Before and After

Being part of a minority group I felt that I knew what I was about to get myself into. Often times while talking about race with peers with whom I share the same ethnic background I hear the same concerns and complaints. I have become bored of the same comments when this topic comes up that I have tried to avoid bringing it up all together. My friends routinely bring up the fact that this country is racist, and for that same reason it is commonly too difficult for minorities to carry out a lifestyle that the White community has for the most part privatized. Unfortunately, I have found this statement to be true in many occasions. The reason I avoid this topic is that most times it is brought up, my peers have used race as an excuse for anything negative that happens to them. I am an individual who believes that we are in the land of opportunity, and that if we work hard enough we can attain the socio-economic status that the White public has always hogged.

                While trying to fulfill my last general education course, I realized that my options were limited for the ethnicity portion. I did not want to find myself in a course where students go in and complain about the treatment they receive from the White community, I had seen plenty of that from my friends. Not looking forward to what I expected the class to present, I signed up and hoped that it would all be over quick. I was pleasantly surprised when I attended my first lecture. I realized that my expectations for this course were inconsistent with the material that it would actually cover. I found myself immersed in most of the readings. It was insightful to study why the White race has remained dominant in this culture and how the Black community has fought back to have their voices heard and to be respected as part of the human race. The assigned reading that has been most eye-opening is George Lipsitz’s chapter on “The White Spatial Imaginary”.

                This reading was able to answer many of the questions I had regarding the Black community. Before studying this work, I, like many other individuals, believed that the Black and other minority communities were not taking advantage of the opportunities that they have by living in the United States. To me, minority groups were wasting their time and resources on unproductive activities such as gangs, drug dealing, prostitution, and crime. As part of the minority group however, I realized that only a small percentage of our population was actually involved in these activities. One thing was certain though, most of the individuals that appeared in the news for such crimes where usually part of a minority group, rarely did I see a White individual being charged for these criminal activities. It is frustrating to see that time after time members of the minority group reinforce the stereotypes that the White community has summoned upon us.

                Through the “White Spatial Imaginary” I have finally been able to understand why the minority community has not been able to match the success of White America. I often wondered why, after many years of being “free” and “equal”, the Black and Latino communities were still struggling to be appropriately represented in society. White America was able to maintain the traditions of the slavery age through legislation and economic practices that favored the White individual but only made matters worse for those of a different ethnic background (Lipsitz). Housing legislation for example, is a big component for why White and Black communities have been spatially separated. It is because of legislation like the Federal Housing Authority of 1934 and Fair Housing Act of 1968 that the Black community, as well as many minority groups, has had to condense themselves in cities (Lipsitz). Living so closely together and being spatially separated has left them with little government assistance to better their living conditions. What legislation has created is a poorly funded neighborhood with inadequate access to good quality education and health.

                Through all this new insight, I still hold the belief that we live in the land of opportunity. Unfortunately many minority groups have been blinded by the living conditions that Whites have forced onto them. Because of this I do agree that Whites have an unfair advantage in terms of education, health, and general safety, but I also agree that if we really want to achieve equality we must fight for it and stop victimizing ourselves. To make ourselves heard and respected, it is important to show our power and importance to this country. This can be achieved by realizing that even though we are at a disadvantage, and even though we must work harder, it is possible for us to represent ourselves just as capable, if not more, than the White individual. Whites, like minorities, may not be aware of how this segregated society was formed. Unlike Whites however, people of color have suffered the negative consequences of segregation, and even though we may not be responsible for current conditions, it is in our best interest to educate our race and motivate them to pursue true equality and respect.

Josephine Baker and Black representation

                Growing up, Josephine Baker spent large portions of time dancing on the streets (Brown). Her artistic talent developed through her street performances allowed her to reach a fame only a few other Black artists were able to match. At a first glance, her role as an artist seems to represent the New Negro: an independent individual conscious of their history and their role and contributions to the society they live in (Locke). At a closer look however, her performances reveal and reinforce the White’s views towards African Americans of savages and inferior beings.

                Baker had a goal to “represent the universal ideals of brotherhood and equality” (Brown, 253). Many of her performances however involved her mimicking the movements of animals (Brown).  Although she had good intentions with her performances, a message that could be seen through them is that a black performer was easily able to copy the movements of wild animals; this observation led many to reinforce their beliefs that the Whites were further evolved and that the black race was more closely related to the animal world. Baker was commonly seen as an example of the savage who was civilized (Brown). Baker however was not completely unsuccessful at achieving her goal for the promotion of justice and equality; she was able to use her power as a respected and loved performer to push for these ideals. She was most able to show her  support for equality during World War 2 where she showed her support for de Gaulle’s resistance (Brown). Even when she became ill and bed-written, the de Gaulle’s resistance leaders used her sickroom as a meeting spot where they could plan out their next moves (Brown).

                Her dual role as an artist created contradicting views such as Du Bois’ and Locke’s. On the one side, Baker embodied the White’s stereotypical view of the Black individual. In her performances in the United States she became the wild, stupid, and primitive African American (Brown). She showed the audience, predominately white, what they wanted to see (Stewart, 08/26/2013). Once she moved to France and began performing abroad, her roles changed to represent a sexual object (Stewart, 08/26/2013). Her work in France is mainly her taking the role of a sex object; showing the Black Body could attract White eyes. Most of these details are what Du Bois would observe from Baker’s performances. She was not expressing herself for the sake of expression, but was instead directed as to how she must perform in order to attract the White audience. It appears under this light that Josephine Baker was in the film and theatre industry not to prove a point, but instead was there to entertain the White patrons and reinforce their view of the Black body. Throughout her career she was unable to portray herself as simply an individual with a voice; she was either an object to be fantasized about or a primitive successfully integrated into a White society.

                Locke would have a different perspective in which Baker not only attained the attention of the Whites, but she also won their love. He had a belief that propaganda perpetuates the position of inferiority (Stewart, 08/26/2013). Although Du Bois would consider Baker’s career propaganda more than art, Locke sees Baker’s career for what she was able to accomplish using her artistic expressions and not for what her performances represented. Baker through her performances gained great political and social power, especially in France (Brown). She was able to use this power to pursue equality and representation for her race. One could also argue that Baker was self-conscious of how she and her race were viewed. This knowledge allowed her to use her artistic talent and daring modes of expression to win a White audience which would later support her in her struggle for justice. Locke saw in Baker an artist expressing herself in a way she enjoyed while at the same time using her art in her favor.

                As an artist Josephine Baker underwent several hardships including rejection and criticism. The most difficult struggle she most likely went through was leaving St. Louise. Baker’s early childhood was spent working until finally near her teenage years she began to dance and perform (Stewart, 08/26/2013). Being a Black unprotected young child performer made her vulnerable to many dangers. While performing in the United States she achieved little, she was seen as an “unappealing female subject” (Stewart, 08/26/2013). For her to be able to leave St. Louise she had to conform to the views of the White audience. In addition she had to entertain them by showing them what they expected and wanted to see from a Black performer. To leave St. Louse Baker had to represent her race as ignorant and primitive. Lucky for her, her style of dancing attracted the attention of a producer who would take her to Paris and she transitioned from an unimportant performer into an influential erotic dancer and ultimately an actress and singer (Stewart, 08/26/2013). She had to do what many other African American performers before and after her had to do to become successful in their field, they had to conform to the white normative gaze. This means that in their art they had to project the White race as superior to Black race.  In addition they not only had to accept the false idea that Blacks were uncivilized, stupid, low class, and silly, but they were also forced to promote it if they wanted to be able to support themselves from this career.