|
|
Shouting in the Winds of Changeby Eve Zheng
Once upon a time, having overheard of the presence of three-eared men on a remote island, a two-eared man sets off to the island hoping to become rich by capturing and displaying a three-eared man, but ironically found himself caught and turned into an exhibition. History repeats itself, but only this time with a happier ending for the invaders: as deliberate as white Europeans were, when they assailed the African continent, they sent wave upon wave of well-equipped soldiers and brought back countless black indigenous Africans to America and made them slaves. Perhaps inspired by the moral of the fable that anxiety of physical and cultural difference is mutually shared, they ranked ethnic groups by skin colors and spread the seed of racism all over the world with the help of a military power and cultural imperialism which aims at ensuring their unearned privilege.
Rooted deeply into society, racism still pervades American life even long after the emancipation of slaves. In the 1960s, the African American civil rights movement lead by Martin Luther King reached a triumphant climax and was smartly propelled into the 1970s alongside the feminism and homosexual movements. As society advances in humanitarian practices, better-meaning whites actively pursue both macroscopic and microscopic solutions to the plight of blacks and racism. Pointing against some do-gooders seeking friendship with blacks just to prove that they are not racists, Pat Parker articulates her refections in the poem "For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend." In this piquant poem, the speaker not only expresses her anger incited by racial discrimination but, with her black pride, instructs whites on how to carefully cross racial lines.
Contrasted with other advising poems that try to kindly draw the readers to a closer emotional distance, the speaker's antagonizing attitude, which originates from the institutional suppression imposed on colored people, almost estranges her audience. For example, the imperative tone such as "[t]he first thing you do" (l.1), "you must never forget" (l. 2), "[y]ou should be able to" (l. 3) sound quite arrogant; lines like "don't tell me" (ll. 5-17) and "don't expect me" (l. 7) imply her impatience and unwillingness to cooperate or compromise; additionally, "you are foolish" (l. 15) is rather an offensive statement. The speaker's anger and distance from her white readers can be explained by a study conducted by Joe R. Feagin, Kevin E. Early and Karyn D. McKinney which shows that "individual rage and depression among African Americans were determined by racial discrimination" and "black mistrust of whites is a reasonable attitude based on their experiences with racial discrimination." Realizing "[a] too-restrained response to one's anger can bring even more suffering because of the feelings of impotence" (Feagin Early McKinney), like other blacks, the speaker chooses to confront racists and expresses her anger directly, which serves as an effective remedy for oppressed people to feel empowered.
Through the allusion in "do them bodily harm" (l. 14), the speaker provides an example of an enraging discrimination -- police brutality towards African Americans - that blacks might encounter in their daily lives. Since the poem was written in 1976, Parker might refer to the police killing of ten black teenagers in 1967, but when we read the poem today, it reminds us of Rodney King and the Los Angeles riots of 1992, or an incident in 2002 when white police officers beat Donovan Chavez, a 16-year-old African American. Of what crime were they convicted? Nothing but probably "just being an ass" (l.12). As attorney Frank Donner stated, "'Law and order' became a coded battle cry as the police were transformed into an army defending white power and the status quo."
As an active civil rights promoter, the speaker's exasperation signals the overdue equality for blacks as indicated by her use of enjambment in the third stanza. The delayed sentence represents the prolonged realization of African Americans' civil rights. From "cook for you" (l. 9), a symbol of servitude in slavery era, to "locate your restaurants" (l. 8), the connotation of the blacks' inferior social status during the segregation period when blacks were not allowed to eat in "your" restaurants, until the present time when blacks can say "don't expect me" (l. 7) (to do anything for you), it took more than three hundred years. While the founding fathers defined liberty as an inalienable human right in the Declaration of Independence, they neglected to note that slaves were also human; when the Supreme Court passed separate-but-equal doctrine thirty four years after Abraham Lincoln read the Emancipation Proclamation, blacks' dreaming of an equal society exploded again (Bardes 148). Also, the shape of this stanza looks like a poorly-designed ladder so hard to climb, which illustrates the hardship of every step to move towards impartiality. Indeed, from the underground railroad to Martin Luther King, every advance has been accomplished only by sacrifice of African American lives, blood, and tears, in the face of forcible oppression from white-dominated society.
What ignites the speaker's furor the most, however, is the Euro-centric perspective which aims at assimilating African American culture and ideology. To associate the slang "dig" with "Aretha," the synecdoche of black art, whereas to connect "Beethoven" with a formal diction "appreciation," Parker creates the contrast between the heterodox and the orthodox. In fact, the term "folk art" already reveals African American art as an important aspect of black culture, subordinate to so-called classical art. Not only does the Euro-centric culture dominate art in society, it also prevails in the educational system which "made us take music appreciation" (l. 6). As currently established, the curriculum in the United States educational system "emphasi[z]e not simply upon an imagined superiority of Western endeavors and accomplishments, but also upon the notion that the currents of European thinking comprise the only really 'natural' ... means of perceiving reality" (Churchill). As a result, "[b]y taking a Eurocentric approach, these courses reinforce a particular world view that challenges" African American "self-esteem, [and] culture identity" since "they find no place in it" (Nakayama 241).
Yet, African American culture not only survives but prospers notwithstanding coercion, and only those who take pride in their culture can make it happen. Many white readers' instant recognition of Aretha Franklin by her first name reveals the popularity of black culture. More surprisingly, the young generation, in most aspects of their lifestyle, seem greatly influenced by "[b]lack youth culture [that] has become, in a strange way, the youth mainstream, and that White youths, and White adults, are integrating into that mainstream" ("The Black teen explosion"). How do African Americans -- struggling on the bottom of the social hierarchy with no economic and political power -- uplift their culture? The answer is hidden in the trifold meanings of "Aretha." For white readers who don't know Aretha Franklin, in order to understand this poem, they want to "dig" it out. Similarly, interest in hip-hop or rap or Aretha Franklin will lead the mainstream to learn more about black culture. Besides, "Aretha" explains why black culture is so appealing. To black readers, rather than being a haughty, heavenly, and refined legend, Aretha Franklin is more like a close friend who joyfully sings for them, lives around them, and is one of them. Just as African American culture is down-to-earth and genuine, which appeals to and reflects the basic need of a human beings and therefore, becomes fashionable in the United States.
Black pride also encompasses black Americans holding tight to their cultural identity and cherishing their heritage, which is reflected by the allusion of "Soul food." Black cuisine earned this name during the Civil Rights Movement, when "terms like 'soul man' 'soulful' and just 'soul' were used in connection with blacks themselves" ("Soul food"). However, for blacks, this phrase stands for more than dinner, as it connotes their history, tradition and customs. "It was during the meal that the oral history was re-told, forbidden religious ceremonies held and family and friends visited" ("Soul food"). To be a black means to eat "soul food" with spiritual passion and to live their heritage and pass it to the next generation. If releasing anger is the first line of defense, minority groups taking pride and celebrating their culture is the second coping strategy to feel entitled.
Like other civil rights movement activists who turned their resentment and pride into action, Aretha Franklin sings in King's funeral to protest the injustice while Pat Parker crusades against inequality with her sharp, burning pen. Since negative stereotypes are the barrier for eliminating discrimination, normalizing African Americans who are stereotyped as "lazy, ignorant, sex-crazed, violent, ... and mentally inferior to whites" (Kinkead) becomes her first priority. In response to remarks like "[b]lacks are better lovers" (l. 16), which implies blacks as being hyper-sexual, she sarcastically debates that "I start thinking of charging stud fees" (l. 17). The analogy of black males behaving like a breeding horse is more insulting if one acknowledges the origin of this assumption. During slavery, to prevent white women against the "savagery of black male sexuality," slave owners describe the black male penis as "hung like horses" (Kinkead). "Based upon theologians who contrived biblical support, scientists who manipulated Darwin's theory of natural selection, the negative myths about black men began to be accepted as scientific fact"(Kinkead). To breakdown the stereotype of blacks being less intelligent Parker asserts, "we took the appreciation too" (l. 6). For white readers hosting such ideas, reading her poem's pointed advice is appropriately insulting to their childish preconceptions.
However, to eliminate racism and eventually form a friendly interracial relationship requires integrity and efforts of the dominating group. Some white people's motivation is highly questionable, so the speaker wonders "if you really want to be my friends" (l. 18) or do you just "want to be an ally of people of color as a way of being in the right [, which] is to insist on the authoritativeness of [whites] existing conceptions of understanding and responsiveness" (Thompson). Aside from having the right cause, the speaker also advises to "forget that i'm Black" (l. 1) but respect a black as an individual. The lower case "i" juxtaposed with the capitalized "B" in "Black" suggests that while the "Black" color seems overwhelming, "i" as a person with idiosyncracy and characteristic, on the contrary, is belittled and neglected. However, one should acknowledge the culture differences between the two races as indicated in "you must never forget that i'm Black" (l. 2). Rather than a creative wordplay, this oxymoron structure shows ambiguity in any proposed solution: there is no best practice or universal rule and "tension [will arise] between seeking consensus and embracing disagreements in our beliefs" (Houston).
The inspiring African American civil rights movement proved to the world that suppressed people can make a fundamental change in society by priding themselves on their identity, raising their voice, and taking action against injustice and oppression, which is what Pat Parker wants all of us - colored and white, female and male, homosexual and heterosexual, oppressed and oppressor -- to "[r]emember" (l.19).
|
|
|
