Melissa M. Levesque
Professor Darling
English Composition 220
22 February 2016
America’s Imaginary Friend
I took an anthropology course last year, and one of the subjects we studied was race. I remember my professor showing the class a website where one can go on a take a race quiz. The quiz lists several nationalities and asks the quiz taker to identify which race each nationality belongs to. The conclusion of the quiz was to show people that race is an ambiguous concept created as means of categorizing people, without really knowing/understanding how to do so. According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, the definition of racism is the, “poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race.” Based on my educational experience in anthropology class and the definition of race, I’m left asking myself, “How can people be racist when the lines between races are so blurry? Do people even know which races they are being racist toward? and Does race or racism even exist?” The existence of racism in America is an issue that Claudia Rankine addresses in her article, “The Meaning of Serena Williams”, Beyoncé reveals in her song “Formation,” the documentary When the Levees Broke explores, and Ta-Nehisi Coates addresses in his book Between the World and Me. Rankine, Beyonce, the documentary, and Coates all address the existence of racism toward African Americans in America, and white America’s ignorance toward it, treating it like an imaginary friend who does not exist.
Within Rankine’s article “The Meaning of Serena Williams,” Rankine carries a tone that is in admiration of Williams; however, Rankine exposes how Americans feel toward Williams and the unfair treatment they give her due to the colour of her skin. Rankine said that black people deal with “the humble absorption of racist assaults, no matter the scale, because whites need to believe that it’s no big deal” (2). In other words, whites don’t want to know that they are being racist. They want black people to shake-off what they are saying and act like everything’s okay, when really it’s not. Ignoring racism will not make it go away; it’s just a matter of time before it becomes an even bigger problem than an individual’s problem with another person because of the colour of that person’s skin. Rankine also said, “I want Serena to win, but I know better than to think her winning can end something she didn’t start” (8-9). This may seem like an insignificant quote, but there is an important implication here. The fact that Rankine says that Williams can’t stop racism by winning implies that racism still exists and it is a current fight that is being fought. Another person who recognizes the existence of racism today is Beyonce.
Beyoncé’s music video, “Formation” is another example that exposes the hidden racism of America today. Beyonce exposes racism with the use of police brutality, black stereotypes, and Hurricane Katrina. The first image in the video is Beyonce sitting on top of a New Orleans police car on a flooded street. This obviously represents Hurricane Katrina. The opening statement is “What happened at the New Orleans?” To add to this Beyonce references “I like cornbread and dollar greens bitch,” “like my baby with an afro,” “like my Negro with Jackson 5 nostrils,” “I got hot sauce in my bag,” and more. All of these things mentioned above are stereotypes associated with black culture. Another image that Beyonce provides is a young black boy dancing in front of a line of armed, white cops, which obviously references police brutality. One could argue that this music video’s purpose is to help Beyonce sell out her next world tour, making her the “black Bill Gates.” However, by making the references to Hurricane Katrina, black stereotypes, and police brutality, Beyonce is definitely revealing the racism within society that white America is avoiding and/or ignoring. White America wants to believe that my making everybody equal and eliminating segregation, we have vanquished racism. However, racism is not something that can be destroyed by signing a piece of paper; it’s an attitude toward a group of people that needs to be dealt with one individual at a time. Beyonce may be trying to sell world tour tickets here; however, there’s no doubt that she’s exposing the racism that is lingering in the background in America.
Within the documentary When the Levees Broke, the United States government is exposed for its racism toward African Americans and poor communities during Hurricane Katrina. The documentary provides a historical example of racism toward poor/black communities when it describes Hurricane Betsy. Hurricane Betsy happened in New Orleans in 1927 and was a large storm. The United States government blew up the levee with dynamite by the 9th quarter during the storm, in order to flood the poor, black communities and save the rich white communities. The documentary spent time questioning whether or not this happened again during Katrina. Although, there is no proof signifying the destruction of levees during Katrina, the documentary displayed other forms of racism that took place during that tragedy. Old, sick, disabled people were unable to flee, so they drowned. Children were stuck in their homes and drowned. People were standing on their rooftops waving and flagging down helicopters for help, and they were ignored. People were left in the scorching heat without food or water for days. It took days for buses with supplies to come, and the Canadians arrived first. Where was the U.S. government? Why didn’t they help those people right away? Did it have anything to do with the fact that these helpless people were poor and most of them African American? I think so. The U.S. government will never admit that their negligence was due to racism, but the facts provide this as a possibility. There is a similar incident occurring in Flint, Michigan. The residents of Flint don’t have clean drinking water, but why is that? Was it a fluke mistake? How did it go unnoticed? What were the priorities of the government? Does it have anything to do with the fact that the people in Flint are mostly poor and African American? Coincidence? I think not.
Within Coates’ Between the World and Me, Coates addresses racism as an ongoing issue, just like Beyonce, Rankine, and When the Levees Broke did. Coates said, “This is difficult because there exists, all around us, apparatus urging us to accept American innocence at face value and not inquire too much” (8). Coates is saying that racism still exists, even though America is not recognizing it, and they are acting like it’s not there. In fact, Coates says that he doesn’t think everything will be okay, meaning racism will not end. In this sense, I kind of agree with Coates. How can we fix a problem when we can’t even recognize that it exists. Instead, we beat around the topic of racism, in order to avoid conflict and offending people. In reality, we are creating more problems by ignoring racism than actually acknowledging that it’s there.
In conclusion, Beyonce, Claudia Rankine, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the documentary When the Levees Broke all expose America’s imaginary friend; racism. Some of us know it exists and acknowledge it, while others avoid the topic and act like it’s not there. I believe that racism still exists and that the problem can’t be solved until people realize that the problem is there. America has ignored situations of the past that were caused by racism and are still ignoring them today. How can this country improve itself if people aren’t willing to talk about the problems at hand? America needs to grow up and expose its imaginary friend for what it really is– a figment of the imagination that comes from within the mind of individuals and has no concrete proof of existence, other than through cultural teachings.
Works Cited
Beyonce. “Formation (Explicit).” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 06 Feb. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015. Print.
Rankine, Claudia. “The Meaning of Serena Williams.” The New York Times 25 Aug 2015. Print.
When the Levees Broke. Dir. Spike Lee. 2006. Film.
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