White Violence In Amiri Baraka's Dutchman

White Violence and the Black Response in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman

How long in history has the Black individual been associated with violence? In various cases throughout literature Blacks have been portrayed as very simply, violent by nature. They are depicted as people who simply act violent for violence’s sake. But, does one ever hear of the origin of this violence and where it might be stemming from? The notion that Black individuals are violent just because, is baseless and just all around wrong. There is cause and effect at work with this notion. Violence as whole manifests itself in Black communities, largely as a response to forms of overarching, pervasive forms of violence pressed upon them from an imposing, dominant power. Amiri Baraka demonstrates this in his play, Dutchman, showing this dynamic at work in a manner that is jarring, but easily understood when analyzed. Before delving into the extended metaphor that Amiri Baraka drew out, it helps to have a firm understanding of the institutionalized violence at work against the Black race. Since colonialization of the Americas and the introduction of slavery, violence against blacks has
been pervasive since then, the most prevalent provider of that violence were white men. In the earlier periods of history for Blacks in America this violence manifested itself in a mostly physical manner. The brutal treatment and punishment of Black individuals in Southern plantations, the institutionalized raping of Black women, and lynching of Black men and women, and other forms of physical violence were prevalent throughout the early years of slavery and even after its abolition. This violence never completely dissipated over the years. In the years following the Civil War, Blacks were subjected to laws and various that were hyper focused on keeping them from growing forth from their previous situation as slaves. In Louisiana, there were cases of Black individuals being blamed by Democrats for the outcropping of violence in their communities, with a specific focus on Black on Black violence without considering interracial violence at all, stating quite simply that Blacks, unsure of how to use their freedom, turned to violent criminals. When in reality, Blacks only accounted for about twenty- five percent of the murders in rural Louisiana between 1865 and 1884 (Vandal 53). Whites manipulated media outlets during this time period to keep up the perception that Blacks were predominately violent when it was in fact most cases were violence against Blacks. It changed to more sustainable, institutional forms of violence in later years. The incarceration rates of men increased, police brutality and police killings of People of Color increased other forms of violence. With all of this violence being so pervasive in the lives of Blacks, is it any wonder that eventually they fought back? Dutchman was written during the Black Arts Movement, of which Amiri Baraka was one of the founders. It was a peak time in tension between the races. Civil Rights Movements were in place during this time and were making headway, but suffered major setbacks when Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated. This helped move the Black Arts Movement into full swing, spurring forth charged art that created controversy and growth in the communities they were introduced to. Dutchman is, upon first glance, a strange story of a predatory woman, preying upon Black men, and it is exactly that in one reading. Below that reading is a more complicated one. Amiri Baraka very cleverly wrote his female antagonist, Lula, into a rather well woven metaphor for white violence and Clay as a metaphor for the Black response to that white violence. Various examples of Lula being the main perpetrator of violence in the play are spread out all throughout the play, beginning from the very start. She initiates the opening conversation with Clay and very aggressively controls the conversations they have from that point forward. Their exchanges very cleverly mimic the racial dynamics of not just Black men and white women, but of Blacks and whites as a whole. Whites constantly tried controlling the direction of Black lives throughout history. Pushing them into situations that were beneficial for those in power and keeping Blacks in a constant state of doubling back and never letting them feel in control. Throughout the play we can see Clay reasoning with Lula, trying his best to carry on a conversation with her. However, she is always commandeering the conversation and moving it a direction to fit her ulterior motives. Clay: (takes her conversation as pure sex talk. He turns to confront her squarely with this idea) I’m prepared for anything, how about you? Lula: (Laughing loudly and cutting it off abruptly) what do you think you’re doing? Clay: What?
Lula: You think I want to pick you up, get you to take me somewhere and screw me, huh?
…
Clay: Really? I look like all that?
Lula: Not all of it. (She feints a seriousness to cover an actual somber tone) I lie a lot. (Smiling) It helps me control the world. (Baraka 2) From here, Lula’s true motives show prominently and it becomes more obvious that she is steering him into a place he won’t be able to maneuver his way out of. The scene following this one is where the metaphor peaks and the antagonist really starts to become violent. Lula continues to string Clay along, her dialogue taking up large portions of the text, helps to more fully show this tendency of Lula to control. This builds all the way up to the final scene where all of the prodding and nudging done by Lula finally evokes a reaction, quite a violent one in fact, from Clay. Up till this point, Lula wasn’t entirely abrasive with her language, but in the last half of the final scene, we see her language take a turn, becoming extremely cutting and verbally violent, aiming all of her verbal blows at Clay. He then takes control of the conversation. His lines begin to take up the bulk of the dialogue and he even becomes cutting and physical in his stage directions and mannerisms as well. Lula, worked the entire play to evoke this response from Clay and his response, leads to his death at her hands. The one moment he feels as if he has control is the moment Lula was leading him into and the fact that when he expresses how he feels and is violent, only because he is constantly provoked by Lula, and is punished for it, is quite telling of how Amiri Baraka feels about white and Black violence. Whites have constantly displayed the same methods and attitudes that are seen in Lula. In in Post-Civil War New Orleans, White officers on the police force used excessive force against Black servicemen with little to no provocation regularly and after tiring of the violence, the officers fought back. After the violence seemed to have to have died down, a group of whites invaded a neighboring Black town and by end of the night, forty-six Black men had been killed, six Black women had been raped, and two white men were killed (Shapiro 6-7). This occurred in 1860’s, but this example of white violence provoking a response from Blacks, that then often leads to a disproportionate response back again from the whites.
During the peak of the Black Arts Movement, Black people were still struggling to overcome many pervasive issues in society that were serious sources of violence. Over-policing, Hate crimes, threats from racist institutions, murder of the leaders of their movements, and many more examples. Each time Blacks respond to violence with more violence, an unequal and unfair amount of force is used against them. With the Black Arts Movement, the anger most in the Black community were feeling was given a form that did not call for such a violent response from whites while, accomplishing feats similar to what Amiri Baraka achieved with his works, bringing to light the aspects of society most would either care not to see or sweep aside. The violence that is present in Dutchman exists for a reason. It shows the complicated dynamics of violence that have existed between whites and Blacks for hundreds of years on a scale that is somewhat easier to come to grips with.
Something I personally noticed with this notion is the fear that comes with it.
It’s like a type of conditioning has been conducted on the Black race. Whites can physically, verbally, and sexually abuse Blacks on all types of different levels and oppress and us, but when we fight back against this violence on a physical level, it begets a more violent response back. It seems that over time, this would just simply keep Blacks from fighting back at all, but much like how the types of violence and oppression have changed over the years, so to have the ways to combat this violence. Literature, as proven through the Black Arts Movement, is an effective means to “fight” back and do so without evoking a response that can lead to loss of excessive loss of life ultimately, but can in fact make changes and make these issues
known.