Examples Of Racism In Half Blood Blues

Racism is one of the most clear themes in Half-Blood Blues that will likely continue throughout the book. The main character, Sid is African American and many of his bandmates are as well. The amount of racism in the novel is clear since the first portion is set during 1940 when Nazi Germany was working to extinguish minority races. People of Jewish and African American descent were targeted.

Sid, the main character says, “Me? I was American, and so light-skinned folks often took me for white. [...] Sometimes when I looked out through the curtains, staring onto the emptiness of Rue de Vernon, I’d see our old street shattered. [...] Crowds in the firelight, broken bottles. We gone down after a minute, and it was like walking a gravel path, all them shards crunching at each step. The synagogue up the block was on fire. We watched the firemen standing with their backs to the flames, spraying water on all the other buildings. To keep the fire from spreading, see.” (9-10) Targeted fires and other public displays of racism were common in the 1930s and 1940s. The building

He didn’t have identity papers because he and the bandmembers had come from Berlin to escape their capture because of their race for as long as possible. Identity papers gave citizens proof that they belonged to the country so papers were often checked at random occurrences. Because of this, Sid and whoever he was with chose not to go out during the daytime. He recalls, “We usually went all of nowhere in the daytime. Never without Delilah, never the same route twice, [...] But Hiero, he grown reckless as the occupation deepened. [...] And add to this the fact that he didn’t have no identity papers right now - well, let’s just say wasn’t no cakewalk for him.” (9) Racism took a tole on all of them because it deemed them outcasts or social flaws under Nazi rule which forced them to always be on the run and avoiding