The American Dream: Kindred By Octavia Butler

Jordan Pryor American Lit & Comp Finkelstein 04/7/2024 Kindred and the American Dream My first impression of Kindred by Octavia Butler made me think about, what is worse than slavery and whether it is even possible for there to be something more gruesome. While slavery and segregation are long over, the racism towards African Americans is not. The book Kindred, by Octavia Butler, shows just how badly African Americans have been historically treated, by showing us how they were beaten, tortured, and much more during the 1800s. But with Dana being successful, we also see how many African Americans have overcome adversity to gain a better life and achieve the American Dream. In the book, kindred spirits start high with Dana, our main character

After Dana sees how her people were being treated and what the white man was doing, she starts to grow resentful of Kevin in a sense. She is more impacted by this than Kevin because she is more connected to them. In conclusion, the African American community has been affected by racism in the love aspect of their life. The book Kindred depicts life for Dana as jolly and does not show the more harsh reality that she might have faced such as violence and adversity. Even in today's world, the African American community faces harsh stereotypes and this has gotten them beaten and even killed. A big example of this is the George Floyd incident. This case of police brutality took the world by storm, with every major news outlet and most people talking about it. The story is that a man by the name of George Perry Floyd Jr. was an African American male who was brutally murdered in Minneapolis by a white police officer. The police arrived after he had been accused of using a counterfeit bill to purchase a pack of cigarettes; it only took another seven minutes for Mr. Floyd to be unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers showing no signs of

While America has come a long way from the days of slavery, racism is not over. African Americans have been targeted and sort of a scapegoat in some situations. The black man has been blamed for many crimes. For some people, it has been natural to guess that a crime was committed by a black person while the stats do not favor the black communities, with them making up 13% of the population but committing 53% of the crimes. (Gypsy crusader) – They argue that they want to not be thought of like this, but they do not take action by not doing it. We should not always conclude that any crime was committed by a black person, but they are doing it to themselves by backing up the stereotype. In the event of murders and assault cases in the U.S. 40% of them were committed by a black individual. This does give some reason to the stereotypes, but it does not give us the right to judge them all this way. In conclusion, African Americans have been affected by the opportunities they could get and what they could achieve because of how they have been perceived and the stereotypes that have been set on