Black Boy, Chapters 1-3

How is racism "made?" I would argue first that racism is an artificial mentality that humans create within themselves, by means of socially constructed influences. But it must begin somewhere, right? Society must get the idea from somewhere within themselves. Throughout the first three chapters of "Black Boy," the author, Richard Wright, describes his early childhood in the Southern United States. While we follow this narrative, we also witness the evolution of the notion of "blacks" and "whites" and the strict separation of the two. We meet Richard as a young, four year old boy. From page one to one hundred, we watch as a child grows into a young man, gaining more and more self awareness the more we flip the pages. At one point in the story, Richard learns that a "black" boy was beat by a "white" man. It was his understanding that it was okay for the "white" man to beat the "black" boy because surely the "white" man was the boy's father. In Richard's head, it was acceptable for a parent to beat their children. Once his mother explains to him that the "white" man was not the "black" boy's father, he is puzzled. This passage demonstrates that our narrator has no connotations attached to the words "white" and "black" in regards to labeling people. This is perhaps the first time that he views the "white" person as the "other," a separate kind of people. Wright explains that after having learned of the beating, he "...stared at ["white" people], wondering what they were really like" (24). Here, we see the young Wright consider "whites" as different from himself.

Over the progression of the the next couple chapters, we see the awareness grow, and grow into a rather negative mentality. Richard develops a fear for the "white" man, and soon, a hatred. He writes,

"The hostility of the whites had become so deeply implanted in my mind and feelings that it had lost direct connection with the daily environment in which I lived; and my reactions to this hostility fed upon itself...Tension would set in at the mere mention of whites...I had never in my life been abused by whites, but I had already become as conditioned to their existence as though I had been the victim of a thousand lynchings" (74).

This is a powerful passage. Basically, Write explains that while he had never personally been mistreated by "whites," he had a hostility "deeply implanted" in his mind towards them. This was the result of social influences; in a sense he was "trained" to have hostility towards them by his peers. Slavery continued to leave it's mark, even after it was abolished. The effects of such racism rippled out and touched even a young boy without prior prejudices.

What "makes" racism? What makes one person hate another person for no rational, reasonable, justifiable reason? I have no idea, to be honest. It is a scary thing that human beings can be capable of hating without motive; or just can hate with such passion in general. Something to note in "Black Boy" thus far is how Richard becomes racist of white people and begins to separate himself from them without fully understanding why. Racism is a two way street, in some respects; if one "race" hates another, the other "race" will inevitably hate them in return. It's a vicious cycle.