Why does America discriminate against blacks?

From the beginning of17th century, when the first slave ship carrying African blacks arrived on the coast of North America, the slavery and oppression of black people has been a serious problem in American society for more than 300 years. Long before the Revolution of Independence, plantation black slavery in the southern United States was a socio-economic system in American capitalist society that went against the trend of world history. By the middle of19th century, this system had become the biggest obstacle to the political and social development of the United States. The reactionary forces defending slavery had a long and repeated contest with the progressive forces opposing slavery, and the endless war of words failed to be solved, and finally it was solved with a real knife and a real gun. 186 1- 1865 An unprecedented civil war ended this "most despicable form of human slavery". However, the ghost of slavery, like an ominous dark cloud, has never dissipated over the American mainland. The visible shackles no longer exist, and the invisible shackles-oppression and discrimination against blacks-still weigh heavily on the heads of African Americans and become "the shame of the United States of America." Slavery is the historical root of the long-standing racial relations problem in the United States. Therefore, although slavery has been abolished for more than 0/00 years, it still has practical significance today and is a topic that people are very concerned about and constantly explore.

In the past 300 years, countless political comments and literary works have originated from the debate on black slavery. In the history of American literature, works with the theme of slavery have formed a special category. Although their views and colors are quite different, they can be divided into two categories: one is to expose and condemn slavery, and the other is to praise and maintain slavery. Three masterpieces can be cited: Uncle Tom's Cabin in the 1950s, Gone with the Wind in the 1930s and Roots in the 1970s. These three books are miracles in terms of their influence on their respective times. They not only swept the United States, but also attracted the attention of the whole world.

Although these three books have the same theme, their attitudes and viewpoints are quite different. Uncle Tom's Cabin appeared ten years before the American Civil War, which criticized slavery from the perspective of Christian fraternity and humanitarianism. Although its main purpose is not to advocate revolution to eliminate slavery, but to persuade slave owners to put down their whips, it reveals the cruelty of slavery with vivid artistic images and strong love and hate, which has played a powerful role in promoting the abolition of slavery in the north. No wonder Lincoln jokingly praised its author, Mrs. Stowe, as "a little woman who wrote a book but caused a big war". Seventy years after the abolition of slavery, Gone with the Wind appeared. This famous novel eulogizes the life in the south before the civil war from the standpoint of naked reactionary slave owners, shows infinite sympathy for the defeated slave owners, and becomes the peak and model of the so-called "Magnolia and Banjo School" which beautifies slavery, and is therefore applauded by the reactionary forces. In the past 40 years, although some people have spared no effort to publicize it, making it "the best-selling novel of all time", no one denies that it looks at slavery through the eyes of slave owners, so it is an out-and-out masterpiece of reactionary belief literature. Forty years later, Root dug up the case in Gone with the Wind, exposing and accusing slavery again. The tortuous road taken by these three books roughly outlines the trend of historical trends. But history is not a simple repetition or cycle. Compared with the first two books, the background of Roots is a more complicated phenomenon. It runs through the debate about the right and wrong of slavery for hundreds of years and is linked with the recent development and prospect of the black liberation movement. Therefore, the discussion on roots is beyond the scope of a book and involves many social and academic issues, which is a subject to be further studied and tested in practice. The following is just a superficial understanding from the perspective of a reader.

What kind of book is Roots?

When discussing Roots, the first thing that needs to be clear is: What kind of book is Roots? Is it history or fiction? Is it the story of a single black family or the history of American slavery? This problem is already very clear. However, for some reasons, the publishers and propagandists of Roots regard this book, which is obviously a literary creation, as a non-fiction history book and elevate its meaning to represent the experiences of all African-Americans, which has caused conceptual confusion. Some existing criticisms of Roots are actually aimed at a rigorous scientific work. However, Roots is not a scientific work. Although it partly reflects the sufferings of black slaves, it cannot sum up the whole picture and essence of more than 20 million black Americans' experiences for hundreds of years. If we admit that Roots is a novel from reality, we should allow fiction and imagination, without delving into whether the materials are completely accurate or whether the arguments are absolutely scientific. If we admit that Roots is only a story of a single black family, we should allow it to be special, and there is no need to require it to have the typical and universal significance of representing all black Americans. As a novel with a historical theme, Roots reflects slavery from the experience and feelings of a black family, denounces and accuses the oppressor and the oppressed system from the standpoint of the oppressed, and reverses the racist historical view of white people. It shows the sufferings of enslaved people and their strong desire for liberation not through abstract concepts, but through the stories of living people, refuting the widely circulated reactionary slander that slavery is an idyllic land and slaves are happy know life and obedient slaves, which has positive significance. From this point of view, Roots inherits the tradition of abolitionist literature in Uncle Tom's Cabin and makes some innovations, which should occupy a certain position in the history of American literature. However, if the significance of this book is promoted to the history of all African-Americans, and the universal significance of the "root" explored by Harry is exaggerated, and it is regarded as the correct way to solve the realistic problems of African-Americans, then it is exaggerated and counterproductive.

Where is the root?

A theme that runs through the book Roots is that the most precious thing for people is to know who they are and where they come from, and the greatest sin of slavery is not to let blacks know this. Harry said, "We are ashamed of being black because we lack a sense of belonging." Therefore, if black people want to be truly liberated, they must find their own "roots".

After 12 years of painstaking exploration, Harry finally found his own "root"-Kunta Kent, an African village and ancestor in 18 century. Obviously, he idealized and romanticized life in Africa in the18th century. As a literary work, this is understandable, because Harry's original intention is to break the myth that Africans are half-human, half-beast and inferior animals, and restore the dignity and value of Africans. His starting point and general direction are correct. The author warmly praised his ancestors, the working people in Africa, and described how they fought bravely and tenaciously against nature, United as one, cared for the collective, respected tradition, cherished freedom, and strictly educated and trained the younger generation. With his rich imagination, he created a simple and plump character of Kunta, portrayed his youthful and energetic character, and left a deep impression on people with his love and yearning for life and freedom. This is the essence of this book, which is a unique and precious chapter in American literature.

But the question has to go back to the theme of "root". Is Africa the "root" that African Americans dream of? If this "root" is found, will the problem of African Americans seeking liberation be solved?

Of course, African-Americans have long-term kinship and traditional ties with Africa, so they should undoubtedly know and respect their African ancestry. But Africa is only the "root" of American black ethnology, not the "root" of sociology. The history of being ruled by foreigners in a foreign land for centuries, as well as the fate and struggle of the same people in the specific environment of American society, have combined African Americans into a new nation and faced new problems different from those in Africa. Some researchers in Europe and America believe that the situation of blacks is worse than that of some descendants of Eurasian minorities, because they have lost their national traditions and cultural origins and become passive water and trees without roots. However, American Indians have not lost their national traditions, but have changed from the masters of the North American continent to endangered peoples, which is particularly tragic. It can be seen that cutting off the national tradition is not the only or main way for the ruling class to enslave the oppressed nation. The abuse of black Americans should not be attributed to their lack of knowledge and pride in their African ancestry, but to the double burden of American slavery and its consequences-racial oppression and discrimination, and class oppression under the capitalist system. One-sided emphasis on the psychological roots of Africa will make people ignore the realistic roots of the United States.

Is it active or passive resistance?

If Kunta's free life in Africa is the prelude to Roots, then his experience of being enslaved in the United States and his descendants is the center and theme of the play. The key debate about this key part revolves around whether Roots truly reflects the reactionary nature of slavery and the rebellious spirit of slaves.

Every slave's descendants look back on the past and have a family history full of blood and tears. Roots not only reflects a historical era from a family's experience and feelings, but also has its true side. The book depicts in detail the pain and anger of people who were deprived of their freedom and human rights and slaughtered by fish, especially the tragedy of the separation of flesh and blood caused by the forced separation of black families by slavery, which is touching. Kunta and his descendants never wanted to be enslaved and longed for freedom, which also expressed the feelings of all slaves. However, if the story of the Harry family is regarded as the epitome of the whole slavery, then this mirror is not comprehensive enough and not true enough. Because it didn't show the most essential aspect of plantation slavery in the United States-the cruel exploitation system as a means of primitive accumulation of capital and a part of the capitalist world market, it only took seven years to exhaust the extremely cruel blood and sweat of a slave's grease. Harry's ancestors did not belong to Tian Nu, the slave subject directly engaged in productive labor in the southern plantation. They are slaves with special status-gardeners, coachmen, cooks, domestic servants, chicken trainers, blacksmiths and so on. Because they broke away from the slave production army, engaged in unproductive individual labor, and had close relations with slave owners, they often enjoyed some preferential treatment, and suffered less oppression in the field than slaves, so their resistance was poor, so they were not typical figures in a typical slavery environment. Kunta said: "The worst thing that white people do is not to let black people know who they are and not to let them become complete people." Since this is the main evil of slavery, it is also the main purpose and form of slave resistance. Therefore, in the book, the main resistance is that each generation passes on the knowledge of family African descent to the next generation, so that they will not forget their roots. However, this can only be said to be a psychological preparation for resistance, not an act of resistance. In fact, a history of slavery is full of countless slave rebellions, from the highest form of organized conspiracy uprising (* * * more than 200 times) to escape, sabotage, destruction of tools and property, and so on. It was these rebellions that shook the foundation of slavery. Roots does not directly reflect these positive rebellions. Although the book indirectly mentions the slave uprising in Haiti and several great uprisings that shocked the south, Harry's family either passively watched or disapproved of these uprisings, fearing that the tension between master and slave caused by the uprising would bring them disaster. Slave escape in history, whether organized escape or individual escape through the "underground railway", is an effective form of group resistance. But among the six generations of Harry's ancestors, except Kunta from Africa who tried to escape failed, the later generations never thought about it at all. The only action taken by the second generation of Jixi to abuse its master is to warn its son not to have illusions about the white father. George, the third generation rooster, continues to work closely with his master and father. The book uses a lot of space to describe the plot of cockfighting. Although the writing is vivid and fascinating, it has a strong color of class harmony. It obliterates the class contradiction and racial contradiction between master and slave, and attracts the reader's interest to the victory or defeat on the chicken farm, while George and master Li are closely related, and George's free fate seems to depend on a chicken. The fourth generation blacksmith Tom came to the civil war era. This is an unprecedented active period for southern blacks in history. A large number of slaves fled the plantation (* * * 500,000 people) to join the northern army in the war, or fought guerrilla warfare behind the Confederate army, which effectively cooperated with the northern army's operations and made inestimable contributions to the victory of the northern army and its own liberation. These facts are not reflected in Roots. When the slaves were in full swing, Tom attached a note to nail horseshoes for the allies, and the whole family devoted themselves to saving money for freedom until Lincoln ordered them to be liberated. The spirit of resisting oppression with "silent dignity" advocated by Root can only be regarded as passive resistance.

Writing about the last part of the experience after the civil war is even worse than before. It is a well-known fact that African-Americans were tortured and oppressed for more than 100 years after the end of the civil war, and their indomitable struggle broke out in the 1960s as a black anti-riot movement that shocked the world. People who bought land and made a fortune like the Harry family and rose to the middle class and white-collar class are only a few lucky exceptions. The road they have taken cannot represent the road taken by the majority of black people, let alone point out the way and direction for black liberation.

The Times Significance of Roots

Roots was written in1960s and completed in1970s. The 1960s was the first decade of the American black liberation movement. The persecution and discrimination suffered by blacks for a long time have aroused the concern and indignation of the world through their own struggle. In 1963 and 1968, Comrade Mao Zedong made two statements to support the just struggle of black Americans against racial discrimination, expressing the strong voice of China people's unity. The anti-violence struggle and other struggles of blacks have achieved remarkable results, but they have not achieved complete equality and liberation. They are still in an unequal position in politics, economy, culture and education. In the ideological field, reactionary racist forces are still reluctant to leave, doing everything possible to reverse the verdict of slavery and create a theoretical basis for continuing to oppress blacks. 1975- 1976, gone with the wind deluxe edition was reprinted to commemorate the 40th anniversary of publication. At the same time, the film of the same name was released again, which was tantamount to a demonstration against the black movement. 1975 published a pseudoscience book named Time and Cross. The book tries to prove that slavery is a "highly reasonable and effective" system by computer operation, saying that it makes the economy of the South develop highly, and all southerners (whites and blacks) enjoy a high standard of living, openly reversing black and white and applauding slavery. In contrast, Root's exposure and condemnation of slavery and his response to these reactionary clamors can play a positive role among some people who don't know the truth. However, if, as some people advocate, Root led the black liberation movement in by going up one flight of stairs, then this estimate may not be appropriate. Considering the level that the black movement has reached in the 1960s, and the level of class consciousness and national awakening shown by black people in the organized anti-violence struggle, the road of personal struggle with non-violence and family as the core advocated by Root is a retrogression compared with the trend of the times. Harry seems to have taken a step backwards from writing a biography of malcolm x to writing Roots.

What is the reason why Roots caused such a sensation? This seems to be viewed from two aspects.

During the violent black liberation movement in the 1960s, the black issue once became the center of American domestic political life. Since then, the political and social status of blacks has risen. In recent years, blacks have participated more in political and cultural life, and it has become a fashion to study, write and express blacks. The history of blacks has also become the object of re-evaluation. The majority of blacks care about their own past and demand that the history reversed by reactionaries be reversed again and the true colors of black history be restored. People of other nationalities also demand more true knowledge in this field. A historical novel, such as Roots, with a black man as the protagonist, exposes the reactionary nature of slavery and has certain artistic characteristics and appeal, which will naturally attract widespread attention.

However, Roots, as a historical novel, has certain value, but it is not consistent with its surrounding propaganda effect. There must be some deep social reasons behind this obvious imbalance. According to the analysis, it is the general trend that blacks demand equal liberation, and when naked white racism intensifies, some authorities in the ideological field who don't want the movement to be revolutionary have to follow the trend and try to lead the black problem to a track with bourgeois liberalism or reformism. This analysis is not unreasonable. 1the performance of the drama paul robeson in February 1978 is an example. Paul robeson is a world-renowned black singer. He was severely persecuted by American reactionaries and exiled in 1950s because of his factional beliefs. However, after his death, Broadway, the American bourgeois drama center, staged a play praising his life. The play takes away Robertson's revolutionary soul, publicizes his success as a football star, jurist, singer and actor, and avoids Robertson's constant emphasis: he is a revolutionary first, then an artist, and he serves all his achievements for the liberation of black compatriots. This tendency to paint a moderate color on black issues has become a common practice in recent years. Is it also a manifestation of this trend that Roots has received such attention and large-scale publicity? This shows that compared with the era when blacks were brutally persecuted, the wind is turning, but where it turns is still worth studying. In any case, this phenomenon itself shows that blacks have made important progress through their own struggle, and the trend of social progress is unstoppable.

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