Racism In The Almost White Man

The deep divide between those of different ethnicities root back to slavery days. Racism is contagious like a flea in the Bubonic plague, an ideology that is nothing more than hate and ignorance. A problem with battling such animosity today is that racism isn’t so blatantly obvious as it once was. It seems as if the only ones that recognize this evil are the ones that allow themselves to see it. We as a people need to recognize our own bigoted views that we have been conditioned to assume are reality. As of consequence, the lack of knowledge of Black life and history of those that are ignorant has created a society that lacks understandment and is filled with actions that mirror that ignorance. The word nigger like bitch and fag, are so fluently

Sadly, some Blacks do not carry the same sense of pride that Mookie does. This comes from the routine systematic beat down that those of color have to endure. The movie Human Stain captures a Black man (Coleman Silk) that can pass as white, rid himself of his true identity. A quote that directly ties into Silks situation was from Willard Motley’s The Almost White Boy, in which he writes “He got a job in a downtown hotel because nobody knew what he really was and Aunt Beullah-May said it was all right to “pass for white” when it came to making money but he’d never get any ideas in his head about turning his back on his own people” (Motley, 460). Coleman Silk turned his back on his own people, he understood the privileges he would have passing as white. Those privileges were joining the Navy and dating the pretty white girl at the library. He never had any pride in being Black and that could have been influenced by the life his father had. His dad was a very educated man that was limited to working on a train to support his family. Earlier on in the film, we see Mr. Silk tell Coleman that he can no longer box, that pummeling his hands will be no good for him if he was to be a doctor. This ties into what Ronald Hall claims in Blacks Who Pass; “Many light-skinned Blacks choose professions that offer them ways to benefit Blacks in general-- such as law, medicine, and ministry. In this process they can delude themselves into thinking that their passing for white was and remains necessary for the benefit of Black people” (Hall, 475). For Coleman, he cannot pursue his own interest in life due to the pressure placed upon him by his father. His father 's idea could be that Coleman needs to become successful and follow his dreams to prove his worth to others. Colemans father might have thought that his son would be able to become a respected doctor because of Coleman 's white complexion. If Coleman were to succeed, it would be a benefit for his father