Watching the film "Do the right thing" by Spike Lee and reading the novel "The Wretched of the Earth" by Frantz Fanon really brought some ideas to me about how prevalent racism is today. Spike Lee showed how violence can build and build so much to the point where it causes destruction ( as we saw with Sal's Pizzeria and the death of Radio Raheem) and also, he showed examples of violence and racism in a very open way because today many people feel that racism has ceased, but from the very recent election, we have definitely seen how much racism still exists.
In the Fannon's novel, she touches on the same issues with violence, racial difference, colonization and revolution that we experience in our culture. Although, the novel and the film were written in different time periods and Lee and Fannon speak from different points of views, when it boils down, the issues that they raise really have not changed as far as violence and racism is concerned.
Reading the novel and watching the film posed me to ask the question of how can we put a stop to the cycle of violence and racism? I feel that it would take some open mindedness from all cultures to come together and learn that although we come from different races and cultures, we still are human and we should treat each other as such.
Both Lee and Fannon have exposed the cruel realities of the violent past that we have experienced. Also, I liked the fact that both focused racism on all ethnicity's, not just black and white, but between Hispanics, African Americans, whites, Asians and many more, because sometimes people think that racism is only between African Americans and whites, but it is not, so I feel that Lee and Fannon have exposed us to the harsh truths of our society and unfortunately we are still in a racial battle and experiencing violence such as the war.
About Me
- Quine
- My name is Quine and I'm a senior at Cal State Northridge majoring in Liberal Studies. The reason for this blog is for my class which is a Liberal Studies Capstone course. On these blogs we will be analyzing "The Politics of Violence" because there are so many forms of violence and by blogging it can help with different viewpoints of what violence is.
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Quine,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a very good point; when we focus on racism as a “black and white” issue, we conceal the real reasons that racism exists in the first place. To me racism is about so much more than just hatred of someone else’s racial or cultural differences. Racism came about as a justification to create a permanent labor caste to perform menial and low-paying (or in the case of slavery, no-paying) work. Labor exploiters have manipulated the mindsets of ignorant, poor whites to focus their attention on superficial racial hatreds rather than on the inherent unfairness of the system that also victimizes them. Nothing made the economic agenda behind racism clearer than when George W. Bush tried to show his “compassion” for Latin American immigrants by justifying that they are “doing the work that Americans don’t want to do.” What he failed to add was that economically disadvantaged people come to this country to do work that no one wants to do for an unfair wage. It is an excuse to exploit Latin Americans.
I think Fanon made a good argument that there will always be tension as long as one group cannot have the benefits of another group within the same society. Those that are “last” will always desire to be “first” and as long as certain groups--based on race, gender, or some other arbitrary factor--are officially rewarded with privilege over other segments of society.
Mike
I agree that racism is still very present. Until we address the true issue of inequality based on skin color or origin of birth, this problem will remain. When I watched “Do the Right Thing” and read “The Wretched of the Earth” I kept getting hung up on the amount of violence present. Fanon wrote about the physical violence that the colonized experienced while Lee represented the physiological violence in his movie. Both lead the audience to wonder what is the correct way to end the oppression, and I think that is something that reader/viewer must decide for themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Quine, your response was very interesting to read. Especially the part on how when the issue of racism is brought up, most people normally think of struggles between Blacks and Whites. However, racism is felt among most of the other minorities. When reading your post, I thought about the way is still very present in my native country as well. For most people over there, the lighter a person is, the more advantages this person will have in life. I have grown up hearing comments from my own parents about the ugliness of those who resemble our native ancestors most. Of course these individuals have a darker skin tone, black hair and dark eyes. The more European a person looks, the better looking and the more opportunities this person will be given in society. I think that is truly sad and its extremely frustrating to know that that mentality is still very engrained in many people over there. In fact, most of Latin America have those same racist ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree that throughout the movie the racial tension is definitely rising between all the minorities in the film. You're right when you refer to the "cycle" of violence and racism because it does seem like a vicious cycle that is set into our society and mindframe. Our society is full of stereotypes. According to Fanon, the process of decolonization will most likely always involve some sort of violence. The film really makes you think about that concept and whether or not you can bring about a change in racial opression without the use of violence. It seems as though violence is instilled in our society and perspective on achieving what we want. I really liked how the film makes you come to your own conclusion on what the right approach to violence is. Hopefully someday we won't always turn towards violence to bring about a change.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right to point to the importance of the film's recognition of internalized racism, and racism by people of color, as well as white racism. I wonder, though, whether the film might, in a way, let white supremacy off the hook with it's imputation that everyone's racist? (A bit like the film, _Crash_..) We must situate racism in its material contexts of power relations. In a white supremacist society such as ours, racism bolsters white supremacy. Does this mean that one can't be "racist" against a white person? I would say so, since the forces of insitutional power relations are on the side of white people in this culture. This is why, to me, accusations of "reverse discrimination" (often made against affirmative action policies) don't make sense, since they ignore the histories and contexts of racism in this country. Now I'm not saying that Spike Lee's film collaborate in this project of diffusing racism so that everyone is equally guilty and we don't have to talk about white supremacy and institutionalized racism (after all, the film does not show "racism" against white people), but I worry that viewers of the film might read it this way in order to promote their agenda that anyone can be racist against anyone else, that racism is personal rathern than institutional.
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