In-Class Blog

Prejudice and racism have changed the way that our country views it’s own citizens, the United States being the country that prides itself on freedom and rights to all the people that live in it. Blacks in America, especially, have been targeted and treated unfairly since slavery and up until the Civil Rights Movement, when blacks stood up for their rights and took a stand against the injustices. In The Color of Water, the racist views of the country made the McBride family feel the need to change. James McBride didn’t feel comfortable in his own skin. He didn’t feel that he belonged with either blacks or whites; he was lost someplace in the middle. McBride tried to find a way to fit in somehow, but because of America’s racial views this made his search for his identity all the more difficult. McBride then finally just decided to place himself with the black people in the end, because he believed he would fit in better there. James McBride’s difficulty knowing his identity was a result from America’s narrowed minded prejudiced views that made him have difficulty conforming in society. Another example of racism shaping America is in Black Men in Public Spaces. The racist views of Amercan citizen’s caused them to automatically stereotype any black person as being a criminal, or a person to watch out for. The cruel and wrong views that many American’s shared led to a racist shape to the United States of America, where “All men are created equal”. The Declaration of Independence seemed to leave out everyone except the white man.

          The past is a crucial aspect of anyone’s life. The past holds the key to understanding a person’s identity. But the past can be an aspect of life that dampers on someone’s own ability to live their life freely. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character, Lily Owens is struggling with the past involving her mother’s death. For her whole life, she’s been wondering who her mother is and why she left Lily as a child to begin with. When August Boatwright finally tells Lily about her mother, Lily eventually makes a little bit of peace. The past can’t be held on forever, when Lily finally found out the truth about her mother’s death, it was time to let all the angry emotions she had go. A dark past does nothing but hurt a person’s potential for great accomplishments. Once the truth is known, let the past go. The past is the past, no matter how bad it was, the future is new. If a positive new front is put in, good things can happen.