Post-Colonial Lens In Black Like Me By John Howard Griffin

Imagine walking down the middle of 5th Avenue, always having to worry about getting discriminated against, pushed into the street, or even shot. That’s exactly what John Howard Griffin had to worry about as a recently converted black man in the South. I chose the ‘Post-Colonial’ lens because ‘Black Like Me’ is about the black culture being kept down by other races in America, which accurately describes this lens. In the book ‘Black Like Me’, it shows precisely just how the black culture is oppressed in society and as author John Howard Griffin goes deeper into Southern black culture, he soon finds out just how unjust and biased white culture used to be.

In the late 1950’s, African-Americans had limited privileges in many different ways. Some

“This is one of the attitudes that led black men to believe that racism was so deeply ingrained in the white man there was really no hope of his understanding” (Griffin 180). White people have been focused on keeping the black society below them. Discriminating against them, segregating them, and committing crimes because of their skin color. When Mr. Griffin comes into the spotlight for what he’s been doing for the past weeks, white people flock to him to ask questions. He now sees how racist they were before and simply tells them to talk to any black person, not just a black person who used to be

In the late 1950’s, news reporters and journalists were predominately white. Of course, that lead them to have leverage against the black society, and could share anything they wanted about black neighborhoods. “Certainly the news reports and coverage, largely by white interpreters outside the ghettos and widely and sincerely believed by horrified whites, had no credibility within the ghettos because they did not coincide with what black men were experiencing; and in the heat of emotions, few white men could access the troubled areas, and the media had not yet hired black reporters who could’ve given a more balanced view” (Griffin 183). In the past, the media would spread false information to the rest of the world about the “ghetto” that is black neighborhoods. They can spread false propaganda and terrifying stories, which didn't even have to be true. As long as the media scared the white society, that’s all that mattered to