What is it to be black and American? For years this conundrum has plagued the minds of so many Americans, more specifically of African descent. Complicated is the process of analysis in this matter, and detrimental is its conclusion to the vitality of this culture’s social strength. Is it possible to be optimistic regarding the position and placement of the black group in America today without being naive? Or should the more cynical, pessimistic view of the black American be gleamed upon and toiled over? Determining whether hope or despair is the appropriate response is the key. In Toni Morrison’s essay titled “A Slow Walk of Trees,” the issue is presented – the interpretation of the black man, his role and position as of now. For many persons it is terribly tiring to consider what it means to be black and American today. The culmination of media portrayal, the bemusement by white America of blacks, the exploitation internally and externally of the community to which they belong – to a boiling point do they reach, yet staying from complete incorporation and cooperation in this conglomeration so ill-represented by the misnomer of “melting pot.” While it is true that a vast selection of characteristics and traits have been readily inculcated into popular culture, the soul of the black culture, the life force has been shunned in the same manner.
How can one find himself satiated by this? Complete acceptance and inclusion – a complete fallacy some would say. “I am black and I’m proud… forgetting the rest!” The other side of the same coin displays an immediate contradiction, yet somehow constructed with the same base, a multi-faceted foundation. Is the optimistic Negro simply naive? This is not so.
The Term Paper on Blues Music As A Vivid Reflection Of The Black American Life And Culture
... As A Vivid Reflection of The Black American Life And Culture Blues can be justly called the Black-American music. It reflects the history and ... finally to the general movement of the mass of black Americans into the central culture of the country, Blues still went back for ... was going through at the time. The music is a complete manifestation of the hardships, work, love, and trials and tribulations ...
Morrison aptly consolidates this other social consciousness in her essay, while leaving room to ponder – “Some [black people] I know are clearer in their positions, have not sullied their anger with optimism or dirtied their hope with despair” (Morrison, 428).
This person, the hopeful kind, can see a glimmer of light at what appears to be a never-ending tunnel of complication, distraction, and problematic epithets and confrontations. Though this theology, this conception should be honored and applauded, lurking in the far regions of the mind lie apprehension, anxiety, and reservations about the outcome, the superficial “conclusions,” the planting of feet on the proverbial shaky ground. Nevertheless, no matter the uncertainty one cannot deny the lessening and loosening affect of such thought processes. Whether good or bad, optimistic or pessimistic, uplifting or degrading, one must consider all factions of the whole – being black and American. Throughout history there have been speakers, leaders, and promoters for both sides, they themselves having to consider their choices in the matter, their reasoning, and the affect their words could and did have upon their people.
For one to make a sound choice and personally satisfactory decision, not just paroxysms of voice should be made, but careful, detailed, structured rhetoric. It is up to each person to decide if history has made the black man what he is and placed him accordingly, or should that be taken into consideration and utilized in the future for a better place, a better society, a better man, a better black man?
