“Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics.” (adl.org) It is a problem that has long been prominent in our history and is something that sadly many Americans still experience today. Racism is depicted in many of the readings we have discussed as a class recently. Some examples of these works that will soon be discussed in this essay are; “Dry September” by William Faulkner, and “Where is The Voice Coming From.”. In both of these works, it is easy to realize that racism takes its form in the stories.
In “Dry September,” a young African American man named Will Mayes is accused of attacking an unmarried white woman by the name of Minnie Cooper. The beginning of the story takes place in a barber shop where a group of men is discussing the situation. During the discussion, the men are arguing that Minnie could be lying about the situation and one even says that they know Will Mayes and that he would never do such a thing. At one point early on in the story, McLendon uses a racial slur that was used a lot in the past. He went on to say to Hawkshaw “' that you'd take a nigger's word before a white woman's? Why, you damn nigger-loving...” (Faulkner 1) While the whole accusation is a rumor, in part 3, some men believe that because it is known by the public, Mayes needs to serve as an example to African Americans in the community that if you were to attack a white woman you would be dealt with. As the men continue talking some decide there should be something done about the situation. A group of men began to eventually take it upon themselves to “punish” Mayes by hunting him down like predators hunting prey and then picking him up and forcing him into the vehicle they were riding in. As the men are forcing Mayes into the vehicle he says, 'What you all going to do with me, Mr. John? I ain't done nothing. White folks, captains, I ain't done nothing: I swear 'fore God.' (Faulkner 5), all while the other men in the car are screaming, “kill the black son” as if he were some sort of bug that needed to be squished. Even though Will Mayes tried to explain to the men that he did not do what he was being accused of, they refused to listen to him. The time this story took place is not known, but it is clear this story took place in a time when racism was more than common, and because of the color of Will Mayes’s skin he was discriminated against and was wrongfully accused and murdered because of a false word from a white woman. This was a problem that was prevalent in earlier times in the United States. Wrong accusations and sudden interactions are what led to the deaths of a lot of African American people in the past. Another thing that was also common is that whenever incidents like this happened no one legally took action against African Americans even if it did or did not actually happen. White men would grab up these men or women that were accused and they had no chance to tell their stories before they were killed illegally by racist white men who thought they were above the law. Clearly from this story, it is easily shown that there is a high amount of racism in that took place within the story.
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In “Where is The Voice Coming From,” the same can be said. At the beginning of the story the narrator and his wife are watching an African American man speak on the television and the narrator says to his wife, “You can reach and turn it off. You don’t have to set and look at a black nigger face no longer than you want to, or listen to what you don’t want to hear.” (Welty 1). It is at that moment when the narrator believes he formed the idea to murder the African American speaker on television. He begins to think to himself about how close the man may live to him and how easy it would be to kill the man. Why would a man want to kill another for no reason? Is it because the speaker on the television is black and wants equal time? The narrator’s hate for this man is clearly because of the man’s skin color and because of a deep-rooted hatred for African Americans, planted there most likely by a family member or friend. Because one is simply not born with hate towards someone or something, it is taught. After thinking about how he could go about his plan he acted on it and waited for him to show up. Once he saw the man, he pulled up his rifle and killed him. When the narrator returned to his wife at home, they began to discuss what had just occurred for her husband, and she eventually says to the narrator, “Well, hear another good joke on you… Didn’t you hear the news? The N. double A. C. P. is fixing to send somebody to Thermopylae. Why couldn’t you wait? You might have got yourself, somebody, better. Listen hear ‘em say so.” (Welty 3) They talk about killing African Americans so easily that it is unbelievable. To hate someone enough just because of their skin color and to go out and kill them and to talk about killing someone else for the same reason is pure racism.
In closing, both of these readings shine a light on racism and how it presented itself during earlier times in history. While the stories were completely different, they were also very similar. Both works focused on the murder of innocent African Americans by a white southerner. They both shined a light on how white southerners were willing to act on their hatred towards the African American community and for the most part, get away with it. In both readings, the men who committed the murders did not get punished for it, because no one knew. This goes to show how racism was and still is today, a terrible problem.
Works Cited
- Faulkner, William. “Dry September.”
- Welty, Eudora. “Where Is The Voice Coming From?”
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