Are African-Americans the Target for Racial Prejudice or They Have Always Been Free?

Introduction

Are African Americans free? This is a question that has been discussed at various levels of debates with stories of people being cited as examples supporting various arguments. Conversations on the same also form part of the important conversations surrounding the fate of Africans living in America. From what I have always experienced, when the issue of racial prejudice is discussed in the United States of America, the victims are always the black people and other races living in the country, while the perpetrators of the prejudice are always the white people. Racial prejudice that leads to a lot of violence on the black people started back in world history when slaves were taken from Africa and sold to their Masters in the United States and parts of Europe. In this conversational essay, two stories, "Playing in the Dark" and "The Underground Railroad" are stories that have different perspectives but have racial prejudice as one thing in common. Both the stories address the fact that Africans are not free. Denied freedom in terms of the African-American's professional life, as well as their personal life, is expressed in the two stories. This essay is important in expressing the ordeals in the life of Morrison and Ajarry as the manifestations of lack of freedom for the African Americans.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Morrison was able to use wider landscape in expanding the American literary studies. However, as she did this, she questioned herself if truly she can be African American female writer and if her writings can be read all over the nation. In my opinion, what is expressed by Morrison is her doubt if African-Americans are free to do literature and have their work regarded and read by as many people as possible. I share that sentiment with her as African-American literature is not allowed to thrive as it should be in the US. The reason why she was questioning herself included issues such as gender roles, racial prejudice and sexualization. According to her, the African-American literature should be free and unshaped. Again, Marrison believed that being black is an advantage that helps in understanding the identity and America's national literature. In Marrison's opinion, Africanism is inseparable from literary criticism. Even though Marrison is aware that she will be accused of vesting in that kind of subject, she is determined to tackle the issue since according to her the issue is very important and should not be ignored. Marrison states that the action of avoiding race itself is an act of racism. Therefore, the white should treat the black as equal since they are not less human beings. She continues to say that most of the slaves in the United States are the black and it has been like that since nineteenth-century.

Another story that helps in understanding the argument that Africans are not free in the United States of America is that of Ajjary in "The Underground Railroad." In the story, the refusal of Cora to flee to North America is connected to Ajarry's kidnap from Africa as a child. Ajarry was kidnapped from Africa together with the father, sold and taken by slave traders. Ajarry was sold before being forced into a certain ship, which had people who spoke mixed languages. On the journey, she was raped and as a result, she attempted suicide twice. Members of Ajarry's family were sent to Bermuda where Ajjary imagined that they were working for the Master and eventually they became free. I think the ordeals in her life are what motivated her and made her accept to endure brutal reality in her life. She stood naked and a man brought her to work for him. For instance, Ajarry was sold so many times. This gave her a keen understanding of what went on and it helped her survive. Finally, she found a place where she lived and became married three times. One of the husbands was sold for excessive drinking and another one died of cholera. Ajarry had five children, two of them died, but Ajarry was happy that the children were not sold although his boss killed one of the children. This story reflects the way in which black people were treated badly by the white people. Based on this story, it is obvious that White Americans do not regard the freedom of the black people.

Conclusion

In summary, the ordeals in the lives of Ajarry and the expression by Morrison about African literature manifest the fact that white people fight the black people so that they remain superior and the black people remain their victims. Looking at the two stories, I can ascertain that they are sufficient to answer the question posed at the beginning of this essay. First, the suffering of Ajarry is a single story in the light among many others I have read throughout my life. I love the United States of America, but that does not mean I keep quiet about the racial prejudice that has been one of the most discussed negative attributes of many of the country's natives. In my opinion, the story of the ordeals in the life of Ajarry is one that explains what many Africans go through in the United States of America. Again, I think the story by Morrison is important in understanding how African people are not given a chance to express their culture and the way they feel about the treatment meted on them by the Americans who feel they are not equals with the black people in their country.