The system today

1. The System Today, a serious problem exists all over the world. Racial oppression takes place
in the poorest and the richest countries, including America. Racial oppression is
characterized by the majority, or the ruling race, imposing its beliefs, values, and laws on
the minority, or the ruled race.
In most areas, the ruling race is upper class whites that run the “system”, and have a
disproportionate amount of power. In other areas, it may not be the white race, but it is still
the race that is comprised of the majority, makes the laws, or has the most money.
These are the keys to domination over the weaker minorities that don‟t have the power to
thrive under the majority‟s system according to their own cultural beliefs, values, and laws.
One of the countries in which oppression is apparent is South Africa, a country that practices
apartheid. “Drought”, a sort of parable written by Jan Rabie, addresses this very issue in a
compelling way.
A white man and a black man are working together in the midday sun on an arid plain. Not
long after the white man instructs the black man to work outside because he has black skin
and can stand the sun better. He tells the black guy that, “You are cursed…Long ago my
God cursed you with darkness…we want to build houses and teach you blacks how to live in
peace with us” (685-86), yet the house they are building is designed to separate them. The
black man counters by pointing out that his “ancestors dipped their assegais in the blood of
your forefathers and saw that it was red as blood” (686). He is linking himself to the white
man by their blood, which of course is the same color regardless of the differing amounts of
melanin in their skin and their different backgrounds. The white man responds by telling
him, “It‟s time you forgot the damned past” (686). The white man is imposing his own
beliefs and traditions on the black man, and ordering him to forget his own. Another work
that deals with racial issues in South Africa is Mark Mathabane‟s autobiographical essay, “I
Leave South Africa”, in which Mark describes his first trip to America. Expecting the
Promised Land, a country that tolerates all individuals, regardless of race, class, or cultural
background, Mark is shocked when he speaks to the Black Muslim. The Muslim asks Mark
for his African name and he responds with his “white” name, but the Muslim is not fooled.
Mark writes, “I was startled by this. How did he know I had an African name? I hardly used
it myself because it was an unwritten rule among black youths raised in the ghettos to deny
their tribal identity and affiliation, and that denial applied especially to names” (786). He is
also surprised when the Muslim encourages him to attend a black college. Mark thought that
he was talking about a tribal school, apparently another tool used to segregate the races in
South Africa. It is important to note the Muslim‟s perspective on integration in America. He
believes that it is a way for the “white devil” to force the black man to become more and
more dependant on whites. He says, “This integration business in America is a fraud. It ain‟t
good for the black mind and culture…also, no matter how integrated we become, white folks
won‟t accept us as equals. So why should we break our backs trying to mix with them, heh?
To them we will always be niggers” (787-88). He also tells Mark that, “You will find a lot of
South Africa in this country, brother” (788). This perspective, while extreme, did not spawn
itself. It came about because of racial oppression. These ideas are similar to those of
Malcolm X, an American. Etheridge Knight, an author of poetry and winner of an American

2. Book Award, read the Autobiography of Malcolm X while serving time in the Indiana State
Prison. His poem, “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane”
reflects the system punishing those that don‟t adapt to the rules. Battle-scarred “Hard Rock
was „known not to take no *censored* from nobody‟” (714). His rebellious acts against the
system, such as smacking “the captain with his dinner tray”, surviving a record time in the
Hole, and biting “a screw on the thumb and…[poisoning] him with syphilitic spit” (715),
were deemed intolerable. Hard Rock returned to prison lobotomized and shock-treated.
Remember that, in order to avoid punishment in oppressive countries, many authors use
allegorical stories to criticize their oppressors. If you need more evidence of the system at
work in America, simply compare the ratio of academic and athletic scholarships awarded to
black youths to the ratio of scholarships awarded to white youths. The comparison implies
that blacks are intellectually inferior; it is wrong and morally unacceptable. Blacks are not
the only minority subjected to racist oppression in America. Chinese-American Wing Tek
Lum, a well-educated individual and winner of the Creative Literature Award from the
Association for Asian American Studies, expresses his feelings in “Minority Poem”. He feels
that dominant Anglo culture only tolerates minorities as Americans, but considers them “the
leftover peelings” of the American apple pie (879). The key to realizing the severity of the
problem is to understand that Lum‟s experience extends beyond what most minority
individuals experience: low-class housing, prison time, and no education beyond high school
(if not less than that). The system isn‟t unique to Anglo-dominated countries. Rigoberta
Menchu‟s “The Torture and Death of Her Little Brother” is a sad example of this. Rigoberta‟s
people, the Quiche, are subjected to unimaginable horrors by the “democratic” Guatemalan
government in order to persuade them to adapt to the system: “Subversives deserved to be
punished and to die” (701). After Rigoberta‟s brother was “tortured for more than sixteen
days” (702), he and the other prisoners were paraded to the center of the village for
punishment. All nearby civilians were required to attend and witness the punishment,
including Rigoberta and her family. The civilians were corralled with jeeps, armored cars,
and helicopters in order to prevent them from leaving. The bleeding and disfigured prisoners
were marched out to stand for hours while “the captain gave a panoramic description of all
the power they had, the capacity they had. We, the people, didn‟t have the capacity to
confront them. This was really all being said to strike terror into the people and stop anyone
from speaking” (705). The dying prisoners were dragged “along to this place, where they
lined them up all together within sight of everyone” (706), and soaked with petrol. After
being lit on fire, the tortured people that could still scream and beg for mercy did. Others
collapsed and twitched. The Guatemalan soldiers justified their actions by labeling the
villagers “communists”. This is racial oppression in its most hideous form. Crimes like those
committed by the Guatemalan government have taken place very recently in Afghanistan.
Apparently, the Taliban uses terror tactics against its own minorities. CNN reported a 17-
year old boy being skinned alive in front of his family, which was forced to watch. But their
actions against the U.S. have also spawned the answer to racial oppression: Unity. Sandra
Maria Esteves, a Latina of Puerto Rican background, writes in her poem “Weaver”: Weave us
a song for our bodies to sing a song of many threads that will dance with the colors of our
people and cover us with the warmth of peace