Richard Wright (Extra Credit)

In “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch,” Jim Wright concludes that blacks were forced to act a certain way, or act Jim Crow, in order to avoid being harassed and beaten by whites.

Throughout the chapter, Richard Wright gives examples in which he learned his “Jim Crow” education. He begins with a story of how he first learned how to behave as a black boy. When Richard Wright lived in Arkansas as a young boy he and his friends got in a fight with white neighbors from across the railroad tracks. He ended up getting hit in the head with a broken bottle and needed to get stitches. When he told his mother of the news, she yelled at him and told him not ever to fight with white folks again. She acted as if blacks really were inferior to whites. He goes on to tell of numerous instances in which he learned how to live as a young black boy. He talks of how he was beaten for not addressing his white co-workers with the title of “sir.” He was also rewarded at another place of employment for remaining silent when a black woman was severely beaten for not paying her bills on time. There is yet another instance when he is beaten by a white cop for delivering packages in a white neighborhood after dark. The officer tells the boy to tell his boss not to send him out in the white neighborhood after dark anymore and Richard is forced to reply with a “yes, sir.” He goes on to talk of other cases in which he was forced to act a certain way because of his skin color. He even had to act as a servant to a white man in order to get books in the library because “No doubt if any of the white patrons had suspected that some of the volumes they enjoyed had been in the home of a Negro, they would not have tolerated it for an instant” (Wright 30).

Why did the whites force blacks to behave this way in our nation’s past? Whites forced the black people of our country to behave in this way in order to separate themselves from them. They made the blacks feel inferior so they, themselves, could feel superior. As we have discussed in class, there needs to be something to compare yourself to. Making the blacks feel as if they weren’t human made whites view themselves as being better. There must be an oppressed group in order for there to be a privileged group, and whites oppressed blacks in order to receive this privilege.

As I read this chapter, I was shocked at just how horribly Richard Wright was treated as a young man. I am aware that racism exists, but was a bit surprised at how far the hatred was carried. He was beaten by a police officer for riding his bike at night, delivering packages which his job required. Wright seemed like a very bright young boy and it is a shame that he was treated this way due to the color of his skin alone.