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 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 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

Slavery in colonial America

http://www.resourcesjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/slaves3.jpg

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/img/archive/21_03/RS-

introduce them to God).

http://cdn.simplyknowledge.com/sk/uploads/script/rudyard-kipling/the-white-mans-burden-01-lARGE.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/1890sc_Pears_Soap_Ad.jpg

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

which to control them in place of slavery

(Ray).

Lynching

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/diOPSgZeZfRRutIcl98pWc46Ytk7unTFRaT78AWA9GXWWqb8T1NAWot2SuRMABVLpoZyJ54KzZRmg1u8FM2o1x0X0pJO8WS_ywdJCIQ5VtoRKbhvYuI

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

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

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT30PQcNcvcleJN6YU5IYSgCQIDxuT1bkp2wf4Nb4-_i7OKavB2 http://www.christplagiarized.com/Christ_Plagiarized/Blog/Entries/2011/7/17_Activeion_-_using_mumbojumbo_to_sell_a_fantasy_product._Just_like_religion._files/clorox.gif

Nomasonto Mnisi

http://yabablay.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Mshoza.jpg

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

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

http://metrobibleblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/am_i_not_a_man.jpg

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 African-American Literature). So one

can see how these stereotypes are mistaken; however, hearing and seeing such stereotypes

repeatedly 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

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Olaudah_Equiano_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_15399.png/200px-Olaudah_Equiano_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_15399.png

Blair, an inventor, managed to develop a seed planter(Karenga). 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-and-

lynching-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

http://www.lamppostproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/USAkkk-300x294.jpg