Racism Personal Anecdotes Related to the Experience Essay

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Racism

Personal anecdotes related to the experience of prejudice are usually the most effective means of convincing an audience that prejudice exists, and that it is painful. Moreover, an effective author connects the issue of prejudice to broader issues that all readers can relate to regardless of their personal experiences. Thus, it is important to show how the society suffers from prejudice too. African-American authors are in the position of sharing personal anecdotes about prejudice from within the framework of what is supposed to be a free, open, and tolerance society. Because of the paradoxes in American society, prejudice seems even more terrible and ironic. Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, and Brent Staples are all African-American writers who offer convincing arguments about prejudice.

Maya Angelou's autobiographical essay entitled "Graduation" is about her high school graduation in a segregated public school in Arkansas. Angelou's story is like that of other black students in her generation. In "Graduation," Angelou describes the excitement of the big day. There was a lot of "anticipation" about the upcoming ceremony, as the students would cease to be children and become young adults instead (22). Angelou mentions early on in the essay the fact that "unlike the white school, Lafayette County Training School distinguished itself by having neither lawn, nor hedges, nor tennis court, nor climbing ivy," (23). Mentioning ivy underscores the fact that Angelou is about to talk about the reasons for academic achievement disparities in American society. Black students do not have as many opportunities to attend Ivy League colleges, as Angelou shows. The valedictorian in the class, plus Angelou herself who was the second to the valedictorian, had to listen to a group of white men deliver a speech at the graduation about why the black students were only good enough to be athletes. As Angelou puts it, "the white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos and Madame Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren't even in on it) would try to be Jesse Owenses and Joe Lousies," (29). The white men came to the Lafayette County Training School to say something cruel, and that was that the black school children would amount to nothing more than their white overlords would allow them to be. The white school already had tennis courts and trees; whereas the black school had nothing and would continue to have nothing.

Angelou's autobiographical account is poignant, because she relies on personal anecdote that links to broader social issues like school segregation and institutionalized racism. The government, represented by the two white men who came to speak at the graduation, not only allows for prejudice to happen. The government actually causes prejudice. Black students in the graduating class hung their heads low, until the valedictorian led the school in the "Negro National Anthem" and a spiritual song that uplifted Angelou's soul. The prejudice that the students felt when the white men were in the house was erased by the pride in being black.

In "How it Feels to Be Colored Me," Zora Neale Hurston delivers a similar message of spiritual redemption in the face of prejudice. Like Angelou, Hurston uses personal anecdote to deliver a universal message of what it is like to be subjugated in society. The use of personal anecdote is convincing for the reader because of the rhetorical quality of ethos. Ethos is that which testifies to the character of the writer. In these cases, all three African-American writers are established in academia and credible sources. Even if the accounts were fictionalized, the reader would know immediately that prejudice exists in America due to the widespread nature of racism in the society. The arguments are more convincing, though, because they are based on the true stories and experiences of the authors.

Hurston states, with irony, "I remember the very day that I became colored." The reader might wonder what Hurston, and African-American woman, means by her statement. Hurston suggests that the personal identity and self-perception of a child is shaped by society. Society projects elements onto the child. Thus, society gives girls the idea that they are delicate and weak and should go shopping. In Hurston's case, society told her eventually that she was "colored." Hurston grew up in an all-black small town she calls a "Negro town" in Eatonville, Florida. Like Angelou, Hurston's formative experiences were in the American south.

Just as Angelou writes about the experiences of being in an all black school, Hurston also discusses what it is like having an identity that is cohesive and not related to the dominant white culture.

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Before the white men arrive at her school Maya Angelou is happy and so are all the other children. They are not "colored" at that point, either. They know they are black, but they are not comparing themselves to whitey. Likewise, Zora Neale Hurston only feels "black" when she goes to Jacksonville and sees herself through the eyes of whites there. "I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background."

Hurston's experience of prejudice and her way of addressing it are different from Angelou. Yet both are equally as convincing in their arguments. Hurston states, "Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." Her self-confidence oozes off the page, as it does for Angelou, who concludes her essay also on a lofty note. Prejudice is a product of racism in society, but one can also choose how to deal with prejudice. The authors are convincing the reader that no amount of prejudice can break the soul of a people. Only the individual who is weak and willing to succumb to racism can claim to be a victim. The central message throughout African-American literature is empowerment. It is important to develop pride in one's ethnic and cultural background, and to not care what others may think. Pride is a central theme in these three essays. All three of the authors convince the reader that prejudice is wrong, but that personal power and self-confidence help a person overcome the society's negativity.

Brent Staples also does not car what others think. However, he initially did when he realized that men and women of all races perceived him as a threat simply because he was a 23-year-old black man. The fact that other black people were afraid of him might seem surprising to the reader. However, it makes sense given that Staples is referring to the ways the American media and cultural norms have stereotyped young black men. Young black men as "thugs" is an image that has seeped into the American consciousness so deeply that even black people have started to buy the myth. It is the same with the way Angelou is trying to explain how young black kids are susceptible to the myth that they are only good for athletic abilities, and might start to buy into the myths that prohibit them from achieving academic goals.

Staples was a graduate student, and therefore theoretically ranked alongside his white counterparts in terms of academic achievement. Yet he had to prove that he was not a threat. His personal anecdote is powerful and convincing. Staples "was to become thoroughly familiar with the language of fear," (1). He was previously not used to people being afraid of him. Now, "there is always the possibility of death" where "fear and weapons meet" (1). Staples states that he got used to people crossing the street when they saw him, or the sound of other people locking their car doors when they saw him. He even got used to being harassed by cops and security guards. Because Staples likes to walk at night, he saw the visible and auditory fear each night. He is not afraid of what others are thinking. He could be, and he could have avoided the "night walking" that he so enjoyed. Instead, Staples continues doing what is his right to do even if it makes other people uncomfortable. Staples is suggesting to readers that they take a long hard and honest look at their own prejudices.

The author convinces the reader that prejudice and fear are intimately linked, in ways that neither Angelou nor Hurston can do. That is because Staples is a black man, and it is the black man that American society has come to associate with crime. As Staples points out, "Black men have a firm place in New York mugging literature," (1). Black women might be associated with other stereotypes, but thug is not one. According to Angelou, the girls "weren't even in on" the future of American society (29). For Staples, women are the people that fear him the most. He represents something, or someone, that will harm them. In the end, Staples admits that he has come to expect the prejudicial treatment to the point where he makes some concessions. He seems to do….....

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