Walter White Racial Discrimination Essay

Racial discrimination is the use of skin color, ethnic origin or nationality to apply preformed perceptions against individuals. The advent of racial prejudice has a long history in America with its peak noted in the 18th century, when there was widespread mistreatment of the Black population. The institution of slave trade and their prevalent exploitation led to the emergence of civil rights activism, which constituted groups of abolitionists that ware against this trade. Amidst this institution, there were those that avoided marginalization by acquiring the white identity through racial passing. This includes those who changed their names and nationality to conceal their individuality as well as those who used the advantage of being a mixed
race to hide their true identity. With interbreeding, there arose a mixed race of the Black-White population known as the Mulattos. The issues surrounding racial passing and the mistreatment of Blacks are evident in Walter White’s autobiography “A Man Called White” (1948) and “Black Like Me” (1961) written by John Howard Griffin.
Walter White was a civil rights activist who was racially ambiguous due to his mixed ancestry between European and African descent. He worked for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for the majority of his life, but very few knew of his Black American identity since he had a fair skin and blond hair, the typical features of a White individual. It is this mix up that allowed him to direct his engagement in gathering of information regarding execution and disfranchisement of the Black population. This example of Walter passing into a white attaches an advantage to it. In a way, Walter was able to attain achievements that he could not have gained had he identified himself as a Black American.
John Howard Griffin was a local White journalist of Dallas, Texas, and the book shares his six-week experience passing as a Black man and traveling on the Greyhound buses through the racially isolated conditions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Sepia Magazine financed the undertaking in return for the privilege to print the record first as a series of articles. In late 1959, Griffin went to a companion's home in New Orleans, Louisiana. Once there, under the consideration of a dermatologist, Griffin experienced a regimen of the counter vitiligo drug Methoxsalen in pill form and he spent up to fifteen hours every day under an ultraviolet light. His purpose was to gain a better perspective on the struggles of the African American community as well as gaining knowledge to convey the indecencies of White America.
Racial passing undermines the legitimacy of a race. It confers confusion in the society as to whether to totally accept the new characteristics the individual acquired or maintain the perceptions of the old self. In “Black Like Me”, John Griffin is able to assume “Blackness” with ease. Griffin only changed his skin complexion. Amid his excursion, he maintained the guideline that he would not change his name or modify his character; if asked who he was or what he was doing, he would provide only the truth. However, due to his now darker skin color every stereotype and distinction of Black America constructed by White America was placed upon Griffin. This proves how easy it is for racial lines to be crossed, blurred and never questioned. This leads one to question the legitimacy of race. In this way, the legitimate racial identity is lost since even those who acquire the distinctiveness by passing resolve the true features of such a race. Resolving the differences in the two races by passing only leads to extinction of certain characteristics. If all the Blacks were to pass as Whites, the features that the Black race hold would all be a talk of the past, hence compromising the very fundamentals of being Black. However, as seen with Walter Francis White passing from Black to White may very well be the most efficient way to obtain progress.
In Walter White’s collection of memoirs, “A Man Called White”, he commits a whole part to a period when he is on the verge of joining the Ku Klux Klan covert. White turned into an expert of disguised researching. He began with a letter from a companion that enlisted new individuals for the KKK. After correspondence amongst him and Edward Young Clark, leader of the KKK, Clark plainly attempted to persuade White in joining. By this point, White had effectively turned the information he had collected over to the US Department of Justice and New York Police Department. White never lost sight of who truly accepted him. He was always being reminded of the fact that even the notion that you were for the Negros made you the same as those who had just one drop of Negro blood, lesser. In the book he wrote that when he received knowledge that the Whites in the town were looking for him, he immediately took the next train out of Helena, Arkansas. When boarding the train, the conductor spoke to him as though he were a White man, but, everything the conductor said reassured White of the racist’s true sentiments of pure hate and disgust for individuals like White.
““But you’re leaving, mister, just when the fun is going to start,” he told me. In answer to my question as to the nature of the “fun,” he replied “There’s a damned yellow nigger down here passing for white and the boys are going to get him.”” When Walter White asked what they would do to him, the conductor told White, "When they get through with him he won't pass for white no more!" The dangers and the effects of passing are very prevalent in both literary works. The moment an individual decides to pass, it is fully understood that their life is in danger. For the selective group that chooses to go from White to Black, they learn that their blackface with a cause will now set their lives equal to irrelevance. When Griffin attended his last doctor’s appointment the doctor’s final words, though few, said it all. “Now you go into oblivion.” Griffin also becomes aware of reality very early in his journey when a teenaged white boy harassed him as they walk down the street. Griffin is left to wonder would the situation have been the same if he was still White. Also, from the previous “A Man Called White” quote you notice that Walter White placed himself in danger and he did this often. One can suggest that Walter White felt that due to him having fair skin, it was his duty to infiltrate White America and provide himself as a sacrifice for the advancement of colored people. His bravery is admirable considering every time he released information and it was known that it was his doing White stood by it and was proud of being a Negro. Passing and the results of passing, such as White and Griffin’s reports put a great deal of other at risk as well. Generally, the authors strived to protect the African Americans they had talked to or encountered as well as their own families. The toll that having your entire life be a secret can take on the mind, body, and soul is great. Passing causes great emotional distress. The privilege of being White is revealed when comparing the two authors emotional experiences. You notice that when Walter White presents himself as White the world opens up to him, however, soon thereafter he must reassume his reality of being African American. This usually occurs because the townspeople grow suspicious then it is discovered that there actually is a Black man passing as White. Walter White’s reality of being African American never goes away. As for John Griffin after barely being Black for six weeks he can no longer stomach the realities Black individuals face daily. “His small blue eyes shone with repugnance, a look of such unreasoning contempt for my skin that it filled me with despair. It was a little thing, but piled on all the other little things it broke something in me…. Suddenly I could stomach no more of this degradation-…” On the next page it reads of how Griffin went into the bathroom and removed the stain with his cleansing cream. Thus he was white again and his only real concern was getting out of the Negro bathroom unseen. The pain of experiencing Negro life resonated with John so he could never be satisfied with the kind treatment of other Whites toward him when he was White. At the end of both pieces you see both fathers worry for the safety of their children, however, only one of them can completely escape it. Griffin and his family pack up and move to Mexico whereas the furthest White and is family can go is North of the Mason Dixon line. Walter knows that his family’s mixed heritage will always cause extra strife upon their lives. Nature was Walter White’s claim to passing, however, John Griffin’s journey required him to use products that adjust the skin for darker pigment. Considering Griffin was able to pass so well it leaves the reader to assume that he did a profound job in making this change as did Rachel Dolezal. The difference between Rachel Dolezal and John Griffin is John’s blackface was not for personal gain and it only lasted for a six-week time span. To clarify, the history of blackface stems from minstrelsy and blackface would only be appropriate the way John Griffin used it during that era. Today, it is unnecessary to completely transform oneself in order to understand what African Americans deal with on a regular basis. Rachel Dolezal should not be viewed as a villain because what she did is no different than celebrities receiving plastic surgery to have features commonly associated with African Americans. John’s actions would not be viewed as harmful and some would only see it as blackface upon further contemplation. The decision to pass whether White-to-Black or Black-to-White is always questioned. However, society’s construct has lead to the unspoken belief that White-to Black is simply outrageous. Being Black in America is automatically associated with trials, tribulations, and defeat. Sadly, there are many African Americans who share these sentiments. During the Jim Crow Era it became common knowledge that Mulatto or fair-skinned Blacks were passing as White. Generally, when this occurred, it was for personal gain or relief which usually just lead to a very sheltered life because the individuals lived in fear of being found out. Since this was frequently the case, racial passing reinforced racial hierarchies in society. However, there are cases were racial passing in a way acts as a remedy for hierarchical inequalities. To achieve educational and career dreams, some Blacks passed as Whites. Such an example is Dr. Albert Johnson, who passed as White for him to pursue a career in medicine. He became a renowned practitioner and on the revelation that he was Black despite his professional achievements stirred a great uproar from the public. Of course a Black man couldn’t be intelligent enough to be a doctor; was he “acting white”? The concept of “acting white” is a small minded construct. It would be preposterous to say that Walter White ever “acted white”. You can simply begin with White’s last statement in “A Man Called White”. “I am white and I am black, and know there is no difference. Each casts a shadow, and all shadows are dark.” Walter was White, he just identified more with his Black ancestry. Behaviorally, Walter White never displayed he outrageous behaviors that the majority of the Southern White population did. Even when he was passing as White he never would allow himself participate in the outlandish endeavors of the Klan or organizations similar to them. When in those situations and he simply wanted information out of the men, Walter often states that he was essentially in complete disgust with the individuals in his presence. It is quite evident that neither authors believed that the behaviors of either race were innate qualities but learned behaviors that only perpetuate. John Howard Griffin and Walter Francis White took their life happenings and presented them to the world as a part of history that desperately and continually needs to be viewed in order for this country to maintain a moral compass.
However, from the current state of the society this moral compass is lacking. It is safe to say that Walter White’s story is identified with by many African Americans whose life and children’s lives were plagued by the battle of being Mulatto during the Jim Crow Era. It is also slightly comforting to know that Griffin was not the only individual to experience and attempt to share the plight of the Negro. Practically overlooked, in the wake of Griffin's escapade, were the encounters of columnist Ray Sprigle. In 1948, Sprigle composed a series of articles under the title, "I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days," which was distributed in numerous daily papers after masking himself as a Black man. The efforts of these men are highly revered. Walter White and John H. Griffin’s stories were well written, engaging, and gave America two perspectives that were unfavorable yet essential. Racial passing is a direct product of racial discrimination. It is usually expected that individuals will pass for personal reasons such as escaping slavery or the hardships thrust upon them due to the label “Colored”. “Black Like Me” and “A Man Called White” present to us two men with unselfish desires who used racial passing to aid in the steps toward creating unity among Blacks and
Whites.