Beloved describes life for black Americans post slavery. Although Sethe, Paul D and many others are no longer slaves, many black Americans were still susceptible to violence and unfair treatment by white Americans. America, today, has made some vast improvements from the Beloved era, but racism is still very prevalent in modern society. America tries to pride itself on being the "land of the free" and tries to describe itself as such a progressive country, but as recent news of racism in the media show, America may not be so free. Events, such as police brutality in Ferguson, Donald Trump (who has made racist remarks about people of color) being elected, and the mere fact that the KKK is still a group being supported. Although slavery may have been abolished, racism did not disappear.
I think learning about the time period presented in Beloved is critical for Americans to read because learning about history let's us learn from our mistakes, and I think America needs to needs to start to be honest about the racism shown in our country.
I agree with your analysis on the racial issues present in today's world. Last year, I wrote a research essay on the mass incarceration of African-Americans, and how the War on Drugs in the 1970s was a way of trying to discretely discriminate against black people. The book stated that no progress has truly been done in terms of racism against African-Americans since the days of slavery. This ideology is relevant with the issues today of police brutality and the racism preached by Donald Trump. Great post, Mia!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you took a modern perspective on the racial issues that are so closely connected to the racial issues that people of color had to deal with centuries ago. Is America as racially progressive as it claims to be?
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