1. What does Baldwin mean when he says smiling and grinning is "part of the American Negro's education ...that he must make people 'like' him?" Does this idea of over-smiling work in affecting social acceptance, according to Baldwin?
2. Baldwin closes his essay with a bold declaration that "[t]his world is white no longer, and it will never be white again." What does he mean by this and do you think this is true today?
3. For Baldwin, Racism can even stem from good intentions, or at least innocent "curiosity" and "wonder" (as expressed by the majority of the village's inhabitants). Does unintentional racism still exist in America, or is it solely a manifestation of Baldwin's perspective as a visitor to a foreign land?
4. Why does Baldwin stress a "difference between being the first white man to be seen by African and being the first black man to be seen by whites?"
-Ocean
As a black man living in the United States, Baldwin suffered against racial speculation and hardships. When he went to Switzerland to finish his writings, he was amongst merely white folks. Baldwin claims to have felt like a creature in both the U.S. and in the Swiss village. But those feelings of being an outsider were different for both places. In Switzerland, he was looked at as a foreigner because his face was unfamiliar to them. They weren’t used to seeing dark-skinned people, let alone an African American. In the U.S., they viewed as a creature because he was black. There’s a difference between people looking at you weird due to the color of your skin and people looking at you weird because you’re black. He felt more comfortable surrounded by those who didn’t intentionally try to alienate him.
ReplyDeleteBaldwin states, “I knew that they did not mean to be unkind, and I know it now; it is necessary, nevertheless, for me to repeat this to myself each time I walk out of the chalet.”
3. For Baldwin, Racism can even stem from good intentions, or at least innocent "curiosity" and "wonder" (as expressed by the majority of the village's inhabitants). Does unintentional racism still exist in America, or is it solely a manifestation of Baldwin's perspective as a visitor to a foreign land?
ReplyDeleteThis "innocent" racism that Baldwin experienced was an interesting phenomenon, it seemed to underscore the African counterpart of his African-American identity and undermine his American counterpart. People in the Swiss village knew that he was from America but they refused to believe so because they always considered Africans to be from Africa only. Thus, in their acts of innocent racism and curiosity, they ended up alienating Baldwin and to an extent causing him to resent his African identity. In turn, his American identity felt complexed because he wasn't acknowledged for it.
What's interesting is though towards the end Baldwin states “…this depthless alienation from oneself and one’s people, is, in sum, the American experience.” (128) This makes it seem that Baldwin has been experiencing the American side of his identity the whole time yet it is not the same American identity whites in America at that time experienced. Baldwin's American identity is different from theirs but exists nonetheless and maybe one of the ways this identity tension can be reconstructued is to accept this.
James Baldwin's concluding statement that the "world is white no longer, and it will never be white again" have prompted me to question whether we actually live in a post-racial society (175). Today, many individuals assume that the United States is becoming more racially inclusive than ever because racism is not as blatantly practiced as it was in the past. During the panel discussion, Nikhil Singh stated that our attempt to look beyond race, is, in fact, the paradox of race itself. Singh described racism as a "vestige" for racism still exists although it is not overtly addressed. Is it safe to assume that we have abandoned our racist attitudes? Baldwin argues that the tensions behind racial identities is something that is inescapable. In fact, he says that "for the American Negro…the question of his inhumanity became a burning one for several generations of Americans, so burning a question that it ultimately became one of those used to divide the nation" (170). Baldwin is suggesting that because racism has greatly shaped the history of our nation, the "new white man" is aware that his own identity is linked to the black man's plight to figure out what it means to be Black (175). Unfortunately, we still live in a time when people (subtly or blatantly) discern themselves from others based on race. Therefore, the assumption that we live in a post-racial society is misleading. To say that our society has become entirely colorblind not only prevents people from acknowledging their racial identities but also causes them to deny their rich history.
ReplyDelete1. What does Baldwin mean when he says smiling and grinning is "part of the American Negro's education ...that he must make people 'like' him?" Does this idea of over-smiling work in affecting social acceptance, according to Baldwin?
ReplyDeleteWhen Baldwin discusses his approach of smiling to make people “like him” in the village in Switzerland, he is referring to the way he had been conditioned to act pleasant around white Americans. He calls it a “smile-and-the-world-smiles-with-you routine,” implying that his pleasantness in many cases is just an act or a farce and pretty clearly sums up his negative feelings about it (161). The idea that he must smile to make white people feel comfortable and less threatened by him annoys Baldwin, as it should. To make matters even worse, Baldwin even says it doesn’t work in America or Switzerland. Pretending to be happy or content for the sake of others is unnatural to Baldwin, but it was a technique for avoiding dealing with racism that he learned as a child so he continues to do it. Since it doesn’t even work, however, Baldwin questions why it is something that black Americans continue to do.
4. Why does Baldwin stress a "difference between being the first white man to be seen by African and being the first black man to be seen by whites?"
Baldwin stresses this difference because he says that the first white man to be seen by Africans relishes the thought of astonishing and inspiring wonder in the people he is going to conquer. This conqueror did not question the idea that he was superior to Africans, so their reaction would be a further confirmation of this idea to him. Baldwin, on the other hand, is not a conqueror and he feels the full weight of the history of European oppression of Africans upon him. He is a stranger to them and to their culture and while they are not responsible for everything that happened between Europeans and Africans, they have inherited European history and he has not.
I really love the Baldwin piece. Aside from being an incredible social figure in American history, his writing is so striking. If anything this piece is the answer to the question posed for "When We Were Kings" regarding what happens when race travels. In "Stranger in the Village" when Baldwin stresses a huge "difference between being the first white man to be seen by African and being the first black man to be seen by whites, it is because he 1) IS the first black man being seen by whites in this village, so it reflects his current experience and 2) the first white man to be seen by Africans, from a black nationalist framework, is the embodiment of slavery, imperialism and racism for the next 500 years and beyond.
ReplyDeleteDuring the period of slavery, blacks have inscribed in their minds that the way to avoid trouble in America is to bow and/or smile when encountering white people and be sure to never talk back. It has become a habit for many black people in the past and even in the present, smiling is not a bad thing at all. It most likely will only promote content and it's a double win. However, according to Baldwin, this method doesn't work. White people judged him by his appearance and being black forced white people to look at him differently and thus he became the center of pranks no matter how much he tries to be polite. Baldwin mentioned, "It was jocularly suggested that I might let it all grow long and make myself a winter coat." (Baldwin, pg. 162).
ReplyDelete