"The Ethics of Living Jim Crow"

This story struck me from the very first sentence. It talked about "how to live as a Negro," as if there is some sort of difference in the way blacks and whites should have to live. In this day and age, this idea is considered archaic and awful, but at this time, it was widely accepted as just the way things were. The story also talked about "Jim Crow wisdom--" but is any of this really "wise?" The separation of whites and black neighborhoods, the war games between black and white children, the inhumane treatment blacks receive: all of these are normal occurrences in this story, and none are questioned as being wrong. It is assumed that Richard is stupid ("'Whut yuh tryin' t' do, git smart?'"), savage, and rude, and is treated with nothing but disrespect and condescension. While this is obviously wrong, it happened for hundreds of years before anyone even so much as thought to make a change. Why is that? Even most blacks just accepted this treatment, as the characters in the story did. It makes me wonder: were they too scared to fight for change, or did they just truly believe that this treatment was what they deserved?

There was another sentence in this story that really took me aback: "even Negroes have those visions." Talking about the dream of working one's way up in a job, this sentence made me stop in my tracks. It really struck me that people could think that people of a certain color are not capable of having the same aspirations. It's as if people thought that blacks had different brains than whites, which is obviously absurd. It especially blew me away that this statement came from a black man. Were they so conditioned by whites that they felt as though they didn't deserve to have such thoughts? Or perhaps they had just always thought they had to "'stay in [their] place' if [they] want to keep working." Such dreams and aspirations could get blacks fired, or worse, killed. It's awful that these people had to live in fear like this, but unfortunately, it was a reality for them every day of their lives. 

As much we don't like to admit it, there is an inherent racism in every human being. We may treat everyone the same, but ask yourself this: do you ever judge someone of a different race or think about them as "sketchy" or "creepy" without anything more than a glance their way? I just feel, especially after reading this story, as though we really need to take responsibility for our thoughts and feelings and try to change them. Though we don't see this blatant discrimination anymore, that doesn't mean there is not still inequalities and injustices. We need to own up and really make a change--the first step would be instilling in our children that everyone is truly equal, not just "sort-of" equal.