Donald Sterling, entrepreneur and owner of the Los
Angeles Clippers basketball franchise, has recently made national news with the
leaked audio tape of him expressing extremely racist remarks concerning African
Americans. Sterling openly bashes people
of the African American race and goes as far as to say that he doesn’t want
anyone in his immediate life to be seen with black people. This relates, albeit inversely, to the man
character in Ann Petry’s short story Like
A Winding Sheet. Johnson, a
hardworking African American man has his entire world altered and shaped by the
bigotry and racism of those around him.
Mr. Sterling, while on the opposite end of racism, has had his life
shaped and altered in a much different way, but a way that was no less severe.
Mr. Sterling and Johnson are not so unalike, even
though they are both of different ethnicities.
Racism is a learned behavior, much like the English language. Nobody is born racist just as nobody is born
with a full and advanced vocabulary. Donald Sterling was shaped into a bigot by
his upbringing in a racist environment just as Johnson was shaped into a short
tempered and violent man by the environment he resided in. Ms. Stiviano, Sterling’s alleged girlfriend,
says numerous times throughout the recorded conversation that he has “so much
hate and racism in your [his] heart.”
While Sterling was raised this way, Johnson feels the effects of this
method of child rearing. In essence
racists like Mr. Sterling are creating prisoners to society and to their own
minds, while Johnson is being imprisoned by those very same things.
Racism and prejudice influence the mind of the racist
and of the affected person just as much as they influence their physical
surroundings. In one part of the audio
tape Mr. Sterling makes the absurd comment that he is the reason that black
people in the community are still surviving.
“I put food on their tables. I put clothes on their backs. I feed them and clothe them.” This comment, although intended to defeat the
racist accusations, only solidifies them.
Sterling is a known slum lord who charges outlandishly high prices to
rent his numerous apartment buildings and in several cases, has refused to rent
to black citizens. While this is intense
in and of itself, the worst part about this particular quote is that Sterling
was referring to the African American players on the Clippers team. These men, that put people in the stands,
sell jerseys and memorabilia, and bring in sponsors, do more for Sterling than
he could ever do for them, and he actually believes that he is making their
lives better. He sits around and does
little to nothing, while those finely tuned athletic machines that are his
players make him multiple millions of dollars.
Seemingly absurd as it is, this thought process has been ingrained in
Sterling’s mind for quite a long time, and has greatly influenced his thoughts
and behavior.
Johnson is also
trapped within his own mind by the racism of his society. He knows that he is not inferior to his white
peers but cannot find any way to make them see that . Throughout the story Johnson wants only to be
treated as an equal and not slighted simply because he is black. While his thoughts on how to fix this problem
are indeed violent, it is assumed that nothing else would really have any
effect in his case. The problem is that
he can’t even pursue the acts of violence because that would only make it worse
for him. Striking a white person, especially
a woman, is a more than unacceptable action and would incur not only the wrath
of the law, but of the society as individuals as well. The anger and resentment that he feels, but
cannot express continuously builds throughout the day until he explodes and
takes it out on the one person that he can actually take it out on, but has
done nothing wrong. An outsider should
keep in mind that this intense emotional exchange took place over the course of
one day. Imagine the feeling of being
trapped inside your own mind and emotions every day for weeks, months or even
years. The inner turmoil proved too much
for Johnson to overcome, and the confines of his own persona played a great
role in shaping his character and his life.
Clearly racism is still a problem in our seemingly
unified society. There are still bigots,
racists and extremists around us all that try, and more often than not succeed,
to hurt people they deem lesser than themselves every day. These people can be as common as a shop
foreman, or as unique as a millionaire sports franchise owner. Regardless of their title, the results of
their actions ultimately have the same effect on the individuals of, in this
case, the African American race. Those
unfortunate people that fall victim to this behavior are not only affected
directly/physically, but indirectly/mentally and emotionally as well. Events like the releasing of this audio tape
do certainly pose the question: will our society ever be truly equal and
unhindered?
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