Black Like Me

Enri Duka A. P. United States History Ms. Bellemare, Ms. Loughlin, Mr. Marko 08/09/2012 Analyzation of “Black Like Me” Catastrophic events are a part of life just like the air that people breathe. Most of these catastrophes occur as a result of nature’s causes such as earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and etc. Unfortunately they kill millions of people every year. As painful as this is to hear, most people still disregard the amount of people that are killed and massacred every year due to race and religion. It is sad to think that instead of working together to build a better future, humans still fight and have social injustice.

Many like to argue this statement seeing how the constitution forbids human inequality in front of the law. As true as this might be, discrimination still exists and is a part in our lives to this day. “Black Like Me” is a perfect example of this social crime. Unlike many other books, “Black Like Me”, is written in an autobiographical memoir instead of a novel. The author, also being the main protagonist, is John Howard Griffin. The book takes place between the years of 1959 and 1960 and is build with chapters according to the different dates that main concepts occur.

The reason for this book is to portray the horrors that segregation has to offer. Griffin starts his unbelievable adventure because of the curiosity and sympathy that he feels towards blacks. In order to quench his curiosity, Griffin believes that he has to be black as well and the only way is by undergoing surgery. He first proposes his idea to George Levitan and Adele Jackson, the owner and editor of Sepia magazine and asks them to publish his article. Although passionate and supportive of Griffin they warn him about the dangers that he will face when and after he is a black man.

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John Howard Griffin goes through a period of internal conflict for he is aware of the dangers imposed on a black man during these years of segregation. Also, he is afraid for his family because of all the white racists who will try to harm them once they realize that a white man was disguised as a black. However, Griffin decides to follow through with the plan. In the book, he compares the situation of segregation to the years when he was partially blind. Griffin believes that white people are blind for they can not see through the eyes of a black man.

John Griffin’s passion and sympathy for the social injustice applied on blacks overcome his fear of danger so he moves to New Orleans and is given medicine so he can turn black. On the process of becoming black, he is very surprised to see how an educated and liberal man such as a doctor could speak so poorly of the black race. As a matter of fact, this theme keeps on reoccurring throughout the whole novel. In a very short period of time he notices the differences between the two races. Instead of eating at a fancy restaurant like the previous day, now he is eating raccoon meat and rice out of a can.

The difference between the two races is staggering as well as painful to see for Griffin. Not only is he denied a job by white employers; he is also hit with fruit by a group of white people, denied the right to bring in checks, and is humiliated by bus drivers who do not stop the bus at his destination just because of his color. The most important part of all these tragedies is the fact that even Griffin views himself differently. He begins to despise himself and other blacks for the pains that are being caused to him.

Just like the blacks in New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama, he feels defeated and hopeless. Fortunately Griffin undergoes some good experiences as a black man. Although he is despised and hated by most whites; he still feels warm from the love and support that black people show for each other. There are even some whites who help him throughout his career as a black man. One of these helpers happens to be a good friend of Griffin and his name is P. D. East. This person shows love and sympathy towards blacks and offers Griffin to stay as long as he needs.

Upon his meeting with East, Griffin finds out that racism is a social problem that is enforced by white leaders such as politicians and lawyers who encourage and feed other white men with hatred toward blacks. Although Griffin is flattered by the courtesy of East, he decides to go to Montgomery. On the way he is unfortunately familiarized to the perspective that white males have towards blacks’ sexuality. He finds out that sexually frustrated white males use black girls for sex and when he is hitchhiking many are curious about his sexuality as well. This goes to the extreme point where one white male tries to convince him to show his penis.

Once this long trip ends, Griffin finds himself in Montgomery where black people are more organized and have been influenced by Dr. King to resist the whites passively instead of with violence. Even so, Griffin decides that he has had enough suffering so he stops taking his medicine and turns white again. Again he sees major differences about the way that people look at him. When he is black, he is treated with hatred from white people and sympathy as well as camaraderie from the black community. On the other hand, when he is white, the black community greets him with fear and loathing while whites are extremely friendly.

He decides to turn black again seeing how when he’s white he has the easy way out; something that is not available to a black person. Upon deciding, Griffin finds himself in Atlanta. Throughout the story, the readers see the protagonist in different cities in the South and almost every place that he visits is different when it comes to the level of segregation as well as how the black community react to it. In New Orleans, Mobile, and other towns of Alabama and Mississippi people are desperate as well as hopeless and defeated.

On the other hand, in Montgomery and Atlanta, blacks are more optimistic and the community is filled with strong black leaders. Once Griffin visits all these towns he feels that he has found out enough about social injustice and prejudice against the black community. The third phase of this book focuses more on how John Griffin is treated after he publicizes his article. Once again he is warned about all the dangers as a cause of the release of this article. Once again he is so passionate about what he has done that it outweighs the risk.

When the Sepia Magazine publishes the article, many TV stations and news broadcasts invite Griffin for interviews and are very astonished and proud of what he has done. He recieves many letters from many white people and understands the main reason of why so many people are racist in the South. Many white southerners write that they are not actually racists but that they are just afraid of the real racists. For this reason they neglect and tolerate racism. On the other hand, people in Mansfield, the town where he lived, strongly oppose the deeds that Griffin has done so they make threatening calls and plan to assault and castrate him.

Nonetheless, Griffin maintains his courage and sympathy. Because of all the hostility in the town, Griffin decides that it would be better if they moved to Mexico. While packing he talks to a black boy and realizes that blacks don’t understand whites just like whites don’t understand blacks. Just like the whites, the blacks have this recent rise of supremacy which is instilled in them by Malcolm X and other black leaders, just like the whites are influenced by politicians. This supremacy from both sides needs to end so we could finally have an equal America according to Griffin.

An “equal America” started after the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were written which is right after the Civil War ended. Although blacks got the rights to escape slavery and be equal under the Constitution when it came to voting and other rights; it still did not stop whites in America to treat them horribly. During the hard times of Reconstruction after the Civil War, the black Americans not only had to fight poverty; they also had to deal with racial segregation or in other words Jim Crow. According to the website, socialsitalternative. rg, the concept of Jim Crow is not only being a piece of legislation. It is considered to be a very well thought out plan by the higher end of society during the times of segregation. This legislation gave the right to the ruling class to make laws about lowering the wages of black workers and to divide the races so black workers could get pitiful wages. It is themes like these that keep on reoccurring in the fascinating book that John Griffin wrote. For example, his doctor, a well-educated and liberal man, had really racist views pertaining the black race.

At the same time, we are familiarized with the concept that it is the ruling class such as politicians and lawyers who feed the rest of the people with the hatred about the blacks. If it wasn’t for these influential figures, where would a regular white person get the idea of showing so much hatred toward a person that he does not even know. In one speech, Martin Luther King said: “The black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of Negroes. It is interrelated... racism, poverty, militarism and imperialism. Evils that are deeply rooted in the whole structure of our society. This time period in American history will be remembered for decades because it really shows the injustices that the people that we choose as leaders commit in order to favor their own race. “Black Like Me” really gets to the main roots of segregation. There is no better way of showing this racial injustice unless you have experienced both sides of the situation. John Griffin gives the readers an opportunity to live on both sides of segregation. It really portrays the horrors of racial injustice and prejudice at its’ best. “Black Like Me” really grips the themes of American diversity and reform.

The black and white race as described in this book are very different from one another and how they view their community, yet very similar at how they view each other. Throughout the book, Griffin noticed the difference between the living conditions and standards of both societies. When he is white, he is able to visit any restaurant, any store, and apply to any job with the optimistic view that they are most likely going to hire him because of his abilities. On the other hand, when he is black he is forced to eat very bad standard food.

Although he has the money to buy food, restaurants would not sell it to him. At the same time, although he was well dressed and articulate in his job interviews; white employers would not even consider hiring him because of his skin color. Another enormous difference between the two races was the way that they view their community. In troubled parts of the South such as Mississippi and Alabama, Griffin describes the black community as hopeless and defeated. They were this way because the ruling class did not support them in any way. In contrast, they did anything to favor the whites over the blacks.

One great example from the book is the lynching of Mack Parker. In the book he is accused of raping a white lady and then is lynched by a mob. Although the FBI found who lynched him, the all white jury decided that the people that did it were not guilty. The same sort of discrimination and segregation was shown against the Irish when they first moved to America because of the potato famine. According to the article “Prejudices and Discrimination Against Our Irish Ancestors”, Irish immigrants first began moving to the United States around 1847 when the Great Famine hit their country.

When moving here they were laughed at and forced to move in little slums where only Irish people lived. Many caught diseases and died. This sort of discrimination is very similar to the one that blacks had to endure for they had to build their own ghettos when they moved to the North for jobs. Another important theme of “Black Like Me” is that of reform. In order for the blacks to be equal to whites to this day they had to go through civil rights movements which were led by very adored people such as MLK and Malcolm X.

The theme of reform is apparent in the book when Griffin goes to cities such as Montgomery and Atlanta. Instead of being hopeless and defeated, people there were optimistic and were opposing nonviolently. In the book it mentions of a time where two black people were sitting in a bus and the driver asks them to move so a white lady could sit there. Non violently the two black people did not move and a white person in the bus got up to hurt them and is stopped by the bus driver and the lady. In other words, the nonviolent resistance was working.

American Diversity and Reformation are two major themes that the United States has experienced throughout the years. If these two themes did not exist, the United States that we know today would not be the same. In a way historians have always described America as a melting pot of cultures which is a very legitement statement seeing how its’ earliest populations migrated from different parts of Europe whether it was England, France, or Spain. This early migration caused the American Diversity that we know today.

Also without all the reforms and wars to protect civil rights, America would no longer be called the land of the free or the place where all dreams come true. “Black Like Me” is a book that strongly fits both these themes and in a way it even defines them. Works Cited "The Civil Rights Movement. " The Civil Rights Movement. Socialist Alternative, n. d. Web. 13 Aug. 2012. . Daw, Chad. "Prejudices and Discrimination Against Our Irish Ancestors. " Yahoo! Contributor Network. N. p. , 19 Mar. 2009. Web. 13 Aug. 2012. . "The Civil Rights Movement. " Calisphere -. UC Libraries, 2012. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.

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