DuBois Souls of Black Folk and Color Line, Essay Example

Black and American: More Than Skin-Deep Consciousness

The double-consciousness of an American who also happens to hold a ‘black soul’ continues to effect race relations in this country. While Chapter 1 of Souls of Black Folks ably describes this ‘problem’ as the great struggle of the twentieth century, DuBois underestimated the effects of this veil of separation and double-consciousness- and the ripple effect of other groups’ searches for personal rights, liberties, and legal protection. If this double-consciousness is the ‘problem,’ then the motivation of the American majority in ignoring potential solutions-despite increased social and global awareness- should be called into question. Rather than very graciously attributing complaisance to a lack of awareness of the importance of black culture in America, today’s black soul might wonder if the majority culture wants deep and abiding change or the mere appearance of it.

A Black and American Soul

The very nature of being in a minority culture indicates two things: the majority excludes these groups from full participation in citizenship. Rather than give in and assimilate, minority groups band together in cultural pride. Thus, this double-consciousness represents a duality of being outnumbered and comes with both benefits and drawbacks to minority membership. As DuBois phrases it, they would not “Africanize America [nor] bleach his Negro soul”. The idea of dual histories creates another common denominator: the dualistic experience associated with national holidays and other customary, mostly majority-ran celebrations.

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass headlined as the speaker in honor of Independence Day. He stood up, expressed his nervousness, relayed his intent to deliver a less-practiced speech. As a renowned orator, Douglass cleverly began by denying the certainty of the theme which developed: white Americans liberated themselves, but the freedom of the country remained in its infancy as long as its people refused to test the limits of their power for their fellow Americans. He called the Fourth of July the white American’s Passover and drew parallels to the Jewish liberation from Egypt. He went on:

 “Your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts went so far as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive as ought not to be quietly submitted to… My opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers.”

Many modern black Americans feel this dissonance forced upon them every time that a new event or a new atrocity occurs. They represent their race, as though their people must possess only one mind and lack the diversity and refinement of the dominant white culture.

Deep and Abiding Change

Before the Civil War, Douglass addressed white men- many of whom still owned slaves- and told them that the end did not always justify the means and that they could, indeed, make mistakes. For any prominent figure, especially a black man, to lecture on the injustice of the dominant power structure so soon after resisting British oppression, the words rankled the guilty ears of the listeners. One can imagine them wishing for the veil that DuBois depicts, drawing it over their eyes, lest they see too much in the mirror. The guilt of the past- not the presence of the oppressed descendants- recommends this blindness.

Years later, one black writer described well-wishing people rushed to patronizingly tell him about their token black acquaintance or to prove their tolerance and sympathy by denouncing extreme atrocities committed against the black man. DuBois penned these words in 1900. How much has changed since then? Kennedy, Middleton, and Ratcliffe point to online postracial white support, which they dub ‘slacktivism,’ as part of the new problem. They publicly commit to only anti-racial opinions and actions which produce “the kind of commitment that will bring only social acknowledgment and praise” (92-94). Social media provides a low-stakes environment for would-be racial activists to pose their opinions and lives perfectly- select the words which reflect political correctness and not their gut reaction to such events and to bolster their opinion with vague multiracial friends as proof of their ‘woke’ nature.

On the reverse side of that same coin, the hyperactive and informal nature of constant status updates occasionally lays bare the underlying problem. In the essay “Before #blacklivesmatter”, the author points to a tweet from an executive: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” as an illustration of presumed white superiority. (89) This insensitive and degrading comment clearly crossed several lines of common decency. However, it takes the public airing of such casual attitudes about race to grasp the continued severity of the problem. America has not moved beyond the “fashionable idea of infallibility” which Douglass cited in his speech in 1852. He did not write this speech, submit it to a newspaper, wait within the comfort of his home, and pat himself on the back as he retold the tale to his same-race friends and the token white abolitionist. He physically stood in the presence of men who thought him more of an animal than a person, who might joyfully arrange his recapture or murder as soon as he exited the building, and included the elephant in the room in his address without fear or bitter accusation.

White sympathy and projection dilute the public reaction by creating a distance between ‘us’ and ‘them’ both between white and black Americans and between the offensive parties and the all-too-eager-to-distance-themselves white Americans. This avoidance of affiliation with the offenders allows white Americans to create penance for the past without actually taking action. These same people might shrug off a questionable joke the next day at work, chalking it up to bad taste or fearing reprisal by taking a stand. One might make the case that this same reason prevented the founding fathers from establishing a slavery-free America. Under pressure, they chose the path of least resistance, knowing that the ‘problem’ of race relations would be inherited by future Americans of all races.

Conclusion

The availability of information in this age creates a transparency of information and accusations against those who commit wrong but lacks the moral rectitude and judgment to resolve what injustice the people uncover. W.E.B DuBois compared the color line to a veil and insinuated that it was deeply tinted. In the twenty-first century, the transparency of the racial divide increases. Both sides can be seen, legal protections exist, and activists push daily toward greater equality. The outward signals of progress build, but the social foundation refuses to shift. A house divided cannot stand, and each and every black patriot cannot stand to be considered anything less than wholly American.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” (July 5, 1852). Retrieved 26 July 2017 from http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html.

DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk (1903).  Project Gutenberg. Web. 29 July 2017.

Kennedy, Tammie M., Joyce Middleton, & Krista Ratcliffe (eds). Rhetorics Of Whiteness: Postracial Hauntings In Popular Culture, Social Media, And Education (2017). Southern Illinois University Press: United States. Print.