African American Criticism

Tyson starts African American criticism by giving milestones of African American history respectively; Middle Passage, which means slaves transportation from Africa to America; Underground Railroad, which refers to African Americans’ efforts to escape from being enslaved to freedom; the Great Migration, in which almost six million Black people moved from south to northern between 1910-1970; the Harlem Renaissance, a black cultural movement emerged in 1920s; the Civil Rights Movement, a nonviolent social movement against the discrimination, segregation and disenfranchisement of the black people; the Black Power Movement, a revolutionary movement focusing racial pride and empowerment; and the Black Arts Movement, an artistic and literary developments period in African American history. Although black Americans constitute a big part of the population of the United States and their contributions to the arts and literature, they have been excluded from American culture. There was almost little information about African American history in the USA as American history has been under the pressure of white Americans. Tyson thinks that there are college courses and high schools which have dealt with “African American experience are increasing but it is not adequate for her students as there are so many details that should be known about African American history and literature” (360).

When it comes to Critical Race Theory, it is a new kind of perspective to understand race and its relationship with humanity. Tyson claims that even if African Americans do not “face extreme violence like in the past and racial discrimination is illegal in the USA, black Americans still have been subject to discrimination” (368). For instance, Tyson tells the reader Richard Delgado’s notions to point out that African Americans and Latinos still have difficulty in finding jobs, renting a house compared to white Americans. In addition, prisons in the USA are full of black and brown Americans while professors in the universities or surgeons in the hospitals are largely white Americans. Tyson adds an important discriminatory laws example. Using five grams of drugs means five-year mandatory prison for black Americans while using five [hundred] grams cocaine means five-year mandatory prison sentence for white Americans. Since their civil rights are deprived by white Americans, critical race theory flourished as a new approach to civil rights. It mainly criticises constitutional law. Critical race theory was initiated by Derrick A. Bell Jr. in 1970. As to basic tenets of critical race theory, Tyson lists six tenets of this theory and explains these tenets to the reader one by one. Everyday Racism is the first tenet, and it means African Americans are humiliated and marginalised by white Americans. For instance, black Americans are followed or watched in the stores by white security personnel when they go markets or stores. Similarly, they are marginalised in schools, in hospitals, or in pharmacies. It does not matter how well-dressed they are, their colour of skin is a sufficient reason for them being humiliated. Second tenet is Interest convergence, which means racism overlaps with interest in the USA. It sometimes means material determinism as the desire of feeling comfort and superior financially affect the way of behaving. For instance, upper class white company owners exploit black employees by paying less. The Social Construction of Race, the third of the list, is about defining the racial categorization. The U.S Congress defined which citizens were white or which were non-white for 162 years. However, to identify or categorise the people according to their colour is not something to be defined or determined by anyone else because it is not related with biological traits but current beliefs about race at that time. People were categorised in three, four or more than seven categories throughout the U.S. history. However, scientists categorised people permanently in the nineteenth century claiming that there are many races in the world and some of them are superior to other races.  The fourth one is Differential Racialization refers to the majority racializing the minority with “different ways and at different times in response to shifting needs” (Tyson, 375). African Americans, for instance, were seen as illiterate, but when they became competitors with white Americans in job opportunities, they were stereotyped as violent and lazy. In short, as the time passes and needs change, minority groups take different names. Intersectionality, the fifth one, is based on an idea that race intersects with “class, sex, sexual orientation, political orientation and personal history in forming each person’s complex identity” (Tyson, 376). That is, human beings can be black, or be a lesbian, and be unemployed at the same time and have difficulty in understanding for what reason s/he is discriminated. All these issues given above can be a reason for  a black American being otherized and excluded from society. Tyson illustrates this tenet by giving immigrant working-class women’s [of colour] situation in the U.S and how much they were exposed to violence and cruelty by U.S citizens. The sixth and the last tenet is Voice of Colour. It refers to having a better position of minority thinkers and writers than their white counterparts in writing and speaking as they were exposed to racism directly. The whites cannot have an accurate knowledge about racism or discrimination as they were not humiliated or discriminated. Instead, they know how to marginalise or oppress the blacks. Even if there are some black people claiming that they were not oppressed by the whites, people who use voice of colour thesis reflect the racial injustice they experienced in their works. Patricia Williams, Richard Delgado, Derrick Bell wrote about their racial injustice experiences in the ‘legal storytelling’ movement based on voice of colour thesis. Tyson summarises the U.S legal system by expressing her idea that the true criminals are out while less criminals are in prison.

In examining White privilege, racial realism, and liberalism under the critical race theory’s tenets, Tyson tells the reader the notions of critical race theorists’ ideas to point out that the whites have many advantages which stem from being a member of the dominant race. It is claimed that there are at least forty-six advantages that white workers have compared to black workers in daily life. According to Tyson, White privilege is a kind of everyday racism, but she believes that the way of behaving of the whites is unconscious most of the time. She gives an example from her group discussions about race and racism, and well-intentioned white students say that they do not notice other people’s colour or race; however, even if they are sincere about their notions, they confess that if they were black, they would think about race issue when they are asked. While they have a chance not to think about race as being a member of white privilege, the blacks always have to think about race issues. According to Tyson, whether the whites want or not, or whether they are conscious or unconscious about white privilege, all whites benefit from being a member of the dominant race (380). Despite the steps taken toward racial justice, the improvement is little due to liberalism, according to many critical race theorists. Even if there are laws on behalf of black people, there is segregation in everyday lives of black people. Black students in public schools, for instance, have been segregated because of poverty. The public schools in which black students go are funded less compared to public schools in which the white students go. Critical race theorists find these steps useless as there is nothing changed although some liberalists believe that these steps solved the problem. As it was mentioned above, critical race theory criticises constitutional law, and finds this institution ‘colour-blind’. Apparently, the blacks are not segregated anywhere, however, [in fact] they are segregated not rudely but politely since segregation is illegal. When black people, for instance, want to apply for a job whose owner is white American, they are told to leave their telephone number, however they are not called. If they attempt to sue white Americans about being segregated by them, they must testify their allegation. Racial idealism is a belief that there will be constructed racial equality; however, it is something impossible because to find a solution for a racial equality between black and white Americans, the whites should accept the problem about racism. Tyson shortens the situation by saying “If society constructs the attitudes about race, then society can reconstruct them” (382). Racial realism term put forward by Derrick A. Bell Jr. as it was mentioned above, and he believed that racial equality will never come to the USA, but they will continue to struggle against racism.

To sum up, Tyson informs the reader about critical race theory to point out segregation, discrimination has continued in the USA by mentioning some important points of the theory such as ‘unconscious racism’; ‘racial realism and idealism’; ‘white privilege’; however, she thinks that there are many issues to be learnt and discussed about critical race theory.

WORKS CITED

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Routledge, 2006.