Topic > Richard Wright's Black Boy: Being a Minority in the Deep South

IndexIntroductionRacism in Black BoyIncreasing Police Brutality in the SouthConclusionReferencesIntroductionThis is a body of literature produced in the United States by authors of African descent. This literature is very significant as it describes various important themes that are important in the modern world. This report discusses an article on police brutality and rising crime in urban areas by Richard Wright, Black Boy. Well, the rule of thumb was that if a person wasn't white, or wasn't the majority, they probably would have been discriminated against in some sense before the civil rights movement and even a little bit after. Additionally, Asians and Latinos were also discriminated against back then. In Richard Wright's Black Boy, the author discusses the duality of being a minority in the Deep South. The story was written in 1945, but its content is close enough to what happened in the 1950s-60s to answer the question quite well. On one side were the whites, the majority who treated blacks badly. However, on the other hand, there was also a certain level of “minority status”. Richard recounts how he and many other black boys harassed and threw things at Jewish boys, calling them “Christ killers.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original EssayRacism in Black BoyBlacks were so used to being at the bottom of the totem pole or hell, at the time the book is set, most people had grandparents and even parents who were once slaves and Wright (2009) argues that it was simply an attempt to feel above someone else. Those scars run deep for some people. Then, in a vain attempt to feel dignified, they discriminated against other minorities, such as Jews. The system of bigotry is not just limited to white people discriminating against others. It changes the entire culture around race. This was still true in the 1950s, even with the changing tides. As a side note, Richard Wright's Black Boy covers many of the experiences of being black in the Deep South before the civil rights movement. Wright (2015) attests from personal experience that in colonial times “boy” was a very widespread term. term used for an adult male native to Papua New Guinea. The Natives were collectively known as "the boys", and a white family would have a servant known as a footman. If it was necessary to distinguish gender, a Native woman was known as “Mary” or Meri. Furthermore, Wright (2015) recounts in his book how several people had worked in Papua New Guinea and in 1968 he attended an ANU student tour of the University, Port Moresby and surrounding areas organized by Bill Gammage and certainly heard English and Australian planters and businessmen use the term "the boys" in a condescending way that deprived them of adulthood and free will. Papua New Guinea finally gained independence from Australia in 1975, against opposition from many of the “old hands of New Guinea” ( Hinds, 2010 ). In 1965 on the Gold Coast Wright went with a schoolmate born in New Guinea to Australian parents, to visit a retired couple who had been colleagues and friends of his parents in New Guinea. The elderly couple were strongly opposed to the idea that the native New Guineans could ever be ready for self-government and described talk of independence as: "The boys are getting cheeky." My opinion at the time was that referring to “kids” as “cheeky” was yet another way of treating them like children. That was certainly a custom long established inSouth. An older white lady needing assistance with her bags or something might shout "Boy!" to a nearby black man, sometimes accompanied by a snap of the fingers. A group of young black men accused of rape were known to all as "The Scottsboro Boys." The speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates saw that there is nothing wrong with saying of African-American legislators, “I don't have a problem with those guys.” Knowing him and his rural surroundings well, the legislators actually weren't very offended. It should be noted that "boy" or "boys" in a general sense has always been a customary way to refer to white men as well. “He's a nice guy,” was a compliment directed at an older white man. 'Boy' is certainly social, but more common in the South. Which is to say, there are many well-known ways to separate boys from men, and some men don't grow up while others don't. The best way to put it is that there's a man's job and there's a boy's job and if anyone doesn't do a man's job, he's a boy. The boys fetch, lift loads, run errands, send messages and do all the general scout work. Thus, if a person is called “boy” it is not necessarily a racist usage, but refers to the type of work he is expected to do (Gallantz, 1986). Right or wrong, most black men in the South held boys' jobs and respectability; however, yes, there is absolutely a bias in calling all black men "boys", but generally people know at a glance what the social expectation is and this is the same depending on the job. It is not easy to imagine, but it was evident that the vilest racists called "boy" any black minister who would call another black from the labor association "boy". Increase in Police Brutality in the SouthBrewton (2010) argues that this is something that is a subtlety that a person would tend to understand only by actually living in the South and knowing how people behave in various contexts. Many older black men, for example, have been brutally tortured and killed by police officers. As a white man living in the Deep South, Wright's (1998) perspective on police brutality in the South may be particularly insightful. It seems to him that in the North blacks were mostly confined to certain areas of large cities while in the South they were everywhere. Wright (1998) is certainly sure that there were more or fewer racists in both places, but certainly more whites interacted with blacks in the South than in the North. As a personal example, Wright took many trips with his family from Detroit to rural Michigan and found that once a person lives in the city, it will be evident that he will not see a single black person driving through Louisiana while there were blacks in every city and in every rural area. That said, Wright (1998) is convinced that there is a relationship between police brutality and racism, between the number of protests and racism, or between the number of deaths at the hands of the police and racism. For the record, he thinks the Black Lives Matter movement has been a step in the right direction toward reducing police brutality in the South, as it has amplified feelings of black victimization, with positive results in his opinion. According to Brewton (2010), the police were racist and could casually shoot people for no reason and for them the solution was to emphasize the alleged victimization of blacks. The contradiction is in the question: the presumption that prejudice and racism follow simple patterns that conform to the accepted narrative of the white racist South. The truth has always been more complicated and things have changed so much in the last 50-plus years that the narrative no longer reflects reality more than partially. But they are still therepeople who try to judge the world based on these outdated preconceptions. Police brutality has been strongly associated with racism, although it is often less evident today than in the past. Wright (1998) attempted to remain objective about police-related stories and their interactions with any particular group. He accepts these stories of alleged police misconduct and “police brutality” hit closest to African Americans and was simply motivated by skin color. However, Wright (2010) argues that police agencies in America today have made great strides in terms of inclusion, diversity and sensitivity. This is not to say that all ills were cured, but to highlight the institution's recognition that it had some problems and that change was needed. A real push for accountability to the public, the 24-hour news cycle and social media have helped push this realization as well. Police officers, even those who may harbor some prejudice, are aware that they are under a microscope. They know that their every action is subject to scrutiny and analysis by their colleagues, the law enforcement community as a whole, and the average citizen. The author believes that the vast majority of officials will act, at the very least, within the scope of their authority given to them by their respective state. There will always be those who dishonor the badge. Wright (2010) assures readers that this is an exception, not a rule. There were no significant numbers of average Asians and Latinos in the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s. Those who were there were amazing and did at least as well as the blacks, which was not heartbreaking and the same was true for the Jews. Wright (2010) believes that many people, looking back in hindsight, tend to forget that there were and are much more hostile environments in this world than the Jim Crow South. Lynching, Red Shirts, and KKK acts are forms of domestic terrorism, police brutality, and slavery, and racially based violence has been a slow holocaust. According to 2010, the South was primarily characterized by a culture of vigilantism, mob rule, and mob mentality. However, several presidents have attempted to pass anti-lynching laws but failed to gain Senate approval because it was not obvious to them that doing so was against the law. Wright (2010) argues that for various reasons lynching laws were intended to send a message to blacks who were considering organizing, rising up, or overstepping the parameters of their social status as bodies were generally left hanging after lynching. This was the main reason why blacks were lynched, beaten, etc. The police did this to assert and maintain their power. Sometimes it was for political power, other times because they wanted to assert their own power to take what they felt they deserved from those who actually earned it. Most of the people, black or white, who were lynched were for reasons of violence, sexual crimes, and murder. However, there have been numerous cases where some blacks and whites have been lynched for very minor crimes, mistaken identity, or completely innocent. In American history, approximately 4,000 lynchings have been recorded, of which 60% were African Americans. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Conclusion Gallantz (1986) argues that it serves no good, accurate, or reliable purpose to try to separate and abstract racism from Southern society by saying this or that is or is not a racist word as most do,.