Laura Jane’s
statement to Marpessa that “it isn’t race that’s the problem but class” stuck
out to me as the most blatant example of white ignorance presented in The Sellout (138). Yes, there is
definitely an issue of class for people of all races, but a white person and a
black person of similar financial circumstances will be presented with vastly
different opportunities and treatment, making race the prevalent issue in America.
Even in lower
class blue-collar jobs, black employees have “to be twice as good as the white
man, half as good as the Chinese guy, and four times as good as the last Negro”
to have the exact same job (181). This proves that black employees have to work
much harder to obtain the same job as their white equivalent, based on the
hiring manager’s prejudices alone.
Success for
others in Dickens is “possible if one can get the right white person on your
side,” allowing for Stevie’s parole (183). Without Panache’s connection to “big-time
white people,” Stevie would serve the entirety of his sentence in prison (182).
The word of white people has much more clout than the word of anyone black.
The importance of making the right
connections (right meaning white) is reinforced by BonBon’s attempt to find a
sister city for Dickens. Poverty stricken cities Juarez and Chernobyl (an area
not even safe for human habitation due to radiation) ironically reject Dickens
because it is “too violent” or because of its “rampant pollution,” but Kinshasa
rejects Dickens simply because it is “too black” (147). Kinshasa’s honesty
reiterates that relationships with black people are viewed as less valuable
than those with white people.
Examples of advertisements in the
book provide an example for the inherent competition forged between races that
motivates both to do more and work harder. In car commercials, showing a “handsome
African American male model behind the wheel” will motivate the white men to
buy a car as to avoid allowing the black man to “steal your piece of the
American dream” (138). Inversely, the presence of the white-faced Wheaton Academy
motivated the black and Latino students to behave better and work harder in
school due to “the colored person’s desire for the domineering white presence”
that brought out the “need to impress” (208).
The success of the resegregation of
Dickens is based on this need to impress and the sense of community between
races oppressed by whites, enforcing that the issue is greater than just black
vs. white and extends to all victims of “white male privilege” (149). On Hood
Day, the “suspicious Hispanic males,” who usually rival the members of the
black gangs gathered at the field, end up smoking weed and shooting at the clouds
along with the rest of the Hood Day celebrants (234).
These driving forces prove that
race transcends class as an issue in America. As evidenced by the slim choices
for the middle schoolers on career day, if oppressed races are never offered
the opportunity to escape their circumstances, then the issue of class persists
as a cyclical result of race continuing with each generation.
I agree that this novel suggests that the heart of the issue at hand is race rather than class, and because of this, I think Beatty wants us to think Laura Jane's statement and character aren't supposed to be taken seriously. In the lines following Laura Jane’s comment about class, the narrator holds back Marpessa “saving Laura Jane from a rabbit punch she never saw coming” (138). In his descriptions of the circumstances after, using phrases like “rabbit punch,” we understand this is another one of Beatty’s comic moments, the blindness of this white woman to race. However, Beatty uses this same type of comic style when talking about the lower-class jobs that the black people remaining in Dickens have. At the career fair, Marpessa “put on a stunt-driving demonstration that would’ve made the Fast and Furious franchise proud” (157). In being able to do these amazing tricks with her bus, Beatty shows that she is more than just your average bus driver. He does the same with the narrator and his amazing fruit that appears to have magical powers, showing that he’s no ordinary farmer, as his satsuma tree overpowered “The Stank” that had overtaken Dickens “like some ten-foot-tall air freshner” (187). In showing the power of the narrator’s tree to change the smell of Dickens or Marpessa’s impeccable bus-driving skills to navigate Dickens a new way, Beatty appears to suggest there is more to these characters than lower class jobs as a result of their race and appears to be trying to undermine the stereotype in a comedic way.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your position, and I feel that the narrator and Hominy's interactions with fans at the end of the LA Forbidden Film Festival helps describe your point. When Hominy speaks with "the future Dr. Topsy," she mentions that the only time when racism didn't exist was when Obama, "the black president and his family [are] walking across the White House lawn arm-in-arm" (244). Only during that moment, when the image becomes representative of a nation is when people become blind to race. But following Topsy is the "stoop-shouldered white cat" who claims that both he and Hominy are "niggers to the last" simply because they are both people who are trying to fight against the system (244). Hominy then responds that the white man would only get "half the jail time," which further proves that the issue at hand is not one's class, but their race (244). If a black man tried to fight the system, and even during the modern day, he would receive a less severe punishment than a white man. A study done by the United States Sentencing Committee (USSC) claims that black men receive 20% longer sentences than white men for the same crime (Chris Ingraham). While class may be an issue, inserting race as a factor complicates any situation. Just as you claimed, a black man in poverty would have much fewer opportunities than a white man in poverty, and that is simply due to race, and not class.
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