Martha Collins White Privilege In Poetry

White Privilege in Poetry

INTRO PARAGRAPH Topic sentence: the idea that governs the entire paragraph then expand on that idea. The overall argument of paper should show the argument from the thesis/topic sentence.

Martha Collins uses the story her father tells in order to talk about race in her poem “Blue Front.” Collins writes about race from the perspective of a white person, her father. She talks about his childhood and the horrible events that he witnessed. Race is discussed in the context of being black, and being white, at this time. Collins doesn’t take a stance, one way or another, in whether the black or white side is correct. She tells the truth, puts it out there, without an opinion. White people are painted in a horrible light.

baskets napkins white

bread ribs and chicken

deviled eggs cakes for these

occasions celebrations often food (Collins 12)

Picnic baskets were packed and brought to lynchings.

For the white people, lynching was a form of entertainment. A lynching was an occasion to be celebrated, a community event that brought people together. “Children were often there they were being taught” (Collins 59). White children were brought to see lynchings, which taught them what it meant to be a white person during this time. They witnessed and were desensitized, to this violence against black people- usually black men. Race gave white people the privilege to sit on the sidelines of a lynching, and watch for entertainment’s sake. Black people did not have the same privilege. Instead of watching lynchings, black people locked themselves in their homes and hoped that the white mobs didn’t come for them

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White people were also given an advantage with segregation. “Water came from the same // source but couldn’t be drunk // from the same fountains” (Collins 5). “White’s Only” and “Colored Only” signs appeared above bathrooms, drinking fountains, laundry machines and more. White students and black students couldn’t go to the same school until May 17th, 1954 when the Supreme Court declared that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional (McBride). Segregation forced people of color to use different things than white people. They “couldn’t look out the same // window couldn’t read // the same books” (Collins 5) as white people. Segregation gave favoritism and power to white people that they had had for a very long time. The separation of people creates differences, an “us” versus “them” mentality. Differences can drive people apart and turn the “in” and “out” groups against one another.
Nikky Finney writes about privilege in her book “Head Off & Split” as well. Finney uses the story of Rosa Parks to show white privilege in her poem “Red Velvet.”
She had grown up in a place:
where only white people had power,
where only white people passed good jobs on
to other white people,
where only white people loaned money
to other white people,
where only white people were considered human
by other white people, (Finney 8)
White privilege shows the differences between how white people and black people are treated. In this section, Finney shows how Rosa Parks and other black people grew up where they weren’t even considered human by white people. White people considered each other human, but not black people. White people had access to good jobs (passed on to them by other white people), they had power, and were able to take out loans (given to them by other white people). These examples and more show what white people were given that black people were not. Black people didn’t have power, or good jobs, or loaned money. Black people weren’t considered human.