Where Have Justice and Equality gone?

Help! Missing Dog!

His Name is JUSTICE EQUALITY JUNIOR!

If you see him, please bring him back to me (America)!

Reward of 100$ and, as an added bonus, two dogs! Discrimination and Superiority

Alone We Are Weak, United We Are Strong

(Too bad that didn’t happen here)

Discrimination is different. He hates everyone else. He is disgusted by equality and her silly notions, and he finds peace an abhorration because, unlike Discrimination, Peace likes everyone else. Discrimination is alone… He has no one. No one except for Superiority who, like discrimination, looks down on everyone else; even his cousin excellence.  Superiority hates excellence because Excellence worked for what he has and Superiority finds that, that makes him almost as bad as Shameful.

When Discrimination and Superiority find time to meet up, Peace, Equality, and Love all leave. They are scared of what the two of them might do. Most of the time, Discrimination and Superiority only make threats, they find that coming off of their high chairs is too much effort; but when they do come down, it is always bad.

One time apparently, Discrimination was full of spirit and rage from drinking and he came off of that high chair. Before everyone else could react, Discrimination was among them, and he grabbed wildly in the air. Discrimination, with a pungent smell of alcohol on his breath, by chance, snatched the collar of little equality with that wild grab of his and then, continued by taking Equality’s little right arm and squeezing. Everyone else had run away at first but now they looked back. Little Equality was gasping and pain flushed across his face as Discrimination dug his long nails into Equality’s skin. Peace and the others, out of sight behind a large boulder, watched in horror as Discrimination then began to take out a cigarette and a lighter, then light the cigarette, take a couple puffs, and proceed to push the burning end down toward Equality’s face. Fear and panic filled the hearts of everyone but none of them could bear to look… They couldn’t stomach it, so they all hid behind that boulder. And as they crouched there, hidden from view, all they could hear were the screams of Equality and the laughs of Superiority as Discrimination decided gleefully what torturous device he would try next on his victim.

Everyone feared Discrimination and Superiority, they feared that they would be in Equality’s spot if they spoke up, so rather than help poor little Equality, they turned their backs and walked away to his tear filled attempts at cries for help. The next they came back and Discrimination was back up there on his high horse with Superiority sitting right next to him again. But one thing had changed, Equality was gone and that was the last they would ever hear from him.

The Past: It’s not my fault

(A tribute to God Help the Child)

She said She said

The past is not my fault The past is not my fault

That black color she carries

It’s not my doing...

That’s her burden to bear That’s her burden to bear

She refused me,

She never loved me

She Ruined my life She Ruined my life

I couldn’t take her anywhere,

When she was born,

I almost wanted to killed her,

But I didn’t, I let her live

Isn’t that enough? Aren’t I enough?

Why would you never touch me?

I can’t get over that and i’m 25 now

I’m grown and successful,

but I can’t forget the past

Because of you Because of you

Because of that terrible color,

My own daughter became a stranger,

More than that, an enemy.

I hate you! I hate you!

I send you checks in the mail

Just so I don’t have to see you

You disgust me You disgust me

You made my life hard,

I could have passed for white,

I could have had a better life I could have had a better life

I could have been whole,

If you had just loved me.

If you had been a mother If you had been a mother

you would understand

It’s harder than it looks
I wanted to love you I wanted to love you
But you never could love me

You were just too different...

Land of the Oppressed and Home of the Aristocracy

Toni Morrison’s novel God Help the Child is a passionate and commanding story of a young girls heartbreak and pain. Bride, the protagonist, endures abuse throughout her entire life and knows nothing besides it. As a result, Bride develops a submissive stance in all her interactions with others, demonstrating how she has been broken by societal norms . The primary reason for this hatred and abuse is her dark black skin. Using this fact, Morrison provokes a deeply philosophical question through Bride and asks, “What do we do with someone when that person’s sins are out of their control?” Yet because God Help the Child is set in the present, this novel then becomes a reflection of what is wrong within our society. This theme Morrison implements is threatening; it suggests that the troubled past which America felt it had left behind is, in fact, still around and running rampant. Approaching this concept Morrison introduces, and taking a wider stance, it appears that Morrison is not only correct, but that she has only touched the surface; while this country was founded upon, “liberty and justice for all”, it appears that what the Founding Fathers really meant was “equality [for the rich white landholding males who practice a common place religion]”, and nothing for everybody else.

Morrison discusses the oppression of African Americans within the United States today, and hits a very sensitive subject right on the head. Look at recent headlines. Morrison is not wrong in describing society today as racist. Statistically, the percent of African American’s living in New York, according to the American Community Survey from the U.S. Census, is 25.1 percent. However, in 2014, out of the 46,235 times police implemented the “stop-and-frisk” policy (a police procedure to stop and shake down anybody they deem “suspicious”), 55 percent of the people they stopped were black. 25.1 percent of the population compared to 55 percent of total “stop-and-frisks” doesn’t correlate. Especially considering the fact that only 12 percent of people undergoing the “stop-and-frisk” were white and they represent the leading demographic for New York, with 44.6 percent of the population (NYCLU.Com). What this suggests is that, even if this is subliminal, there are perceptions based on race that remain within America. These perceptions develop a culture where African Americans, like Bride, feel crushed under society. In fact, if you take recent police brutality towards young African American males in the news alongside of these fact, it suggests that there is an extreme variation between what is just and what is occurring. Michael Brown’s killing in Ferguson is a perfect example of this. Brown received 6 gunshots to his body, and eyewitnesses have said that Brown had his hands up when he received the fatal shot (HuffingtonPost.com). This remains only one example of police brutality towards African Americans; however in a recent survey, 24 percent of young black men polled said that they had experienced unfair treatment, like Brown endured, within the last 30 days at the hands of police (Gallup Polls). What this suggests is that, to African Americans, society seems to have stacked the deck against them…  And this belief is founded in fact, based on statistical analysis of police activity. What all of this correlates to is a confirmation of Toni Morrison arguments and demonstrates that racism is alive and well in America, if only subliminally.

Yet Racism is not the only factor that inhibits equality and hurts the individuals within our society; another prominent group that is oppressed today is the LGBT community. Today, gay people are only allowed to be married in 37 states (FreedomToMarry.org), and people/businesses are legally allowed to discriminate because sexual orientation is not covered under Civil Rights (CivilRights.org).  Just like African Americans, people within the LGBT community are not given the rights promised by our constitution. Because of who they are, something they cannot change, they are the recipient of 20 percent of all violent hate crimes in the United States while only representing 3.4 percent of the population (CivilRights.org and (UCLA School of Law). Yet, while these factors demonstrate the oppression of LGBT individuals within the United States, perhaps the most brutal form of society’s oppression is the connotation of the word gay in social media. “That’s gay” and “you’re a faggot” are terms some individuals choose to use as insults and they can be seen plastered across Twitter feeds and Facebook Posts. They are intended to describe something repulsive and disgusting. And by associating these words with such horrible connotations, it associates the same image with the people the word is meant to represent. In rap music and hip hop culture, the word gay is used in a very similar way. It is negative and suggests disgust and impurity. Imagine how the people feel that have to endure this in their day-to-day lives... A word that is meant to describe who you are, used to describe the detested and the intolerable… It suggests a repulsive social view that still, to this day, has not changed completely. In his music video, Same Love, Macklemore highlights this idea with his lyrics “ah nah, here we go, America the brave still fears what we don’t know, and god loves all his children is somehow forgotten, when we paraphrase a book written 35 hundred years ago… I don’t know”. Macklemore attacks the injustice occurring within our own society under our very noses; people are abused and made to carry the same emotional burdens that Bride carried in God Help the Child. This is something that should never happen in a country that is intended to be “Land of the free, and home of the brave”.

For people of Middle Eastern descent, 9/11 created similar problems. Although Islam is a peaceful religion and preaches similar messages to Christianity and Judaism, people in America blame them consistently for 9/11. In post 9/11 America, there have been multiple attacks on Muslims and on temples. In fact, anti-Muslim hate crimes have skyrocketed nearly 1,600 percent in the years after 9/11 (USAToday30) This Anti-Muslim hatred has even spread to congress; senators have held Anti Muslim hearings (USAToday30). The people that are meant to be protecting Americans rights and their personal liberties, rallying against those they are supposed to support? This type of residual hatred suggests that for Muslims, America doesn’t offer the same opportunities simply because of what they believe. With Mosques being blocked from construction in Tennessee, and other Mosques being destroyed in Missouri, and Senators claiming that “disloyal Muslims are infiltrating our government” (USAToday30), it is no wonder that these individuals express the opinion that there is a lack of equality within American Society.

These are not the only groups who have endured discrimination in America, however they demonstrate the important idea that American society is not as it was intended to be. Toni Morrison’s Novel illustrates this idea innate racism within American society, and portrays the lasting effects oppression has on all individuals idea of racism’s effects on one individual. Applying this concept and expanding it past the African American community, it has become apparent that many people feel the lasting impressions of discrimination and hatred; perhaps even a majority. Everyone today seems to be inflicted with lasting burdens of society’s influence and it is because of this fact that social change needs to be implemented. Although the ideal of “equality” was a goal of the founders of the United States, we still have not attained it to this day. As a result, we must continue to work and build a better future; one where the emotional burdens Bride constantly endures from human cruelty no longer apply.

Works Cited

1. "Black and White Attitudes Toward Police." Gallup Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/175088/gallup-review-black-white-attitudes-towardpolice.aspx>.
2. "Column: Post 9/11 Discrimination Must End." USA Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-09/sikh-shooting-muslims-bias/56920502/1>.
3. "5 Things to Know about the Ferguson Police Department." USA Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/14/ferguson-police%20department-details/14064451/>.
4. "Gays and Lesbians." The Leadership Conference. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/sexualorientation.html>.
5. "LGBT Demographics of the United States." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_demographics_of_the_United_States>.
6. "1 In 3 Black Males Will Go To Prison In Their Lifetime, Report Warns." Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/04/racial-disparities-criminal-justice_n_4045144.html>.
7. "States." Freedom to Marry. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.freedomtomarry.org/states>.
8. "Stop and Frisk Data." New York Civil Liberties Union. New York, n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.nyclu.org/content/stop-and-frisk-data>.
9. "21 Numbers That Will Help You Understand Why Ferguson Is About More Than Michael Brown." Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/22/ferguson-black-america_n_5694364.html>.
10. United States Census Bureau. U.S.A., n.d. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://www.census.gov/acs/www/>.

Good Luck and God Help the Child

QR Blog Post #2

Good luck and God Help the Child

As Toni Morrison’s GOD HELP the CHILD progresses, the idea that Booker is a tool which Bride uses to overcome the challenges in her past becomes more of a reality. Yet to complement this development, Toni Morrison also introduces insights into Booker which suggest that the same is true for him as well.

One very apparent demonstration of this reality for Bride is that the physical adjustments Bride began to see throughout the beginning of the story are reversed in Booker's presence. From “It was when she stood to dry herself that she discovered that her chest was flat” (92) to “they were focused, wide-eyed, on Bride’s lovely, plump breasts (166). Yet Booker himself may not be the change that caused this transformation… Throughout the beginning of the text, Bride demonstrates that throughout her childhood, she has always been complacent to others; to sweetness and her commands, to her perceived position within society, when Sofia Huxley attacks her and brutally destroys her face, everything. She became controlled by others… Almost as if bound in chains, like a slave to others and not being able to listen to her own free will. Yet when she confronts Booker, that nature is gone. Rather than accepting what people thought, Bride told Booker “You don’t have to love me but you damn well have to respect me” (154). That was the first time Bride really stuck up for herself in the entire text. It was after this that her breasts came back and the physical changes went back to normal, and she also began to reach peace.

The same can be said for Booker. Although he is introduced solely in the second half of the text, Booker’s character is almost a perfect foil of Bride. Bride is ruled by the ghosts of her past mistakes, and Booker is ruled by the ghost of his dead older brother -Adam- who was murdered by a pedophile, along with 6 other little children. Just like Bride refused to move forward in her life and pushed the past aside, just as she pushed her body changing aside, Booker seems stuck in the past as well. Morrison describes “The Cross and the Vault” (111) which is the book, Booker has completed planned out and wants to write, but he never starts to right it... Suggesting that he was incapable of moving forward, and his aunts Queen’s words at Adam’s funeral validate this idea;  “Don’t let him go,” she said. “Not until he’s ready. Meantime, hang on to him tooth and claw. Adam will let you know when it’s time” (117). Queen’s words invited him to live in the past and they “comforted him, strengthened him and validated the unfairness of the censure he was feeling from his family” (117). In this way, Booker, just as Bride was, became ensnared by the past, and just as she freed herself from her past through him, Booker freed himself through her. When he first saw her, “Booker had no words to describe his feelings” (131) and his perceptions about life began to change; “Streets with litter at their curbs appeared interesting, not filthy” (131). What this meant was that when he was with Bride or around Bride he overcame the sorrow and cynicism which had enveloped his life as a result of Adam’s death.

Together, they both overcame their past, lifting the burdens of dead brothers and faults from their shoulders and striving towards something better… Something that was their own. Bride describes how “She had not known its [beauties] shallowness or her own cowardice - the vital lesson Sweetness taught and nailed to her spine to curve it” (151)... To curve it to her will and to break it.

Yet in this conclusion, I find myself asking why? what does this mean? Starting at the beginning of their lives and, coincidentally, the beginning of the book, Sweetness (Bride’s mother) says “her color is a cross she will always carry. But it’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not” (7) in this moment, Sweetness shows her ability to rationalize her actions towards Bride, claiming innocence. And this same idea is displayed at the very end of the novel as well; in the end she refuses to accept blame for her actions and claims that “some of my schooling must have rubbed off. See how she turned out?” (178). Yet in response to Bride being pregnant, she also writes, “Listen to me. You are about to find out what it takes, how the world is, how it works, and how it changes when you are a parent. Good luck and God Help the Child.” (178) This sense of assurance in her own parenting seems wrong, from what I read, I see the idea that a parent’s actions and our childhood have lasting effects (as seen through Bride and Booker). So what you do to children and what they experience matters and they may never forget. It is this idea, that remains the premise of this novel, and yet at the same time Morrison’s last statement “Good luck and God Help the Child” is a strong reminder that it is hard to be perfect as a parent… The innocence of youth will be corrupted at one point or another and whether you endure the same emotional situations as the characters within this novel, parents have lasting impacts and should consider their job accordingly.

Bride to Child

QR Blog Post #1

GOD HELP the CHILD by Toni Morrison conveys the heart wrenching story of Lula Ann Bridewell or, as she nicknamed herself, just Bride. Within this story, there a variety of intricacies which play important roles within this text; there are foil characters, contrasting personal beliefs, guilt, racism, hatred, and much more. Yet among all of these pieces which comprise this text, one seems to stand out to me above the others. In the first chapter, Bride discovers “every bit of my pubic hair is gone” and confides that “it scared me” (12, 13). Yet despite being scared by this new development so early in the text, Bride, perhaps like almost everything else in her life, shoves it under the rug and trudges forward. It is hardly mentioned within the text until more physical alterations begin to take place. Next Bride loses her ear piercings. “Christ. Now what?” she says as she tries to figure out the problem with her earrings, “My earrings. They won’t go in… I peer at my lobes closely and discover the tiny holes are gone” (50). Pubic hair, earrings… But wait there is more. On a road trip to look for her ex boyfriend Bride stops at a place to eat and, upon entering the ladies room, finds that the top of her dress now sags “as if instead of a size 2, she had purchased a 4” (81). Now she is trimming down… Morrison continues this development of Magical realism even further with “It was when she stood to dry herself that she discovered that her chest was flat. Completely flat, with only nipples to prove it was not her back” (92). To continue this point, when Bride asks to borrow pants from Evelyn (a person she is staying with on her journey to find her ex), she instead has to borrow pants from Rain (the daughter of Evelyn who hasn’t even begun to hit puberty) (93)... Through all of these body modifications, Bride seems to be retracing the steps of her puberty; turning younger rather than turning older.

I am struggling to define the reason behind this repeal on puberty… Why would this be? I think it has something to do with her past, however she has faced multiple problems within her past… The major problems she has faced within her life are with Sweetness (her non-affectionate mother), Sofia Huxley (the school teacher she accuses of rape), and her ex-boyfriend (who walks out on her and says “you not the woman I want” (8)); out of those, Bride believes that her ex boyfriend is the cause of the situation, and claims that “the body changes began not simply after he left but because he left” (94)... Yet I think it is something else, not her ex (Booker), or Sweetness, or Sofia Huxley… Something more than any of them. Bride says that “Booker was the one person she was able to confront - which was the same as confronting herself, standing up for herself.” (98), by going after him now, she is trying to confront herself and look for answers to a problem perhaps she doesn’t even understand. From the very beginning of the text, Morrison creates Bride as a character who is successful, yet not at home with herself; she has never stood up for herself at all through her life and that has made a lasting impression. When Booker confronts her about not being the woman he wants, her response is “Neither am I” (8), When a boy is getting raped on the stairs by her landlord (flashback from when she was a kid), her mom told her not to do anything so she kept quiet. The list goes on. Bride recognizes this when she says “Too weak, too scared to defy Sweetness, or the landlord, or Sofia Huxley, there was nothing in the world left to do but stand up for herself finally and confront the first man she had bared her soul to” (79). Just as she swept her discomfort about the arm pit hair situation under the rug and refuses to acknowledge it, even as the effects become more pronounced, Bride is beginning the journey of attacking her past through Booker and through it, it takes away more and more of her womanhood as she confronts the problems from her childhood… Her physical nature, in essence, reflects the time of her problems which she never overcame.