Systematic Racists

We return again to the New Zealand sea with Albert Wendt’s Sons for the Return Home which tells the story of a Samoan boy living in a predominantly Papalagi society. His black skin color is like a burn mark for all the world to see and he must face the hardships and ridicule that come from being born outside the norm. The idea of the inferior black skin is prevalent in a number of different cultures throughout the world. In my motherland of South America, the darker skinned people are holed up in mountains and small towns while the fairer skinned upperclass lives in the major cities. The black skin itself is a testament to the scorching heat our forefathers labored in for centuries, while the fair skin finds its pride in never having been blemished. Interestingly, this forms an interesting dynamic between the two: while the fair skin is superior to the dark in terms of status, the darker skinned people are strong after their many generations of laborers. They are physically stronger yet still lack the necessary power to meet their contemporaries as equals. It is a perpetuation of the class system that keeps the top on top despite their inadequacies.

Just as Wendt’s protagonist is aware of his being a minority, so too is the majority concerned with the racial implications of his character. Being black, he is seen as a well-endowed nymphomaniac and this is made clear when he confronts his girlfriend’s ex. This is but one example of the racial guidelines to which society adheres to. There are a million descriptions for the minority which can be made without even meeting them face-to-face. It is enough to be widely accepted by society, the people need nothing more than that.

What we can observe in any instance of systematic racism is a moving toward a cultural paradigm to which all functioning members of a society may subscribe to. By ostracizing a minority, the majority ensure their exclusivity and all of the benefits that come with it. But it is not in their ultimate interest to continue hating these people forever. Its really quite frightening, but these societies are heading towards a final solution just as Adolf Hitler did in Germany. Not to say that systematic racism will eventually evolve into genocide, but one must realize Hitler’s rationale. He was aware of the racial discrimination against jews but instead of going through the usual widespread racism, Hitler took his Germany and bypassed all of that. He began mass genocide in order to move his people into the cultural paradigm that could only exist by destruction of the minority. 

It is interesting the way the minority interacts with the majority. Here in the United States, the minority forms the backbone of the American labor force. The laborers unseen by the people, but working tirelessly for an opportunity in this country. Yet we discriminate when an illegal migrant does not speak English. They are not the way we think they ought to be, they exist outside of our system and adhere to a different set of rules that we can only perceive as stereotypes. We try to be accepting of all cultures, but truly what we desire is a perfect American society. Racism is simply a response to what we perceive as an imperfect reality.

Adaptation

        We have discussed the concept of colonization and the way in which different cultures have adapted to or not adapted to the changes and harsh realities of colonialism. We talked about how Okonkwo’s inability to adapt led to his death and therefore Achebe believes that one must adapt to live. We journeyed with the Maori people as their lands were taken from them forcefully despite their attempts to fight back. Wendt’s Sons for the Return Home describes a child who must adapt to a new culture and then readapt to his old culture. In Grace’s short story, “Ngati Kangaru”, a Maori family, that has adapted to the ways of the colonizers who took the Maori land, decide to take back the land that was stolen from them. The satirical tone that Grace gives the story reveals to the reader that the Maori family has become so integrated with another culture that they have lost their sense of culture and have become just like the colonizers they hate. This idea is contrasted with the other excerpt we read this week, Wendt’s Nuanua introduction, in which he praises and glorifies the Pacific groups that have managed to preserve their culture despite adaptation through art, language, politics, and most importantly literature. 

        If we connect Grace’s Potiki with her short story, we see things have come full circle. The crazy and unbelievable plot of the short story, in which the Maori family steals the luxury homes and gives them to returning Maori people without getting caught, is a mirror of the way in which the New Zealand company stole the land from the Maori people to begin with. It shows how unfair and ridiculous the taking of Maori land was in Potiki. However, in the same way, it creates a sense of loss, because Billy and his family are committing the same outlandish crime as the New Zealand company. The family uses the same words and phrases as the colonizers used, against them. Billy is inspired to create his “company” while reading a book which explains the tactics used by the New Zealand company. It is especially different from the way that the Tamihana family attempts to preserve and save their culture in Potiki. Grace seems to be saying that too much adaptation can be detrimental to a culture. If Billy and his family were truly trying to restore the Maori culture to their land, they would not have done it in the way that they did. They were not thinking about preserving culture, rather they were thinking about making money and scamming people. In this case the family has become so adapted that they have lost their love for their culture. 

       In Wendt’s piece we see a very opposite view on adaptation. He is bursting with pride that the Pacific people have preserved and saved their culture despite having to adapt when colonized. The book Nuanua was made for the purpose of spreading the culture and the literature of the Pacific people, to disprove stereotypes, and to prove that despite being adapted they still treasure and hold their cultural values to a high standard. Sons for the Return Home evokes the idea that adaptation is a good thing but one must find a way to compromise and keep ones original culture and tradition alive. It is interesting to see these two different opinions on adaptation and how they fit in to our course as a whole. 

       In our study of homelands, we have seen forced adaptation, refusal to adapt, and welcome adaptation. In our world today, we see adaptation as a necessary part of life. When we move somewhere new or make new friends etc, we must find that common ground where our new environment and our old environment coexist in harmony. When I lived in Denmark, I felt very comfortable, like I belonged. It took some time to figure things out and find a rhythm, but once I did, I felt at home. That does not mean that I lost my American nature. It meant that I found a way to exist comfortably in a new culture without losing the old one. 

Racism in Wendt's "Sons for the Return Home"

Sons for the Return Home is an interesting look at yet another cultural facet present in New Zealand. After reading Grace’s Potiki, this novel offers a modern look at racism and difficulties experienced by the Samoan people. I enjoyed this book for multiple reasons, but mainly because of the narration style. In telling the story through the voice of an impassionate, unbiased third-party, the book achieves an allegorical success. It becomes a metaphor in and of itself, and makes reading it all the more engaging. In some respects, the narration style is risky, but it works. It allows the action to flow freely and smoothly while at the same time manages to make the reader uncomfortable. For example, chapter two begins with the arrival of the author’s family to New Zealand. Like the rest of the novel, the action is related to us through the voice of someone acting as a spectator: “Their first morning at sea the boy screamed and clung to his mother when they ventured from their cabin. His father tried to soothe him with caresses and whispered affirmations that there was nothing to be afraid of. The boy screamed louder. Some of the other passengers and crew gathered to see what was wrong” (Wendt 5). This section is compelling because we as readers feel like the other passengers all gathering around to watch the tantrum. We have been given almost zero information concerning this boy’s origins or why he is afraid, which makes us third-party spectators. We see this boy and feel sympathy for him, but we do not know all that much about him.

            This novel touches on multiple adolescent fears and troubles, but it ultimately rises above those issues and becomes a very powerful statement about mixed relationships and the stresses of love. The mixed relationship becomes an even bigger problem in the face of racism and close-minded approaches from the other characters. It is a fascinating examination of a contemporary issue and I found myself drawn to the narrative as it progressed. It directly relates to problems in the Loyola community, as well as in the United States as a whole. There is still racism present in this country and biracial couples face discrimination and prejudice even today.

            The article, Nuanua, is a look at languages and colonialism’s impact on oral and written traditions. Colonialism was responsible for eradicating numerous indigenous languages, including those developed by the Aboriginal people of Australia and the Hawaiian natives. Oral and written traditions were stamped out by the Europeans, and this is rightly suggested by Wendt in the Introduction: “That literature was by Europeans who had supposedly ‘discovered’ us and traders, missionaries, colonial administrators, development experts…Colonial literature assumed, whether consciously or unconsciously, that the coloniser’s language was superior to ours and part of saving and civilising us was therefore to convert us to that language” (Wendt 2). The prose works selected represent the vast cultural “flora and fauna” amongst New Zealand’s indigenous people. The anthology is a triumph in its depiction of oral and written traditions and manages to rise above the influence of colonization by demonstrating a knack (by its various authors) for storytelling.

The Intimate Turned Alien

The readings done for this week provided fascinating perspective into ideas of post colonial society and, if taken in conjunction with Patricia Grace’s Potiki they can even more adequately inform one’s notion of what postcolonial literature and postcolonial society really means.

For instance, after reading Potiki any discussion or thought surrounding colonialism can’t help but be of a narrow view for in the novel one is presented with two extremes, those who seek to destroy a culture and those who refuse to capitulate under any circumstances. However, Wendt (in his introduction to Nuana and his work Sons for the Return Home) and Grace (in her short story Ngati Kangaru “The Sky People”) each discuss a more moderate view of society, one that acknowledges the ills of colonialism (particularly in Sons and Ngati Kangaru) but also its benefits and addresses the effects it has on the psyche of those who are forced to assimilate into or at least adapt towards a new, overbearing society. Thus, a more dynamic view is formed of how hostile takeovers performed by bigoted western Europeans shifted the cultures of indigenous people.

The first work I read was Sons for the Return Home and after reading the other two pieces it struck me as a melding of the ideas put forth in Nuana and Ngati. To begin: consider Nuana. Wendt, initially seems to be almost praising the postcolonial world. He refuses to support theories that submit that those cultures that were colonized were diluted or corrupted, in fact he calls them “racist and outmoded” (Wendt 3). He considers them changed and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Faulkner, Yeats, Hemingway and other masters were introduced to the indigenous people because of colonialism and, perhaps more importantly Pacific Islanders were introduced on a broader stage. In the postcolonial world they managed to find a voice, to normalize or rather humanize themselves and at least attempt to present an image that does not propagate racist stereotypes by depicting them as exotic or as like curiosities.

Ngati though addresses a different view. One may duly note the cunning of the Maori protagonists, their willingness to stoop to fraud in order to take back their lands from those who took it. Of course the question that must be begged, before any criticism is leveled at them is: why must they take back their lands in the first place? And, as an extension of that inquiry, is it their fault that they are forcing people out of vacation house and home? Are they not merely using the same tactics to which they were subjected to? The message therefore, is clear. Colonialism inspires an inhumanity to one’s fellow man and a postcolonial world reaps the “benefits” of such action.

In Sons, as has been previously mentioned, the reader bears witness Wendt meditating over how the vices and virtues of colonialism and how they are enacted in a postcolonial world. His nameless protagonist adapts to the world around him but struggles with the distance he feels towards others, initially towards whites but later towards those of his own homeland. In many ways yours truly could relate to the struggles of relation to others felt by Wendt’s protagonist. Even the family dynamics are similar. A venerated, anguished deceased patriarch of a grandfather, a strong willed, loving mother with a huge extended community of family surrounding the smaller circle of immediate kin. Hence, the issue of how does one emerge from the womb of the home, replete with all of its idiosyncrasies and definite worldviews and adapt to the larger universe but then maintain the capacity to relate in any way to the womb that was just vacated. Cultures change and adapt to survive as Wendt states in his introduction. But when one branches out and begins to forge ahead and change on one’s own, it becomes a struggle not to become an alien to the home that was once so familiar, a stranger in a strange land. Further complicating the matter is that I don’t think the protagonist views himself as any less Samoan just as I don’t view myself as any less a member of my family in spite of the increasing distance in worldviews and desires for my life should be lived. One risks becoming an island, ostracized, to an extent, from the motherland. A worthy notion to consider, though is whether or not this is a bad thing. I suggest that it is not particularly if one has nothing to regret and nothing to look forward to in the way of Wendt’s protagonist. And so when the goddess crosses her legs one can be happy in death.

Society's Inherent Racism

 Today's readings reflect the prevalence of racism and its capacity to transcend various cultures. Albert Wendt's Sons for the Return Home tells the story of a young Samoan living in New Zealand among a primarily papalagi-composed society. The Samoan family is subject to racism and discrimination of various kinds throughout the novel. As a minority group, the children experience ridicule and harassment at school from their peers, teachers, and principles. The treatment of Samoan characters throughout the novel conveys the inevitability of racism and discrimination, as it occurs wherever a marginalized group lives among a more prevalent group with a substantial degree of power. Numerous other examples occur in literature and illustrate the perpetual struggle of those who live in demeaning societies.  Countless works portray African-Americans struggling to thrive in spite of their harrowingly racist surroundings. King's letters from Montgomery prison express his disdain for the mistreatment of his people, as well as his hatred for those who do nothing to combat segregation and discrimination. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and various other works such as Role of Thunder Hear My Cry, and A Lesson Before Dying portray racism as it occurs in the American South against the African-Americans. These instances of racism are significant because they exist as the prevalent white southerner mindset, as their society actively promotes discrimination. Townspeople, teachers, and police in all three novels demonstrate racist tendencies that often result in the abuse and in some instances death of African-Americans. Other works of literature exemplify the prevalence of racism in any given society. Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner    depicts a society founded on racial tension in Afghanistan consisting of the dominant Pashtun and minority Hazara ethnic groups. The Hazaras suffer persecution and eventual genocide at the hands of the Taliban.

Racist cultural norms cultivate in nations with colonial history due to the contact points between differing cultures. The very act of colonization necessitates the exploitation of a weaker ethnic group by a stronger "powerhouse nation." Such exploitation occurs over extended periods of time through multiple generations, thus cultivating a society that marginalizes its different or less prominent members. Racial and cultural tensions deteriorate as time progresses due to the inevitable homogenization and integration of any given society's ethnic composition.

The novels covered in this unit reveals that every society consists of marginalized individuals to some extent. While traveling abroad I've observed marginalized groups and prejudice social dynamics that parrallel those of the United States. I learned that many Western Europeans such as Germans and Austrians marginalize and dislike Eastern Europeans such as Serbians, Albanians, and Armenians. Teenagers in Innsbruck explained that Eastern Europeans are disliked because they steal Austrian jobs and are notorious for criminal activity. While exploring the city I crossed into an impoverished "Serbian Ghetto" with low-income housing and a reputably more dangerous atmosphere. I noticed many similarities between European and American discrimination of minorities. Both cultures marginalize immigrants and minorities on the basis of ethnic discrepancy.

Racial Bias in Sons for the Return Home

                The issue of racial bias is an unfortunate truth of society today. In his “Letter to Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. presents this issue concisely by discussing the overt inequality between blacks and whites in America during the period of segregation. Skin color plays a large part in how many people think of others, and socially perpetuated stereotypes about people of color contribute to a system of organized oppression by attributing their struggles to character flaws inherent to their race. This idea is prevalent in Albert Wendt’s Sons for the Return Home, as the Samoan minority in New Zealand is looked down upon by the papalagi majority. The main character is hyperaware of this, as he experiences racism in school, where acceptance for him is conditional on excellence, and his less accomplished brother is harassed by other students and insulted by the principal (Wendt 14). When he faces his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend at a party, he sees the consequences of “the racist myth of black virility”: the other man fears the possibility that he is inadequate compared to the people whom he sees as inferior, and “the Maoris and other minority groups [have] to pay for it” because the majority denounces them as nymphomaniacs (Wendt 125). This myth is evident in American culture as well – it is illustrated clearly in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, when the black man Tom Robinson is convicted for the rape of a white girl despite evidence that she had initiated the intercourse. Despite his innocence, he is condemned by racial stereotypes. And this phenomenon is not restricted to fiction: African Americans are more than three times as likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana that whites, even though the rate of marijuana use is roughly the same between the two groups. The consequences of racial bias are very real to minority groups.

In his preface to Nuanua, Wendt discusses post-colonial literature as a retaliation against the biases set in place by colonialism. He points out that despite the view of colonizers that indigenous peoples are “hapless victims and losers in the process of cultural contact and interaction… our cultures have survived and adapted when we were expected to die, vanish, under the influence of supposedly stronger superior cultures” (Nuanua 3). This superiority complex of colonialists is the primary source of biases against minorities – they assume that natives are inferior and thus reject their cultures. In “Ngati Kangaru,” Patricia Grace turns this concept on its head. She illustrates the absurdity of the colonial mindset of superiority by reversing the roles of the natives and the settlers. She even goes so far as to have Billy use the same language as colonial writers. It is striking how unrealistic the scenario is from this perspective, because it forces readers to acknowledge the fact that the conquest which was effortless for white colonialists is impossible for Maori people reclaiming their homeland. The way the vacationers simply back down, with no means of retaliation, and the lack of attention from the media regarding the matter are distinctly unrealistic, even though the Maoris experienced this, because of an ingrained sense of entitlement which prevails in white society and originates in the era of imperialism. “Ngati Kangaru” is unsettling because it brings to the forefront of the reader’s attention the latent assumptions about race which generally occupy the back of one’s mind.

                Service at Tunbridge definitely brings these issues to light. One of the first things that I noticed is that, though the majority of the student body is black, I have yet to encounter a single non-white teacher. I doubt that this power structure was intentional, but it stands out to me as an example of the unquestioned systematic discrimination which exists in our society. People rarely acknowledge these mundane power dynamics, but I cannot help but consider the possible implications they have on the minorities facing them. How must young, black, aspiring teachers feel when they realize that they have never seen someone of their color in their desired field? I also recall a conversation I had with my roommate, who lives locally, after my first day of service. Having noticed posters around the school advertising a college essay contest and proclaiming “It’s never too soon to start thinking about college!” I commented that I couldn’t believe elementary schoolers were expected to consider college – “They deserve time to just be kids,” I said. My roommate simply pointed out that without these reminders, most of those students would never believe they could go to college. It was jarring to be made so suddenly aware of my own privilege – I was always expected to pursue higher education, and throughout my life I had access to support which I had come to take for granted. For me, the pressure to prepare for college was constant, and as such I came to consider it a hassle, but for many students of color college is a lofty ideal far beyond their reach. I feel that this realization deepened my appreciation for the work Tunbridge does to provide education and motivation for these students, and I hope to continue to develop an understanding of people from different backgrounds than mine.

Incarceration Statistics from: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Race_and_Prison#sthash.NqNYQr8c.dpbs

Cultural Adaptability

Throughout this semester our readings have examined different cultures and how they react to impending change. Through the example of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, we learn that failure to adapt is essentially to die, as his rigidity in the face of his clearly evolving culture forces him to commit suicide. Martin Luther King, Jr. calls upon “White Moderates” to recognize the changing tide of social justice in their country and to support the Civil Rights Movement in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Our readings this week examine the effects of cultural adaptation and answer questions about whether or not a culture is still the same culture after it has been forced to transform and adapt. This theme is relevant in all three pieces, but specifically in “Ngati Kangaru” by Patricia Grace and the introduction to “Nuanua” by Albert Wendt. In “Ngati Kangaru,” we see a satirical account of how exposure to European colonizers has changed the Maori, and not for the better.  In an effort to regain their land, they adopt sneaky plots and use misleading language, just as the Europeans originally did to them, in order to trick the Europeans out of their homes for their own benefit. The short story spotlights the darker side of adaptive culture; while Billy and his family are successful in reclaiming their homes, they also lose sight of their values and become materialistic, enjoying life in their luxury homes and dreaming of motorbikes and video cameras. Billy and his family still call themselves Maori, but we see the negative effects of adaptation as they sacrifice their true values in favor of greed that distracts them from the principles of their ancestors.

Conversely, Albert Wendt takes pride in the fact that Pacific cultures have adapted in ways such as learning English and does not view this as a loss of culture whatsoever. In fact, he views this as a tool by which Pacific natives “have indiginised and enriched the language of the colonisers and used it to declare [their] independence and uniqueness; to analyse colonialism itself and its effects upon [them]; to free [themselves] of the mythologies created about [them] in colonial literature” (Wendt 3). This is simply a means of growing and continuing, according to Wendt, as it is necessary for any culture to do in order to survive. Wendt’s introduction is a description of many cultures that faced dire obstacles and easily could have faded out of existence. However, Wendt demonstrates that it was their ability to adapt which enabled them to survive and exist in their current states today.

            My first three at my service-learning site at Tunbridge Public Charter School have been incredibly rewarding and the lessons that I have learned while there seem applicable to what we have learned in class this semester and vice versa. Drawing by lottery from a diverse city such as Baltimore, my class at Tunbridge was bound to be filled with diversity. However, it has been beautiful to watch kids of different backgrounds interact with each other. I walk into that room and immediately notice the differences between the students; the different ways that they talk and act, the different ways that they dress, the differences in skin color. Coming from the general homogeneity of my hometown, it is difficult for me to ignore these things. However, in a room full of differences the students seem to notice only similarities; they are concerned with who else has a pet dog, who else likes the Ravens, who else enjoys math. The interweaving of cultures, coupled with the standards and expectations set by the teacher, Mrs. Grimm, leads to the creation of a classroom character that embodies the backgrounds of all the students in the class. I think that their ability to look past each other’s differences is a true testament to the innocence of youth, and I think that there is definitely much for me to learn from these kids in the coming months.