The African American Culture

In the nonfiction novel, Black like Me, by John Howard Griffin, he is a white man who is against racial discrimination and prejudice. John decides to change his pigmentation to live as a black man in the south. He wants to experience the bad treatment black people go through daily. The main character of the book is John Howard Griffin, who is also the narrator and author. He is a white middle aged southerner.

”They act like I’m the official representative of the black race and they owe me an explanation...If I sit out a protest, I’m making a statement, but if they sit out a protest, they look racist.” This quote that has been stated alludes to a few concepts. The first one would be that because of racist stereotypes that portray Black people as oversexualized,

In the novel the character has his own sense of individual identity but quickly loses it when he is told he is something he feels he is not. When Johnson states “…I would change my name, raise a mustache, and let the world take me for what it would…” (cite) he is stating that for him to be free and have is own identity he must change who he is and how he is seen as a man. Johnson says this because he has realized that if he is viewed as a black man, he will be grouped with black men. As for self-sacrifice when Johnson says, “I feel that I am led by the same impulse which forces the unfound -out criminal to take somebody into his confidence, although he knows that the act is liable, even almost certain, to lead to his undoing” (cite). Even thought the novel is fictional, Johnson understands that this novel could very well bring his career to an end.

The black man only becomes aware of his blackness when in contact with the white world. In this essay, I will attempt to bring forward this issue of race and becoming aware of it. Drawing from my personal experience, I will discuss the ways in which that experience relates to Fanon’s representation of race. The writer, more often than not, makes reference to critics and other influential figures to support his views and his arguments. I will present this essay in the same manner in which Fanon presents his book, linking my personal experience to Fanon’s and some other important historical and cultural figures’ views.

In order to fit in immigrants have tried to incorporate into the community, and integrating has become easier with the second generation then it was the first and easier with the third and so on, because they start to absorb the prevailing culture, language and follow the supreme majority in order to be more efficient members of the society along with kipping a part of their own civilization and inheritance alive, this has not completely functioned because minorities keep forming a big portion of the country and effect its development, progress, enlargement, growth and

However, in the Black community, the N-word has changed into a word that means a type of endearment to those around you. Based on their race, they have decided that this word has "nothing to do with they way they...live their lives." This signify's that although their skin color is hated by society, and society has a judgement on how they look like, they have decided to act oblivious to the true meaning of the word and use it in a positive term. Thus, showing that based on their race, it shapes their identity because race is the first thing that others would notice about a person; how light or how dark their skin color

With this remark, Ellis reveals that he felt as if it was his obligation to blame the black community because of his father’s example. By the time Ellis shared his experience, he had a better understanding about what was the right thing to do when it comes to dealing with minorities. Ellis’ experiences support the idea that the socialization process theory is one of the causes of prejudice, however; there are other factors such as the action-orientation level of prejudice that can also contribute to prejudiced behavior. In our daily lives, we are often exposed to different scenarios, ideas, judgments, comments, and criticisms, which can influence an individual’s perspective about people from another group. According to Parrillo, Action-orientation refers to the idea of when an individual has positive or negative predisposition to participate in discriminatory behavior against minorities or someone in specific (Parrillo 507).

James Baldwin is very explicit in his novel about the conditions of racism in the United States, and where he believes they stem from. Baldwin seems to think it is an internal, and individualized mindset that causes African Americans to fall into their ‘expected’ roles. He tells his nephew, “You can only be destroyed by believing you really are what the white world calls a nigger” (Baldwin 4). Through this quote, Baldwin is appealing to the readers pathos and making them think more deeply about how one finds their own self identity. Is much of modern racism influenced by others opinions on ourselves and on each other?

This type of belief of dominance could be pursued due to religion because if you believe in yourself or some type of God, the idea is present. Many groups that are anti-Jew or anti-Muslim for example, have ideas that they are grand, and that they need to remind the Jews and Muslims what their place is in society. Religion comes in many forms and each form has different viewpoints on life and towards other people. Each belief is different from another one and each can be just as scary as the other. Because there are so many religions there are different faiths and each faith has their own perspectives on how they view others.

Everything from his music and clothes that he gave to Beneatha to his attitude towards American black culture suggests that he disapproves of the new black culture he is engulfed in. Asagai also wants to share his culture and try to convert other assimilated blacks like Beneatha to support his traditional Nigerian culture. This is very controversial, especially since Nigerian culture is commonly thought to be constructed on living in “grass huts”. Like the Youngers, Asagai is fighting against the common black culture of Chicago and wishes for more blacks to embrace what he sees as the true culture of the blacks. The only person who really wants to embrace the black culture that Asagai professes is Beneatha and even she has misconceptions of what Nigerian culture truly is.