Stranger In The Village
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Decreasing Racism
African American racial tension has decreased drastically, since the fifties our country has leaps and bounds towards equality. James Baldwin wrote Stranger in the Village, and he wrote about his experience living in a small Swiss village and how he was able to evaluate the American society and its issues of race. Baldwin specifically focused on African American racial issues. Baldwin makes arguments about how race is treated much different in Europe, he also argued how there are still a lot of problems with American society that need to be changed. I agree with Baldwins thoughts however this essay is outdated and isnt completely relevant to our society today; however some of the broader ideas are.
One of Baldwins ideas I found interesting embodied how the racism he encountered in the Swiss village seemed to be the same as Americas racism but turned out being much different. When he got there the people stared at him and rubbed him to see if the black would come off, the children shouted “neger” and ran from him. Baldwin soon realized that the villagers were more interested in him rather then being malicious. This village is very small and only has a population of six hundred. These villagers never leave and not too many people come in, other then tourists who are always white people apparently.
“Europes black possessions remained-and do remain-in Europes colonies, at which remove they represented no threat whatever to Europes identity the black man, as a man did not exist for Europe. But in America, even as a slave, he was an inescapable part of the general social fabric and no American could escape having an attitude toward him these abstractions reveals the tremendous effects the presence of the Negro has had on the American Character.”(pg 99)
This passage expresses why those acts of racism were much different. I really cant talk for Europe but I do understand why our society treated African American so much differently. Our country is so different than any other country when it comes to this issue. We enslaved African American for many years because we had to accept them as people but lesser people, but because our country is built on freedom of speech, slavery became huge and we fought each other over it. Racism was such a big deal that it lead to a lot of pandemonium and therefore no matter how much time passes racism will always be an issue. Opposite of that as explained in the passage as well. Europe just chose to ignore African American so there was no issue; this makes sense due to the curiosity of the villagers. So when it comes to the differences in approaching racism and explaining how the two societies moved forward; Baldwin was accurate.
There are some things to what Baldwin said that arent very accurate. By this I mean that some of the thought he expressed arent relevant to our society today. This essay was written in the fiftys, a lot of chaos and anarchy was prevalent. This being said, it makes sense that Baldwin wrote: “American white men still nourish the illusion that there is some means of recovering the European innocence, of returning to the state in which black men do not existpeople who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction.” (pg 101). The point Im trying to make is that Baldwin was in a more violent mind state toward American life at this time. The Civil Right Movement slowly started in 1955 then gained speed with Rosa parks and what really sparked the movement came from one speech. Martin Luther King gave his I Have a Dream speech in 1963; Ever since then civil right have become more and more equal. The times have changed drastically, I cant speak for everyone but in some cases the minority is given more opportunities then the majority. Baldwin wrote this essay before the Civil Rights Movement so he didnt have anything good to say about America at this time. Our society today doesnt want to go back to earlier European times of simplicity; we want that diversity and we want everyone to have a fair chance to be respected, to succeed.
Diversity is key to why America and Americans themselves are much different then any other country. Baldwin mentioned how no other country has had such a huge impact on black men and how black men have in turn had a huge impact on us. I definitely agree with Baldwin because thats history, we can look at text books to prove that. I do however question Baldwins intentions by writing this. I believe that he is saying this to show why