within the juxtaposition of where the lyric persona feels is her place of origin and where the lyric persona assumes is the Afro-German audience members' place of origin. By using this juxtaposition between contrasting places of origin, the assertion is being made that Afro-Germans' view their place of origin as their "Dad's home country," despite the fact that they were born and raised in Germany (Line 13&14). This same scenario is also apparent within May Ayim's novel Showing Our Colors when an Afro-German woman, named Katharina, struggles with the complicated concept of internationality and yet she simply states, "I can't pass for one of these nationalities because I don't know what it feels like to be from there" (Ayim 153). In this context, it is evident that Katharina, like many other Afro-Germans who were raised in Germany, view themselves as purely German because Germany is the only home country that they have ever
known. In reference to Afro-Germans in relation to Africa, there seems to be several occurrences within the poem where this same assertion of emotional ties between the two is repeatedly made. For instance, when the lyric persona exclaims to the audience members that "if you work hard at your studies, you can help your people in Africa," the assumption is made that Afro-Germans feel emotionally tied to Africa and think of Africans, rather than Germans, as their people (Line). But despite this common belief that Afro-Germans have a predisposed emotional connection to Africa, Katharina from Showing Our Colors debunks this assumption when she provides insight into how many Afro-Germans feel about their nationality, declaring that "I feel like a German and feel the closest connections here: to my language; to my growing up here" (Ayim 153). Thus, these false misconceptions that have been put forth, in regards to how Afro-Germans perceive themselves, demonstrates how stereotypes from before the war were engrained into the minds white Germans and how they continued to shape the way that white Germans thought of Afro-Germans even after WWII. In a larger context, all of the literary devices that the lyric persona utilizes throughout this poem are meant to establish a barrier between white Germans and Afro-Germans. By serving this purpose, it is clear to see how blackness continues to be portrayed negatively within postwar Germany. Moreover, Afro-Germans continue to be looked at by white Germans as "others," and there continues to be signs of racial superiority in relation to white Germans' condescending outlook on individuals of African descent. The only thing that has changed in Germany is the way that white Germans are choosing to express their prejudice feelings towards Afro-Germans. And, instead of a more physical approach, they are engaging in a more verbal approach. Overall, the goal of this poem is to shine a light on the shift that has occurred within white Germans' approach to racism and to show how racism is still present within postwar Germany.
This poem is telling a story, perhaps of someone grieving over the loss of someone lose to them, with no happiness nor hope left to have. “Here you sit beside me, Our shadows have outgrown us. The lamp goes out, The joy already came, already went. Our heart will grieve, We’ll sit here melancholy, Like children greatly punished. Here you sit beside me, Our shadows have outgrown us” Earlier within the poem it states “The joy already came, already went” which is meaning there is no joy left as it was once there, just sadness and sorrow left behind. This poem shows that he, and other people he was with, went through a great amount of sadness and loss because the Holocaust took loved ones and family members away and he may have felt as if he didn't have hope left any chance of happiness.
Claudia Rankine’s Citizen explores the daily life situations between blacks and whites and reveals that how little offensive denigrating conversations in the form of micro-aggressions conveyed to the black people intentionally by the whites and how these racial comments fuels the frustrations and anger among the blacks. She gathered the various incidents, where
Throughout the article, the author uses the first person view to illustrate her main idea. For example, in the first paragraph she says “I learned that despite our differences in size, shape and color, we humans are 99.9 percent the same”. Here she uses the first person point of view to show her belief that people are different on the outside but inside they all are human, which is an example of expressive purpose. She says “I never noticed that my parents were different colors” and “I knew them as my parents before I saw them as people – before I perceived their skin color”. In this two quotes, the author expresses her feeling that although her parents are different in their skin colors she had never been racist or noticed that. The author sees her mother and father as her parents, their skin colors do not make them different to her. It is another characteristic of expressive
Poems and other readings with strong racial undertones such as Strange Fruit allow me to reflect back on the role race plays in my life as a black young woman and analysis if much has changed in terms of racism in the American society today.
The article “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, originally published in Ms. Magazine in 1986, under the title “Just Walk on by,” depicts the existence of racism within the unconscious prejudice of people. The main idea of this article is the fact that blacks are perceived as a violent and disastrous people, and this, in turn, puts them in danger. Staples uses a detailed imagery to illustrate the stereotype of individuals based on black people. In the article, the author portrays the poignant events that black people face and uses pathos to describe his melancholy of people judging him by his skin color. He attracts the focus of audience towards the main idea of this article by using onomatopoeia as well as diction. The usage of such rhetorical strategy has successfully clarified the main idea of the article and widened the approach of this article towards public.
Claude M. Steele is the author of “ Whistling Vivaldi”, which mainly represents that the meaning of identity contingencies and stereotype threat, and how can these effect people’s ideas and behaviors. By writing this article, Steele tries to make people know exist of identity contingencies. Gina Crosley-Corcoran, who is a white woman suffered the poverty in her childhood. Through describing her miserable experiences in parallel construction to motivate readers sympathize her, moreover approving that she can as a powerful evidence for affirming the impact of identity contingencies. Crosley-Corcoran admits the white privilege really exist in some way in her article “ Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person”, and white privilege
The poem with the same title as the collection ’’I am not a racist but…’’ she uses satire to show how easy racism is not recognised or played down. She was hurt at a very young age by racist attitude and words as she wrote about her school years in the poem ‘’Making...
This is due to the fact that the individual may be going through a stage where their cultures may be contradicting making him feel alienated. One way this is shown in the story is, how the persona, who is half Australian and Chinese, describes his personal appearance by saying, “I caught a glimpse of my poo-brown eyes and flat yellow nose; then I just looked down at my feet as they slunk away”, in this quote we see that the person is describing his personal appearance through imagery, in doing so he is demonstrating his half Asian side. However, we see that he uses emotive language in order to make the reader understand how the boy feels about his appearance. Especially saying how his feet “slunk away”, in other words he is ashamed of his appearance. Later on in the story we see how he describes the Australian kids through, “They had sandy hair, pale freckly skin and blue eyes that could read the board from the back of the room without corrective lenses”. We see in this quote how the he uses imagery to describe them however instead of using poor emotive language he uses a description that practically praises them. In doing so I noticed that the boy hates his Asian side and he thinks looking Australian is better showing how he feels contradicted by his personal image. This teaches me not to be judgmental to bicultural individuals as it may be adding fuel to the
In Audre Lorde’s bildungsroman essay “The Fourth of July” (1997), she recalls her family’s trip to the nation’s capital that represented the end of her childhood ignorance by being exposed to the harsh reality of racialization in the mid 1900s. Lorde explains that her parents are to blame for shaping her skewed perception of America by shamefully dismissing frequent acts of racism. Utilizing copious examples of her family being negatively affected by racism, Lorde expresses her anger towards her parents’ refusal to address the blatant, humiliating acts of discrimination in order to emphasize her confusion as to why objecting to racism is a taboo. Lorde’s use of a transformational tone of excitement to anger, and dramatic irony allows those
The world today can sometimes be a hard place to live, or at least live in comfort. Whether it be through the fault of bullies, or an even more wide spread problem such as racism, it is nearly impossible to live a day in the world today and feel like it was only full of happiness and good times. Due to this widespread problem of racism, often times we tend to see authors go with the grain and ignore it, continuously writing as if nothing bad happens in the world. Fortunately, Claudia Rankine, is not one of these authors. Rankine manages to paint a vivid picture of a life of hardships in her lyric Citizen: An American Lyric. In this lyric Claudia Rankine shows that she truly has a very interesting and not commonly used approach to some literary
“It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder - seven million women, and one million men.” (“South Carolina Department of Mental Health”). Skinny by Ibi Kaslik is about two sisters, Holly and Giselle, whose lives and relationship are impacted by the others’ state of condition. Giselle is a medical student who wanted to see what would happen if she stopped eating, and because of this she developed anorexia. Holly is an eighth grader who was born deaf in her left ear. The story jumps back and forth, changing every chapter, from Giselle’s point of view to Holly’s. This helps show the reader how one sister affects the others life. Skinny by Ibi Kaslik shows how family problems can have a great effect on the lives of the people within the family.
A sense of belonging and community is essential in finding value and purpose in life. Dogs are naturally social animals that seek to live in packs. In the novel “Fifteen Dogs”, written by André Alexis, the dogs are given human intelligence and are forced to face a difficult question; to embrace this new way of life or revert back to their old nature. The intelligence the dogs gain unites the pack of dogs together, but, it is also what separates them from all other dogs. The introduction of language to the pack creates disorder within the hierarchy of the group which leads to divisions between the dogs.
By stating, “racism itself is dreadful, but when it pretends to be legal, and therefore just, when a man like Nelson Mandela is imprisoned, it becomes even more repugnant” and “one cannot help but assign the two systems, in their supposed legality, to the same camp” (Wiesel, p.1), the Holocaust survivor is creating solidarity within two separate decades that are connected by the government’s tyranny. The rationale behind constructing a system of unity is to ensure the lives of the oppressed, regardless of their personal beliefs and cultures. Mandela is not affiliated with the Holocaust, nor is he a Jew – rather the former President of South Africa who stood up against anti-black movements – but he is still bound by a common
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing embodies the modernism themes of alienation and the reaffirmation of racial and social identity. She has a subjective style of writing in which comes from the inside of the character’s mind and heart, rather than from an external point of view. Hurston addresses the themes of race relations, discrimination, and racial and social identity. At a time when it is not considered beneficial to be “colored,” Hurston steps out of the norm and embraces her racial identity.
“Citizen: An American Lyric” is a poem about the issues of race that gives a voice to African-Americans and strife in a white majority country. The book begins with the mention of “racial incidents experienced by Rankine and friends of hers” in the second person (Chiasson 1). Then, the experiences in a private school, the cabin of a plane, and on the way to therapy demonstrate that Claudia Rankine used African-Americans as professionals and academics who encounter injustices (Bass 1). For example, the author implements Serena Williams’ story. As a black tennis player in a white dominated sport, she had to confront “egregious acts of racism and unfairness” from umpires and commentators (Evaristo 1). One of the author’s objectives is to demonstrate that “no American citizen is ever really free of race and