How often do we ridicule or put down people who are different from us, especially those whose differences are visible and physical? How much of that is human nature and how much of that has been taught to us by society? As Tyson says, “racial categorization doesn’t reflect biological reality but rather the current beliefs about race at different times” (372). It is something constructed by the society surrounding us. I felt that the girls in this story had been greatly influenced by society and their parents to believe certain things about race and racism. Arnetta and Octavia have learned from society that race can be used as a weapon. They use the term “Caucasian” to condemn someone who acts differently: “The word took off from there, and soon everything was Caucasian. If you ate too fast you ate like a Caucasian, if you ate to slow you ate like a Caucasian” (4). Laurel and her fellow troop members aren’t even around whites at home: “When you lived in the south suburbs of Atlanta, it was easy to forget about whites. Whites were like those baby pigeons: real and existing, but rarely seen or thought about” (5). Their impression of whites comes from images on the TV and what their parents have taught them: “We had all been taught that adulthood was full of sorrow and pain, taxes and bills, dreaded work and dealings with whites, sickness and death” (19), “‘My father and I were in this mall, but I was the one doing the staring…He said…it was the only time he’d have a white man on his knees doing something for a black man for free’” (29-30), “When you’ve been made to feel bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others” (31). Similarly, the girls of Troop 909 would only have learned the word “nigger” from their parents: “‘I mean, not all of them have the most progressive of parents, so if they heard a bad word, they might have repeated it. But I guarantee it would not have been intentional’” (26).
There are also signs of internalized racism in the story: “The ten white girls…with their long, shampoo-commercial hair, straight as spaghetti from the box. This alone was reason for envy and hatred. The only black girl most of us had ever seen with hair that long was Octavia…The sight of Octavia’s mane prompted other girls to listen to her reverentially” (5). Octavia receives her power from her long hair, a characteristic she shares with the white girls. She is respected by the other girls in her troop because she is like the white girls, thus encouraging the psychological programming that white is inherently superior. It seems that Laurel’s positive descriptions of the girls prove that she has internalized white superiority: “their complexions a blend of ice cream: strawberry, vanilla” (1), “the way all white girls appeared on TV—ponytailed and full of energy, bubbling over with love and money” (7). The internalized racism is further solidified by Laurel’s negative descriptions of “most of the girls in the troop”: “they’d be bunched-up wads of tinfoil, maybe, or rusty iron nails you had to get tetanus shots for” (18).
In the Brownies story I found that the girls in Laurel’s group were faced with two terms presented in Tyson’s writings on African American criticism: differential racialization and intersectionality. The differential racialization occurs when the girls from Laurel’s group feel obligated to show dominance over their white counterparts. This underlying belief was surely given to them by parents who didn’t think very highly of the “white race” to begin with. A great example of this can be found at the latter end of the story when Laurel tells the group of a story where her father has a white Mennonite man come to his house and paint their porch (30). Her father shows no graciousness towards this man, as though he is deserved his enslavement for what his ancestors had to endure. The girls proceed to take part in what seems to be a ritualistic experience, with song and dance before going into battle. When the girls arrive at the bathroom they are faced with what Tyson describes in my next term intersectionality. The girls find themselves face to face with their own racialism. They realize that the girls the so set out to destroy were just like they were, outcasts from society. Octavia gets a huge slap in the face from reality and retreats back to her mother. I think this is a great story, and as Ashley alludes to her post, we should be more careful with the words or actions we use when encountering someone that is different from us.
ReplyDeleteI even thought that there was evidence of intra-racial racism in the story. There seems to be a jealous that all the girls have for Octavia's hair that is like "white girls hair." They seem to hols her in higher ranking because of this.. "The only balck girl most of us had ever seen with hair that long was Octavia, whose hair hung past her butt like a Haiwaiin hula dancer's." (5) "The sight of Octavia's mane oprompted other girls to listen to her reventially/"
ReplyDeleteAshely has pointed out that we are too quick to judge. This story is a perfect example of what a typical day is like in the world. Everywhere we go we are either being judged or are judging others. We may do it subconciously, but it is being done. It may be something as small as noticing what clothing someone is wearing (Disney characters as mentioned in the story). Usually it is something physical. I agree with Jeremy as well. When the girls were in the bathroom they were with intersectionality. Realizing that they were face to face with their own racialism. It makes the reader really thick about how harsh they are on others around them.
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