Literary response to Colored Oppression.- 2nd Edition

This post is to supplement the last post, Literary Response to Colored Oppression (1st).

I wrote a poem about Bigger (main character in Native Son, by Richard Wright).

“Bigger”

Let the BIGGER ones, let the BIGGER ones die

To live in a small world- a blind world,

Two words, two worlds,

Two levels, two stories;

Let the BIGGER ones die.

The BIGGER ones ought to die-

A soul with no soul,

A mind with no mind,

A voice with no voice,

A life with no life.

Let the BIGGER ones die.

The BIGGER ones must die.

A history concealed- facts omitted,

Peoples never understood

…never significant.

The BIGGERS’ Divine Book gave them the right

…to rip apart- culture, dreams, and flight.

Let the BIGGER ones die.

The BIGGER ones are now dead.

The hopes we’ve hoped,

The songs we’ve sung,

The bodies we’ve missed,

The sparrows trapped in the gutter-

Will forever be lost- irredeemable

At least, At least the BIGGER ones have died.

The BIGGER ones revisit us, always.

The tears cried,

The sorrow ride

Is again forgotten by the small ones.

Must the BIGGER inside always rise,

From the core of the oppressed-no-more?

That is until the newly depressed cry,

“Let the BIGGER ones, let the BIGGER ones die”.

What do your guys get from this?

There is also another poem by the greatest of poets- Langston Hughes.

LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

WHAT A GREAT MASTERPIECE, NO?

Literary response to Colored Oppression

The book I am reading, along with my AP English Literature peers, is Richard Right's _Native Son_.

What a great book, before I begin to post textual sources on the piece, I just wish to state my opinion on the subject.

American History carries with it many blemishes, which is okay- America never has been, is not, and never will be perfect. I am okay with that. However, one of it's most severe blemishes, is quickly turning into an incurable scar among it's face. Race Relations in America are something which continue to hinder it's ability to truly and completely be a fierce competitor within the world's educational/economic market. Honestly, how can America be the "world police" (as many reference it) if America can not fix it's own internal issues?

Since before the mighty year of 1776, when a courageous group of men held a Continental Congress and in it's second meeting decided to declare independence from a government's oppression. Colored people have been regarded as unequal.

Since before the infamous decade of the 1940s, when the world was in peril, and America fought an oppressor to the Jewish community. Colored people have been regarded as unequal.

(I love the irony of WWII, although many people think of America as a "heroine" during the war. This nation had been taking part in similar atrocities, as seen in Hitler Dominated Germany, before Hitler himself was even born!)

Still today, a day in which we have our first Colored President, I do not believe colored peoples are regarded as equal. The statistics of inmates, the many south, east, west side ghettos, the unemployment rates among minorities are all strong evidence to support my beliefs.

I strongly recommend the book _Race Matters_ by Cornel West- a MASTERPIECE.

West is great at not only calling Americana out on it's failures to "love" a people whom have been taught to hate themselves for way too long. West calls out his own ethnic group, the colored peoples as well.

So I went off on a tangent, it is okay. I like expressing my views.

On to Wright's _Native Son_.

Richard Wright was born 1908 (the year the NAACP started) in Roxie, Mississippi.

He was a part of arguably, or definitely, what is the best and most quintessential periods for African American Literature: the Harlem Renaissance. Wright took a strong role in changing the face of this type of art, morphing it into a form of literature which showed (with little ambiguity, as lit. before) the anger, frustration, and confusion of a people oppressed.

He received great acknowledgement for his novel, _Native Son_

Wrights does a superb job at demonstrating the way colored, and white, people saw the world during that time. Making sure he emphasizes the difference between "black asphalt" and "white clouds", black and white- and the differences between them- are an extended motif through out the novel.

In the eyes of Bigger, the main character, everything around him is either black or white, dark or light, good or evil. Which is what had to have been the same thought process of much of society living in the 1920's-'30s.

The quote which is the most important so far in the novel (I am half way done, maybe 1/3 the way there).

"Why did he and his folks have to live like this? What had they ever done? Perhaps they had not done anything. Maybe they had to live this way precisely because none of them in all their lives had ever done anything, right or wrong, that mattered much"- 1st book (p.105 in Perennial Classics Edition).

The narrator let's the reader inside Bigger's mind- his thoughts (which are sometimes far more crucial than actual dialogue). This quote, however, is not aimed at Bigger. Wright is directing it to the reader, like West in his book, he is also putting the blame of the issue on the colored people themselves. They had (at that time) never done anything "that mattered much", that was significant to change the way race relations were handled. Their voice was voiceless, their minds were mindless, and their power was powerless. & in a way, they added much to this lack of strength to raise up against the machine.

There are a myriad of quotes in the book which allude to Wright's ANGER, FRUSTRATION, AND CONFUSION.

Has anyone ever read the book? If so, I would like to read about your opinions of my thoughts, and of your own.

America, where are you?

The irony of the discrimination that people- like Emmal Goldman, Allen Ginsberg, MLK Jr, The Beatniks, The Hippies, The Civil Rights Activists, and so on- have received is that those people stood up and spoke out against a government that simply did not work any longer. They were labeled as communists, anarchists, and even un-americans. However, standing up and creating a change in the government that no longer works/ protects it's people is the most American thing anyone could ever do. Infact, it is our duty to do so it is written in our founding documents and it is heroic people like those who help America progress.

You see, American soceity constantly falls into a state of indifference. The economy is properous and society becomes to comfortable with what is going on- there is no sense of revolution in the atmosphere; and America is far from equal to all of it's constituents, so that should never occur. Yet it does, and when some one, or a group of people, become enlightened of the fact that "peace" is a dangerous state to assume- they are oppressed by the government and by the society of which it dominates. Our government in America is not our boss- quite the other way around. Still, I see people everyday who are submissive to government officials and decide to just go with the flow.

AMERICA!- YOU HAVE TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF POTENTIAL TO LEAD THE WORLD INTO A GREAT EPOCH OF EQUALITY AND SOCIAL (MUCH NEEDED) REVOLUTION. YET YOU DECIDED TO SIT DOWN ON YOUR COUCH, WATCH TELEVISION AND EAT. WAKE UP! DO NOT LOSE THE DRIVE AND STRENGTH THAT HAS DEFINED US FOR SO LONG- DO NOT CONFORM. MOST IMPORTANT- DO NOT DO IT FOR ME, FOR THE GOVERNMENT OR ANY INSTITUTION. TRANSCEND THE FEAR YOU POSSESS OF A GOVERNMENT THAT HAS CONTINOUSLY FED YOU FEAR, LIED TO YOU, DECEIVED YOU. AMERICA, BE YOURSELF ONCE AGAIN.

The Issue of American Morality

Many people think that the civil war was fought in the name of morals and good values- the North being the hero and the South the menace. Although, that is partly accurate, with the South being the menace and all, the Civil War was not fought to end slavery because of good values and the belief that "all mean are created equal". The war that shattered America from with in was about power, money and sectional supremacy. Since before the creation of America, one could see two opposing sections in North America- Chesapeake Bay and New England. The two geographic regions had two very different economies, and societies. Chesapeake Bay's being an agragian economy, cach crops such as tabacco (in the beginning) and eventually cotton. Also, there were not too many families in that region, mainly young men who needed to work ended up in the South. Therefore, the New England region was quite the opposite.

With that said, as time progressed into the 19th century, one could see sectional conflicts begining to heat up with the Missouri Compromise, the Wilmot Proviso, and also the Great Compromise of 1850- they all had to do with slavery and what states would render it legal or not. While this was going on geographically, politically sectional conflicts were all too evident. Southern politicians were concerned with the newly industrialized Northen Region's seemingly power over them in congress/government. As was the North. So when the shots were finally fired in 1861, the bullets were not sent out of the weapons for the freedom of man, but the oppression of man. The oppresion of the South by the North, or the Noth by the South. The North was quick to use the end of slavery as a theme in the war to allow it's self to become the hero, and have a justifiable reason for war. However, after the war was over the freedmen rushed to the North in massive numbers, and yes they were politically free, but socially they were still seen as unequal. & It would take them a century to receive the promise they were granted by the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Civil War was a war that was fought between to regions who each wanted geographic, political and ideological supremacy over the other, so Lincoln was not about ending slavery because it was wrong. The Republicans wanted to end slavery because it would immensely weaken the political, economic, and social power of the Southern Democrats.

In like manner, WWII American troops were not fighting to save the Jews from their evil opressor. Before America was even involved in WWII Jews were flocking to America, and were denied entrance into the country and shipped back to Europe to await their sad fate. Roosevelt, and the government, were more concerned about Communism ideals penetrating the world and thus affecting the capatalistic empire that America single handedly protected and cherished.

I could talk about this forever, but I am sure you get the point.
American history shows us how great past congressional leaders have been at putting a great and seemingly moral faces on conflicts (wars) as a way of justifying their cruel, and inhumane actions. It has always been for the sake of capatalism, never for innocent civilans.
The government simply conceals it's true intensions with good and moral intentions in order to get mass support from the American people, and the world.
You Know?

I am not saying it is a bad thing, I mean American society is far too ignorant and stupid to understand why some thing must be done, as the bombing on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It is genious actually! Just funny to see how some people think America is so civilized, human, and especially MORAL!

Why we hate Bush, and love Obama

Of course, the assumptions above are GENERAL. However, they apply to, I would say, close to 70% of the American population.

Now, on to the real message....

It is true that the President of the United States is debatably the most powerful person in not only the nation, but the world. However, that does not mean that we either lose hope for a better tomorrow, or gain a massive sense of relief for the problems that affect this aching world just because of who is sitting in the oval office.
Yes, Presidents have all been quite different. Yet the differences have not been substantial enough to either make or break the country's economy, social status, and things in like manner. The President, or the govn't for that matter, is not the stronger group in the society in which we live in today. America did not pull out of Vietnam because of how many troops it was losing, or how "unwinnable" the war seemed. The truth is that the youth was able to come together and raise a protest against the war in number never before seen in America, or the world. The youth made Vietnam a war with no real purpose, because they simply did not support the government's actions.

Basically people. You may have your rants against Bush, or your supportive rhetoric for Obama, yet do not forget that either way, it continues to be our duty to run politics and life around us. Presidents can be either good or bad, but that does not mean we put all our hope into them or lose all our hope in the government, in OUR GOVERNMENT. Too often, that is the case.