Opression of African Americans Essay

In the documentary Ethnic Notions directed by Marlon Riggs, illustrates the oppression African Americans have faced during the time of slavery up until the present day. The same forms of oppression blacks faced during slavery is the same type of oppression they faced today, decades after slavery was abolished. These forms of oppression still seen today are evidence that America has not made very little progress in eliminating the inequalities among the white and black Americans. The documentary uses different caricatures to portray African Americans in the wrong light. These characters were suppose to show the way black people looked, and behaved even though none of these characters actually depicted the way black people truly looked or acted. Even though the video focused manly on the way African Americans are perceived by society, it focused on an even bigger issue; the main point of the documentary was to provide evidence that African Americans were better off left in captivity during the times of slavery. Riggs begins the documentary by displaying the images of black caricatures that was introduced during the slavery time period, and explaining how those same caricatures have been seen around the world. Even today those same black caricatures can be seen in people homes, including in the homes of many African Americans. The people portrayed in these characters are all extremely dark with large lips, and very unappealing. Those cartoon caricatures do not in any shape or form bear a resemblance to what black people actually look like. All African Americans do not look exactly the same, but none of them are truly as dark as the caricatures and their lips are not as large and abnormally shaped as seen on the caricatures. Even though black people do not look like these cartoon characters, people still see those old images as a representation of all black people, as if they can not possibly see them looking any different, as if they were meant to look like anything else. The same concept of characterizing a single group of individuals can be observed in the video The Danger of a Single Story. In this video story teller Chimamanda Adichie discusses her experiences as a writer, who only wrote about British and white American people because that was all she knew. She was unaware of people that looked like existed her because she only ever read books about white people so that was all she knew. Then when she moved to America, she experienced the danger of a single story; before anyone got to know they already felt sorry for her and had expected her to act in a certain way. However they were surprised to learn that her life was nothing like the single story they heard about her and all other Africans. Unlike what they expected, Adichie did not live in poverty and she could read and write, and speak English. After arriving in America, Adichie began to really understand the meaning of the dangers of a single story. Instead of her getting angry, she was able to understand why they thought the way they did because just like them she too had developed a single story about a group of people. She understood that if people are only seeing the same images of a group of people over and over again, whether it’s through the media or my word of mouth that eventually that group of people will become what the media writes about them. After showing the images of black people, Riggs further explains the different roles of each of the caricatures. Some of these caricatures and images were during the time of slavery, while others were during the period when slavery had ended. The Mammy caricature was a mother who served the white people. She was portrayed as a fat, unattractive woman who loyally served her white master and his family. She did not complain and she appeared to always be happy, until she went home to her own family. In her own family she was viewed as the controller of males and one who angrily punished her children. The Mammy caricature was nothing like the real mammy, who was actually very pretty and attractive. She was only depicted as fat and ugly, so the she would not appear to be a threat to the white women; who at that time was the only females thought of as beautiful. Just like the Mammy caricature, the Uncle Tom caricature was also perceived as a person who enjoyed working for the white people. He was always seen smiling while playing with the white children, and so helpful to his master. The Mammy and Uncle Tom were never revealed as unhappy people, so people assumed that they were content with being slaves. The Mammy and Uncle Tom figures were not the only people that appeared to be enjoying slavery, but all other slaves seemed to be satisfied with it as well. The images that were being shown all showed the slaves singing and dancing, and smiling but none of those images showed the hardships that slaves faced. Only the positive images were shown to make the outside world believe slavery was okay, and that no harm could come from having slaves. One dance the slaves danced was called the Jim Crow, it was a dance symbolized the way African Americans felt about segregation. The dance was not meant to be any racist term, but yet when the white man came and imitated the dance was when Jim Crow term began a racist statement and when the Jim Crow character was created. A white man named Rice one day so a black man dancing, so he decided to mock this man’s dancing. So Rice put black paint on his face and white paint around his mouth, so he appeared to be a black man impersonating other black people. The use of black paint became known as black face. Black face became the most popular form of entertainment for people to watch. People thought it was funny to watch a white man pretend to be black. Black face became so popular that even black men started participating in black face entertainment. These black men would put black paint on their face even though their faces were already dark, and prance around the stage mimicking their own people. They used black face as a way to make a little extra money since they were not getting enough from the white people. It was not until after slavery ended that these cartoon caricatures started to represent bad images of black people. No longer did the images show slaves as happy people, but instead it depicted African Americans as angry, violent people. Those images were used to conclude that black people were actually better off as slaves, instead of free people. The Pickaninny caricature was a representation of the black children. These kids appeared to be savage like by showing them with no shoes on, and the children were eating by alligators. When people saw these images of the children thought the children were like animals that belonged in the jungle, instead of a part of society. Then there was the Brutal Black Buck caricature that made black people become indentified as brutes. These brutes were savage people who could use any sort of violence to get what they wanted all of people. When different movies were being created, it showed black man looking for a white woman, who was a virgin to raped and abuse. When people kept seeing images like that they started to believe that black people were angry savages; savages not meant to fit in with the rest of society. All of these different caricatures were a representation of all black people. Even though these caricatures were nothing like black people, the rest of society believed these caricatures were an accurate representation of black people. They expected all people of color to act the way those cartoon caricatures did. When people see the happy caricatures that existed during slavery, then to watch the brutal caricatures after slavery ended, they begin to wonder if the abolishment of slavery was really necessary. They start to assume African Americans were the happiest during slavery, so why not resort back to that old tradition.