In John Howard Griffin’s autobiography titled Black Like Me, Griffin experiences first-hand what it is like to be an African American. Determined to learn the truth about living a life as a black man, Griffin decides to change his skin color. Through special medication and exposure to ultraviolet rays, Griffin’s life suddenly changed. He is treated with great disrespect and hate. He can only go into certain buildings and use certain restrooms. He is hated only because of his skin color. After the experiment, Griffin changes back to his original white skin color. He tells the world what it is like to live as a black person in America. After sharing this, all of his peers and even some of his good friends turn on him. Griffin and his …show more content…
“The Negro’s only salvation from complete despair lies in his belief, the old belief of his forefathers, that these things are not directed against him personally, but against his race, his pigmentation.” (Griffin 45). This reminds me of the Holocaust. The Nazis did not persecute the Jews because of something they said or done, they persecuted the Jews because they were Jewish. They did not even give the Jews a chance to prove themselves as good people. This was the same exact situation with the white and black men. White men instantly began putting down and discriminating the black men. They didn’t even know their name. Because of their color, race, or religion, people were punished heavily for just being themselves. Griffin goes on to say that racism can damage the whole community. “Where racism is practiced, it damages the whole community, not just the victim group.” (Griffin 165). When Hitler targeted the Jews, it didn’t just affect his Nazis or the Jews. It affected the whole country. It even spread to different countries. Everybody was against the Jews. This was the same exact situation for the black people. When the whites targeted against them, it didn’t just affect a city or state. It affected the whole United States of America. Almost everybody from almost everywhere was against the black people and the Jews, just because of their color or
The use and repetition of the word “nigger” suggest both physical and psychological boundaries for Griffin, which, of course, also extend to the black population of the mid-twentieth century. In identifying himself with the term, Griffin becomes overwhelmed by its dehumanizing and de-individualizing effect: “I knew I was in hell. Hell could be no more lonely or hopeless, no more agonizingly estranged from the world of order and harmony” (66). Griffin’s internalization of discrimination and his repression as “Other” allows Griffin to convey the “wrong-doing” by the white middle class, forcing a truthful realization of the detrimental effect of racism on the
Based on the title of the book alone, it is easy to say that racism is one of the many social issues this book will address. Unlike the normal racism of Caucasians versus African Americans, this book focuses on racism of the black elite versus African Americans, also known as colorism. Colorism is the discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically by others of the same racial group. Margo Jefferson says, “Negroland is my name for a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty” (p. 1).
In John Howard Griffin's novel Black Like Me, Griffin travels through many Southern American states, including Mississippi. While in Mississippi Griffin experiences racial tension to a degree that he did not expect. It is in Mississippi that he encounters racial stereotypical views directed towards him, which causes him to realize the extent of the racial prejudices that exist. Mississippi is where he is finally able to understand the fellowship shared by many of the Negroes of the 50's, because of their shared experiences. Although Griffin travels throughout the Southern States, the state of
In Black Like Me John Griffin displayed courage throughout the novel; fear waited for him everywhere he went. This took a lot of courage to face the same fears Griffin encountered. Griffin also battled a lot of prejudice during his trips in the south of the United States. He took abuse that was so unbearable that no one should ever be experienced by anyone. By being courageous he, took the pain and suffering while being away from his family just to take a step towards equality for all. An example can be when a group of white men calling him names based on the colour of his skin;
John Howard Griffin’s chronicled experiences as a black man in his book, “Black Like Me” is an arrogant if well meaning book. It is arrogant because a 28 day experiment does not compare to the years (especially when learning right from wrong) of prolonged discrimination and racism suffered by African-Americans in the southern United States during the 1950’s.
The timeline of racism is as old as time. Racism, over the years, has thrived and has created a divide between people of different ethnicity and race. It breeds an aura where one race feels superior over another because of skin color, or background. It has even gone to the extent of creating an hierarchy that even makes men of a particular race inferior to women of another. In the book, A Gathering Of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines, Gaines takes time and effort to discuss the pain, fear and shame the characters felt in being black.
John Howard Griffin is a white journalist with a wife and three children. He began his project of being a Negro, while he was reading a chart about suicide rates. This chart displayed that the Southern Negro man had a rapidly increasing rate of suicide, because they could not see a reason to go on as the second class citizens that they had become due to their skin color. The whites thought that the Negroes had it made since they had given them “so much” during reconstruction. Griffin realized that the only way to really see the truth about what the Negroes had to endure from day to day was to become a “Negro” himself.
Griffin had pondered for years how a white man must change in order to pass as a Negro, and in November 1959, he finally decided to test this, exposing himself to ultraviolet lights and ingesting pigmentation pills to darken his skin. After five days, the transformation was complete, and Griffin was ready to venture into “oblivion”.
October 28, 1959: John Howard Griffin wonders what it would be like if he was a black man. There has been an increase in suicides committed by southern black people. Realizing the only way to truly experience the discrimination that African Americans face in the South is to become a black person, he decides he must do this.
Discrimination has always been there between blacks and whites. Since the 1800s where racial issues and differences started flourishing till today, we can still find people of different colors treated unequally. “[R]acial differences are more in the mind than in the genes. Thus we conclude superiority and inferiority associated with racial differences are often socially constructed to satisfy the socio-political agenda of the dominant group”(Heewon Chang,Timothy Dodd;2001;1).
As I read Black Boy, Griffin provided me with a small insight on the way whites and blacks were differently treated. Black Like Me was based on a white man who wanted to get a better understanding of the life of negroes and how it feels to be treated unequally. He wanted to know what stood between the white man and black man, why they could not communicate. Griffin writes in his book that, “the only way I could see to bridge the gap between us was to become a Negro” (Griffin 1). His journey then began and he lived the life of a black man. It is with such bravery that he went and risked becoming a Negro. He knew that adverse consequences would occur once people knew the truth. He did not care; I was fascinated with his desire to see what...
Racism is something that has always existed, exists now and will most likely exist in years to come. Although it has diminished a great deal since the beginning of the 20th century, it is still a problem in today’s world and many feel that it may always be a problem. Civil rights movements have helped ease the sting of racism. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. was a black man who fought for civil rights in a peaceful and non-violent way, by giving powerful and persuasive speeches. “Non violence is a way of humility and self-restraint. We Negroes talk a great deal about our rights, and rightly so. We proudly proclaim that three-fourths of the people of the world are colored” (King Jr. 220).in fact, his lectures and dialogues “sparked the conscience of a generation“(King Center-1). Even after civil rights movements there are still so many people in the world that cannot see through race, gender and ethnic background. Stereotyping and poor judgment are still very active in people’s minds today. Black people were and in some instances still are discriminated against and looked down upon because of the color of their skin. One saying “Never judge a book by its cover” goes along with the idea to judge people by their character rather than the way they look.
Racist and racism are provocative words in American society. To some, they become curse words. They are descriptive words of reality that cannot be denied. Some people believe that race is the primary determinant of human abilities and capacities and behave as if racial differences produce inherent superiorities. People of color are often injured by these judgements and actions whether they are directly or indirectly racist. Just as individuals can act in racist ways, so can institutions. Institutions can be overtly or inherently racist. Institutions can also injure people. The outcome is nonetheless racist, if not intentional (Randall).
The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.
Part of human nature is judging something by what surrounds it even if it is another human. Think of a community that has every color, every race, every religion, and every kind of person that community however, doesn’t value each other to some point which causes a problem, a problem that we call racism in today’s era, a problem that needs to be eliminated because it allows a gap that shouldn’t exist in our society. Our society must understand that it isn’t okay to discriminate someone for how they look or what they believe in or what color they happen to be, specifically speaking to those who aren’t smart enough to realize that discrimination isn’t making any change for the better nor is it allowing certain groups in the community to advocate