Racism In The Piano Lesson
Due to racism, the American government has not always upheld the constitution. During Reconstruction, many laws were enacted, promising the assimilation and integration of African Americans into society. Racism, however, still prominent within America, caused people of color to be segregated from society and provided them with minimal educational and political opportunities. Such outcomes of racism are seen in The Piano Lesson, in which August Wilson discusses African Americans’ struggle of advancing in life. White men constantly received benefits of which people of color did not, which sometimes led to conflicts with the law. Of course, blacks never found favor from the law, continuing the cycle of racism. Although African Americans found
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When Lymon, an African American in The Piano Lesson, has his bail paid off by a white man, the judge rules that Lymon must work for him, even though Lymon pleads he would rather take his “thirty days but they wouldn’t let [him] do that” (Wilson 37). Wilson’s demanding tone goes to show how whites were strict and uncaring towards people of color, which corroborates with how discrimination limited African Americans in reality. With no support from the whites, nor from the legal system, there was no method in which African Americans could possibly escape this everlasting cycle of slavery and wrongful indebtedness. It has been argued in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, that slavery is unlawful, and the Thirteenth Amendment was to “enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law” (Plessy). It can be argued that a firm law against slavery and racial discrimination would eliminate the bias against people of color. Furthermore, this de jure law was different than what really occurred, due to the fact that African Americans never advocated for the enforcement of the Thirteenth Amendment. In fact, in The Bricks We Stand On, modern author Douglas A. Blackmon provided insight on the life of black prisoners, acknowledging that forty-five years “after President Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation Proclamation freeing American slaves… more than a thousand other black men toiled under the lash” (Bricks). Subjugated to toil essentially as slaves, it was impossible for any black man to escape this cycle of discrimination. The subjugation of African Americans during the Emancipation Proclamation’s enforcement further demonstrates the invalidity of the Thirteenth Amendment, as it “could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color” (Plessy). The mere
When Lymon, an African American in The Piano Lesson, has his bail paid off by a white man, the judge rules that Lymon must work for him, even though Lymon pleads he would rather take his “thirty days but they wouldn’t let [him] do that” (Wilson 37). Wilson’s demanding tone goes to show how whites were strict and uncaring towards people of color, which corroborates with how discrimination limited African Americans in reality. With no support from the whites, nor from the legal system, there was no method in which African Americans could possibly escape this everlasting cycle of slavery and wrongful indebtedness. It has been argued in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, that slavery is unlawful, and the Thirteenth Amendment was to “enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law” (Plessy). It can be argued that a firm law against slavery and racial discrimination would eliminate the bias against people of color. Furthermore, this de jure law was different than what really occurred, due to the fact that African Americans never advocated for the enforcement of the Thirteenth Amendment. In fact, in The Bricks We Stand On, modern author Douglas A. Blackmon provided insight on the life of black prisoners, acknowledging that forty-five years “after President Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation Proclamation freeing American slaves… more than a thousand other black men toiled under the lash” (Bricks). Subjugated to toil essentially as slaves, it was impossible for any black man to escape this cycle of discrimination. The subjugation of African Americans during the Emancipation Proclamation’s enforcement further demonstrates the invalidity of the Thirteenth Amendment, as it “could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color” (Plessy). The mere