Breaking Out of White
Supremacy
Ji Hee Kim
Professor Tchaiko Kwayana
English 101
12/8/13
Ji Hee Kim
Professor Tchaiko Kwayana
English 101
12/8/13
Breaking Out of White Supremacy
The European, or “white” man has long been
assured of possessing a “superior” status to
those of the other races, particularly the colored.
This is a carefully cultivated concept so
embedded in the minds of society that it has
become an unconscious truth. The birth of the
concept that “whites are superior” dates back to
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the colonial era, where plantation owners/big
time farmers needed a labor force that was not only cheap and inexpensive, but could be worked
to the bone; in other words, a labor force that could be exploited. They found indentured servants
to be expensive: employers had to pay for the servants’
passage, supply them with clothes, and treat them
moderately well—they didn’t
want
to
discourage
immigrants from coming after all. While searching for a
more inexpensive alternative, a certain Dutch ship landed
on American soil. It had 15 Africans aboard whom they
sold into indentured servitude (Norton Anthology of
Slavery in colonial America
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African-American Literature), which brings us to an unexpected truth. Africans didn’t start off as
slaves in America. Also, the now pervasive white supremacist attitude had not developed.
Americans found Africans to be hardy workers and came to desire them for a labor force. Then,
they adopted the idea of slavery, and with the humanitarian excuse of the white man’s burden(the
concept that Africans are a more inferior and barbaric race, and that the white man has the duty
to
“civilize”
them
and
introduce
them
to
God).
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This was to counteract any guilt that they may have and also to rationalize any actions they took
on “lower races”-those they subjugated and exploited by forcing them into enslavement. They
could ease their consciences by declaring that this was to help the Africans—that it was not out
of self-interest. Ever since they enslaved people, the rich grew richer. In order to protect their
interests, the rich used various methods and mediums throughout the changing eras to ensure that
Africans would remain subjugated and depicted as “inferior” to the white man.
The categories into which these acts of terror fall under are two: hot and cold. Hot terror
is violence, particularly that of the physical nature, such as lynching. Lynching was prevalent in
the time between the end of the Reconstruction and the beginning of the Great Depression after
slavery was abolished. It only ended early
in the last century. Lynching was treated
as an event for which many gathered
together to watch for amusement. This was
frequently carried out by “good Christian
folk” in the Bible Belt as a means with
Lynching
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which to control them in place of slavery
(Ray).
Cold terror, on the other hand, is emotional and mental. It uses the people’s negative
feelings and ways of thinking (popular opinion) to make them feel ashamed, scared, or hate. One
example of cold terror is the way an increasing number of African Americans have recently been
bleaching their skin (Swoope). Though people have been alerted that long-term effects of doing
so include cancer and damage to your health, many still do so to achieve a lighter skin tone.
Some, like Nomasonto Mnisi—an
African American musician-- say
it’s because “she likes the way it
makes her look”. Others do so due
to self-hate. They hate their skin
Nomasonto Mnisi
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color, or find “that side”, with the lighter skin tone to look “more beautiful”(Maya). Certain
people like Iatisha have gone to extremes, going so far as to put laundry bleach on her face after
finding “nothing else worked” for her. A mother named Iatosha regularly bleaches her
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children(ages 8, 6, and 4). People have been influenced by hurtful comments and popular opinion
regarding color, as well as the manner in which people treat others based on their color. Iatisha
has been called “smutty” when her skin became darker due to her pregnancy, and she was raised
by a mother who bleached her skin regularly, saying “a lighter skin will bring it[your beauty] out
more”. Iatosha has always been told she was “beautiful…but dark”. Both Iatisha and Iatosha
have been told that they would be more beautiful if they had lighter skin. Iatisha, by her own
mother. Iatosha, by her closest friends. These kinds of attitudes and remarks erode one’s sense of
self-worth.
Stereotypes also come into play in cold terror. There
is a stereotype that black men are more sexually active so
have a tendency to become rapists, more violent than men
from other races, and less able to raise kids as they are
perpetually absent. The black woman’s stereotype is that she
will be pregnant at an early age. Both black men and women
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010/02/am_i_not_a_man.jpg
are depicted as being without restraint and more
unintelligent in comparison to everyone else(Patterson). People
mistakenly develop these
conclusions based on the past; they don’t take into account the circumstances in which these
stereotypes were wrought, nor why or how they were created. These stereotypes originated from
the slavery era in American history. In this era, the enslaved were forced to breed so their master
could have a continuous source of slaves. The master frequently took part in the breeding as well.
Once the children were born they were taken away and given to one of the elderly enslaved who
would take care of them until they
could be used. Parents were never
allowed
to
see
their
children
again(Norton Anthology of AfricanAmerican Literature). So one can
see how these stereotypes are
mistaken; however, hearing and
seeing such stereotypes repeatedly
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starts making a person believe them even though they are not true.
The media also took part in cold terror. It published pictures illustrating Africans to be
like monkeys or devils, all grotesque. Currier & Ives was a printmaking shop that produced these
types of lithographs(“Images of Blacks by Currier & Ives”.). They produced numerous caricatures of
black men, many of which depicted them as buffoons. This helped spread the belief in the
stereotype.
Many Africans, both enslaved and free, refused to let others “define” them with such
propaganda. Some deliberately set out to destroy the stereotype from the ground on up. Others
adopted the attitude in which they simply brushed it off. Frederick Douglass, for example,
learned to adapt to his environment, and make the best out of
things. He identified a medium through which he could fight the
propaganda
of
the
stereotype—the
written
word—and
developed his writing skills. Olaudah Equiano, survived the
Middle Passage and identified economics as his weapon of
choice. He bought himself out of slavery and wrote eloquent
speeches detailing the inhumanity of enslaving an intelligent
race (Norton Anthology of African-American Literature). Henry
Blair, an inventor, managed to develop a seed planter(Karenga).
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African inventors, whether intentionally or unintentionally,
helped contribute toward destroying the stereotype. They did
not let the stereotype of the “unintelligent black man” define them. On the contrary, they
disproved it. In doing so, they helped weaken the white man’s argument of “the white man’s
burden”, and also managed to contribute to American society as a whole. Though these Africans’
lives were difficult, they managed to hold up an optimistic view and found a purpose in their
lives.
The concept of white supremacy still exists today, and so does the hot and cold terror that
supports it. Society has been conditioned to hold negative stereotypes of African Americans—
but this needs to change, and society needs people with the spirits of Olaudah Equiano, Frederick
Douglass, and the inventors of old to do so.
Works Cited
Braziel, Jana Evans. “History of Lynching in the United States”. ACLAnet. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.umass.edu/complit/aclanet/USLynch.html>
Iatisha.
Iatosha.
“Images of Blacks by Currier & Ives”. Philadelphia Print Shop. 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Dec.
2013. <http://www.philaprintshop.com/blackimagec&i.html>
Karenga, Maulana. “Africans in America”. Introduction to Black Studies. Print.
Maya.
Mnisi, Nomasonto.
Norton Anthology of African-American Literature. Ed. Gates, Henry Louis. McKay, Nellie Y.
New York : W.W. Norton & Co. 2nd ed. 2004. Print.
Patterson, Orlando. “A Poverty of the Mind”. 26 March. Cambridge, Mass. 2006. Print.
Ray, Stephen G. “The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone”. Christian Century. 31
Jan. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <http://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2012-01/cross-andlynching-tree-james-h-cone>
Swoope, Terry. “Skin Bleaching Black Women”. Youtube. Youtube, 5 Jul. 2013. Web. 10 Dec.
2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dxlCK1_gcw>
Images
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