Percival Everett's Short Story The Appropriation Of Culture

The Empowerment of African Americans

In Percival Everett's short story “The Appropriation of Culture”, he tells the story of an African American man by the name of Daniel Barkley. Daniel was an unemployed gentlemen that did not need to work because he was left money and a house from his mother after her passing. He also had a degree in American Studies from Brown University that he thought had no type of impact on his life. Daniel is faced with the challenge of everyday racism as he buys a truck that has a Confederate flag on it. This brings intended attention to his reason for having the flag on his truck. Though the Confederate flag may have a racist history, Daniel Barkley makes the argument that such derogatory items can actually be used to show the empowerment of black people.

Everything is fine until one night, a group of white frat guys yelled out telling Daniel to play “Dixie”, which is known to be a racist song. However, what he does next was a big surprise to everyone in the bar. He actually starts to play the song! He begins playing slowly and sings the song with all his feelings and soul. When he finishes, everyone is stunned and there is a moment of silence. One person claps. Then another begins to clap until the room fills with applause. The white hecklers storm out while being laughed at by people near the exit. This shows how Daniel is a strong man who is not so easily overcome with acts of racism. He accepts the popular known racist song as his own and uses it to his advantage against the white frat brothers. He plays the song with passion to insult the white men. Though Daniel may have had the same anger that almost any African American would have in the situation, he still remained calm and showed how the “Dixie” song could be taken and subverted to undermine its original