Читать книгу Still Invisible? - Elvin J. Dowling - Страница 32

The National Museum of African-American History & Culture, in their piece, "Popular and Pervasive Stereotypes of African-Americans", observed that the imagery deployed to portray Black people has been used as a means of justifying the continued marginalization of an entire race of people since the founding of America. "Decades-old ephemera and current-day incarnations of African American stereotypes, including Mammy, Mandingo, Sapphire, Uncle Tom and watermelon, have been informed by the legal and social status of African Americans," the Museum noted, delineating a number of caricatures that have been used throughout the years to shape American perspective. "Many of the stereotypes were created during the height of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and were used to help commodify Black bodies and justify the business of slavery. For instance, an enslaved person, forced under violence to work from sunrise to sunset, could hardly be described as lazy. Yet laziness, as well as characteristics of submissiveness, backwardness, lewdness, treachery, and dishonesty, historically became stereotypes assigned to African- Americans ("Popular Stereotypes").

Years before it became a racist trope during the height of the Jim Crow Era, watermelon, for Blacks, like cotton and tobacco for whites, represented economic independence for those who harvested this crop. Following Lincoln's proclamation calling for what would be the gradual liberation of enslaved Africans, many Southern Black sharecroppers successfully sold the fruit, which ultimately became a symbol of the very freedom they had always longed to achieve. In response to their use of the watermelon as a newfound tool for achieving economic stability, many resorted to maligning the fruit, and anyone associated with it, as being beneath the dignity of civilized people. "Many Southern whites reacted to this self-sufficiency by turning the fruit into a symbol of poverty. Watermelon came to symbolize a feast for the 'unclean, lazy and child-like.' To shame Black watermelon merchants, popular ads and ephemera, including postcards, pictured African Americans stealing, fighting over, or sitting in streets eating watermelon. Watermelons being eaten hand to mouth without utensils made it impossible to consume without making a mess, therefore branded a public nuisance. ("Popular Stereotypes"). In addition to marginalizing newly freed Blacks in America by stereotyping the watermelon, the fourth estate, better known as the press, was willingly deputized with the responsibility of consistently defining Black men as dangerous and prone to abhorrent behavior.

Created in the minds of the most devious enslavers and auctioneers to increase profits with the sale of Black males, the concept of the "Mandingo" came to be associated with strong Black men. "While under the violence of enslavement, a physically powerful Black man could be subdued and brutally forced into labor. Emancipation brought with it fears that these men would exact sexual revenge against white men through their daughters, as depicted in the film 'Birth of a Nation', the museum chronicled. "The reinforcement of the stereotype of the Mandingo as animalistic and brutish, gave legal authority to white mobs and militias who tortured and killed Black men for the safety of the public. ("Popular Stereotypes"). Emblazoned across newspapers throughout the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century and continuing to this day, have been the fates of Black males from boys to men, who have met a most scurrilous fate, having been tried, convicted and sentenced, oftentimes by lynch mob, of alleged crimes and offenses.

To make matters worse, inflaming the challenge that brutish Black men posed to white sensibilities at the time, was the rise of John Arthur "Jack" Johnson to become the first African-American to reach the pinnacle of boxing success. "Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson epitomized the Mandingo or Black Brute of white imaginations in the flesh. Called a beast, a brute and a coon in print, Johnson’s relationships with white women took up as much newsprint as his fighting abilities. With his 1910 victory over James Jeffries, promoted as the "Great White Hope," Johnson brought white fears to a head. The result was weeks of riotous mob violence across the nation that left thousands of African American communities and lives in ruin ("Popular Stereotypes").

Today, more than a century since Jack Johnson broke an important racial barrier in American sports, the resentment that lingers from seeing a seemingly successful Black man is one that continues to transcend time, with Black men continuing to pay for it even today. . In his National Public Radio submission for "The Race Card Project," Marc Quarles discussed the ever-present monikers placed on Black men by majority culture and how it invades even the safest of places. A Black man with a white wife, and two biracial children, living in a predominantly white neighborhood in California's wealthy Monterey Peninsula, Quarles spoke of being treated with indifference and sometimes disdain by neighbors. "Every summer, Quarles' wife and children go to Germany to visit family. Consequently, Quarles spends the summers alone. And without his family around, he says, he's treated very differently. Most of the time, "I've noticed my white counterparts almost avoid me. They seem afraid," Quarles tells NPR special correspondent Michele Norris. "They don't know what to think of me because I'm in their neighborhood. I oftentimes wonder if they think I'm a thug," Quarles recalled. "Those experiences prompted him to share his six words with The Race Card Project: "With kids, I'm Dad; Alone, thug" The same does not happen when I have the security blanket and shield of my children," Quarles says. "When my children are with me, I'm just a dad. I love being a dad."("Race Card").

During the radio segment, Quarles recalled a particular instance in which he was questioned, days after moving into his new home, when the police knocked on the door to ask him if he had noticed anything suspicious in the neighborhood. "The officer asked Quarles if he had noticed anything suspicious in the neighborhood. "And I said, 'Like what?' And he said, 'Well, the woman across the street is missing her purse" ("Race Card"). Surprised by the insinuation and a bit taken aback, Quarles responded instantly, by inviting the officer to search his home, if he so desired, all the while denying having any knowledge of his neighbor's purse. Taking it all in stride, however, Quarles chooses to teach his own sons to beware of the challenges that face men of color in America. "Just because of his appearance and his brown skin, there are things that he can't do that the other kids can do," Quarles notes. "And if that sounds like a double-standard, that's because it is. 'That's my answer: 'It is a double standard, Son. And trust me, one day, you'll understand'" ("Race Card").

Undeterred by this dubious past, and despite the double standards, Joseph Phillips, and countless men of color, continue to help shape and change the narrative and obliterate unfounded assumptions. The goal, as Phillips describes it, is to clearly demonstrate the diversity of thought and experience that exists within the African-American diaspora--despite popular opinion. "A friend of my mother's recently passed away at 83 years old. She was a very strong proud Black woman," Phillips remembered, when reflecting upon the impact that she had on his own life. "She and her husband had been chased out of Mississippi during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, he was the first Black man to run for city council where they lived down in Mississippi, and she was an educator; a very dynamic woman, indeed," he went on. "I remember several times when she emphasized to me that there was 'no monopoly on brain power,' and that is something that I say to my children today. Black kids and Black people can compete on any field, in any endeavor, whether it's classical music, philosophy or physics. We don't need help, just open the door," Phillips demanded.

When asked how Black men in America can overcome the overwhelming obstacles placed before them due to lingering racial depictions, Phillips simply exhorts others to always remember who they are. "The only thing that someone cannot take away from you is your name. You have to be a man of your word. You have to be honest and people have to be able to trust you," Phillips implored. "If you destroy someone's trust, the hardest thing to do is regain it. So, in your dealings with people, they can take all the money you have, but they can't take your good name. You've got to be in touch with God and, with His strength, you can overcome anything!"

(Joseph C. Phillips: Acclaimed Actor & Conservative Commentator)