Racism In The Fourth Of July By Audre Lorde

“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome” (Rosa Parks). Lorde expresses her first time experiencing racism when she goes on a family vacation with her family. Racism is an unequal way of defining where a person belongs on a social scale. It can affect someone emotionally when treated in this unjust manner. In The Fourth of July, by Audre Lorde, Lorde expresses what it feels like to grow up with racism in her lifetime, which shows the unfair and unequal effects of racism.

Families who have been victims of racism face many problems growing up in a country where skin tone matters. As Lorde’s sister was getting ready to go on a class trip, the teachers had pulled her aside to tell her she could not go,Lorde explains, “But the nuns had given her back her deposit in private, explaining to her that the class, all of whom were white, except

Phyllis, would be staying in a hotel where Phyllis would not be happy, meaning, Daddy explaining to her, also in private, that they did not rent rooms to Negroes” (Lorde 240).

This reference uses diction and a symbol. Lorde's sister's skin tone is used as a symbol of her place on the social hierarchy for the kids in her class and her. Lorde uses diction to illustrate the word use of ¨happy.” Lorde feels a sense of unequalness between the other students to both her and her sister, because the skin tone of Lorde and her sister is different from the other students. When Audre found out she was being treated unfairly based on her skin tone, Lorde felt hurt and wondered if the country of the ‘free’ was actually free. Lorde writes, “I spent the afternoon squinting up at monuments to freedom

and past presidencies and democracy, and wondering why the light and heat were both so much stronger in Washington D.C., then back home in New York City” (Lorde 241). To illustrate, Lorde uses syntax in “freedom and past presidencies and democracy” to express her thoughts on how far things have changed. Audre describes her feelings towards life after she had figured out why people look at her differently. Lorde also includes diction in ¨squinting up” as if she is trying to understand why she is treated so differently from others with a different skin tone than her. Lorde and her family go out to eat and get a huge feeling of shock when they are forced to eat the meal back at their hotel due to the color of their skin. Lorde noted, “The waitress moved along the line of us closer to my father and spoke again. ¨’I said I kin give you to take out, but you can’t eat here. Sorry.’ Then she dropped her eyes looking very embarrassed, and suddenly we heard what it was she was saying all at the same time, loud and clear’” (Lorde 242). In the passage, Lorde’s tone illustrates the hurt and disappointment she felt as she was turned away from a public place. Lorde portrays her thoughts and her confusion at being dismissed and treated without kindness. Racism affected Lorde’s point of view of the people around her and caused her to have an unfair and unequal way of life.

Lorde explains her experience with racism for the first time in her life, which demonstrates the unjust and cruel effects of racism that minorities are faced with. Lorde wrote “The Fourth of July” to spread awareness of the racism she and her family were put through. The cause and effect racism had on her family was hard to deal with for Lorde, and by writing “The Fourth of July” Lorde had shared a private, but helpful story that can first handedly show people the unfair effects of racism. Lorde’s parents had taught Lorde and her sister to overcome and to be a better person even when being treated in such an unfair way.