Racism as displayed in King and Noah’s texts
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Racism as displayed in kings and Noah’s texts
Race is one of the most sensitive issues and discussions in the United States. This is because the population is majorly made of almost all types of people from blacks, Asians, and whites. Therefore when it comes to race and skin color, most of these conversations get awkward and tricky to talk about. This is the same concept discussed by the people who advanced human rights and racial equality like martin Luther king junior when he says that racial injustice has to be treated with urgency because the waiting has been too long. He also dismisses the constructions of some of his fellow ministers who claim that it is easy to wait since Christianity has waited for so long for it to receive or for it to become what it is. Almost a similar situation is registered in Trevor Noah’s the world does not love you as he explains his misery living two lives where he does not know where to belong as he is half black and half white. Therefore these two texts tell us of the issues the people of color go through, and through them, we can see the world with different eyes. Eyes that can understand and eyes can empathize with the people who keep suffering due to their skin color. Therefore this paper discusses the above concept with a close dichotomy of the two texts mentioned.
The discussion about culture in King’s text and the discussion about race and having no place to fall under Trevor’s text can be said to be similar and at the same time intriguing even to think of. It is commonly known how race has been a divisive force in the united states; however, in the south African apartheid leadership system, how the people dealt with these two issues was never the same. Even though people like Nelson Mandela and King can have been peaceful individuals who enhanced the lives and desires of the people of their countries to live a good peaceful life, it is still a problem of how these two suffered when they were fighting for the common good. In King’s letter, he writes when he is in a prison cell, which tells us of how hostile the environment was. In Trevor Noah’s text, we see an embodiment and a result of what nelson Mandela was fighting for; the freedom of the black people. We see how Trevor explains that different people are viewed differently and how this is a very important aspect of how everyone is treated and what it also means to the general population.
Therefore these two texts are related basically because they fight and address basic human rights towards the questions of race and skin color. However, they address them from different perspectives. We can see he wrote his letter in a prison cell whereby he was detained for leading the non-violent protests against the discrimination and lack of mercy and humanity regarding the black population of the united states. The text of Trevor Noah is a reflection of what happened before and how it affected him and his understanding of how race plays a big role in the societal understanding of different concepts and the societal belief system that a certain person should behave in a certain way. For example, when he was taken to a prison cell, he already knew how other people would think of him. he already knew that the whites were most of the time seen as hardened criminals who were ready to do a lot of bad stuff. However, on the other hand, this is not what he had done, and therefore this tells us of the misconceptions and the stereotypes formed in eh minds of the people about what it means to be black and what it means to be white.
The two texts are different in that they are written in different contexts and times. They are also written with different emphasis and directed to different audiences. Even though they are different in this manner, we can see that they talk of basic things and issues of concern, especially to people of color and everyone, since their basic subject is similar. It is that of justice despite a person’s skin color. Martin Luther king junior writes with a lot of emotions and a lot of emphasis on the course which he has been pursuing so long and which meant so much to him. he writes hoping and willing to do anything to see racial justice done. He also appeals to the church members to help him in this since he acknowledges that he cannot do it alone and that he is just a leader and now the whole movement of change. He also scorns those church members who did not help him and urges them to get in and try to bring racial justice to the forefront and make sure that it happens. King was very much determined to make sure that what he believed in came to happen. This is the same reason for his country’s love that he never advocated for violent means of addressing the issue but always advocated for peaceful methods and negotiation. However, this never seemed to work, and this was especially towards the south of America. This was where the disease of racial injustice has always been happening, from the time of the civil war, which led to the Ku Klux Klan’s formation, which has impacted making sure that social justice is never obtained for blacks in America. The group encompasses the white supremacists who still believe blacks and people of color should not be considered in any important discussions about the nation.
The context of Trevor Noahs ‘the world doesn’t love you can be said to be a reflective tone. This is essential to communicate to the world about the apartheid and racial discrimination in southern Africa and about communicating about the experiences and deep feelings he has about his being unable to belong to a certain group. It draws partly to his teenage years and how they were like. It communicates his thoughts and beliefs about a just society, and through it, we see how society teaches children to be who they become later in life. This is the same thing communicated by the King when he says that it will be very sad and torturing to tell a kid that she cannot go to the park, which has just been advertised since she is black. This alone begins to tear apart the mind and the heart of the child in terms of how they view the other race and the people of the other color. The central message perhaps is how the people of mixed color like he cannot find their rightful place to belong, and that can be said as to why he named this text as the world doesn’t love you.
The issue of justice as brought out by the King is never accomplished, and black people are always denied the right to have justice in American society. This is done through the different ways the people are always told to wait a little longer since it is not the right time to do some things. King demonstrates this when he talks of how his friend, who is white and who does not feel protests are the right thing to do, tells him. He explains how this fellow thinks that martin Luther king junior should leave this issue and make sure that he leaves it to the hands of god to re-arrange it and fix it as he has fixed Christianity after two thousand years. Other white friends who think he is very much into this state that he should wait a little longer because what he needs for the blacks will be obtained, but it won’t be obtained if he is this fast. He compares and contrasts this by stating how he and his group have been so patient, and they even never carried out the protests due to the election. One of the reasons for this patient was the knowledge and conviction that peaceful negotiations were possible for him, which could be done. However, this trust was broken, and the black people being subject of broken promises, he states that they had to go for protests to create such drama that this issue could no longer be ignored.
In conclusion, therefore, we can say that the letter of martin Luther king junior communicates so much to the people of America and the white supremacists about the danger they bring to society and how their will to make the status quo remain. It is a powerful letter written with a lot of emotions and all these directed towards racism and how this can end. This is the same concept communicated in the text by Trevor Noah, and even though this is outside America, it shows how racism in the other places of the world is not so different from that of the American people.
References
Noah, T (2019). The world doesn’t love you, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Ali-Dinar, A. B. (2018). Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]. Upenn.edu. https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
