The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

There are few words I can use to describe Richard Wright's article surrounding upbringing in southern American society, but eye-opening likely stands above all. Coming from the primarily white, near northernmost state in the US, the only diversity a person generally experiences is in the interior of larger cities aside from one of the highest concentrations of Hmong immigrants in the nation who are not necessarily subject to Jim Crow. Wright's depictions of how prevalent of a role racism and segregation played in his life show a new lifestyle not witnessed or understood by middle class white kids in Smalltown, Midwest, USA. Regardless Wright illustrates clearly how influences of racial supremacy still exist and flourish in cultures for 300 years after their creation.

In Wright's article, he describes various life events that were heavily influenced by Jim Crow such as his childhood fights with the other white children who were out for blood, his short career working in an optical workshop where intimidation and neglect were normal, and how his eventual growth in career still held a limited lifestyle purely for his skin color. Wright manages to show that by living in the south, a black man is never truly equal and as a result must learn a new cod of ethics to adapt to the white lifestyle around him. These social norms never seemed to be questioned seeing as they were enforced by men in white outfits armed with nooses. A society of fear and white supremacy gives way to an entirely different culture. Wright's article describes simple hazing to fighting to full fledged beatings at the hands of whites in a coming of age that is unlike any other.

The message of Wright's article doesn't seem to be an attack on whites as a whole or be an effort to guilt all of those who read it. Wright seems to instead write of his own experiences and bring to light a new lifestyle that is mostly unknown to Americans since they will likely never experience it. This eye-opening article gives a look into southern customs that aren't advertised on restaurant menus or in issues of Country Living. Jim Crow is an issue that has existed for hundreds of years and is shockingly still a widely accepted aspect of American culture. Wright's tales of his experiences sit as only one example of what a typical black boy experiences in the south growing up. Culture that has existed for centuries is near impossible to change which means that stories like these are likely to continue, perhaps not as extreme but still in some fashion as time goes on making the iconic stanza "All men are created equal" meaningless.