In the novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, the chapter “Kojo” depicts the life a a
black man born into slavery, who escaped as a baby. Under the fugitive slave
act of 1850, any runaway slaves were to be returned to their master regardless
of whether or not they were in a free state and regardless of how long ago they
had run away. Although Kojo had forged free papers, and his wife and children
were born free, he still feared that his family may be in jeopardy. Despite
freedom, his skin color marked him and his family and to the white slave
hunters they could all be former slaves. Trials were “the white man’s word
against no word at all” (Gyasi 124), because the black man was seen as inferior
and his words and actions did not matter. Kojo’s skin color decided whether or
not he was believed, it dictated how he had to raise his children and because
of this law Kojo taught his children to always carry their papers and to be
polite and calm towards the police, not that politeness truly mattered, they
were black and thus suspects.
Today, in a country where all men
and women are supposedly free and many white people believe that racism is a
thing of the past, bias police brutality against African Americans continues to
occur daily. A documentary posted by the
New York Times called “A Conversation with my Black Son” shows the fears
that parents of black children have in America. Like Kojo in Homegoing, parents today must teach
their children how to react to a police confrontation for their own safety. One
mother in the video says that, “[my son] is going to turn into a large scary
black man, that's not who he is but that is how he will be perceived” (New York Times). His skin color will
make him a suspect and he will face discrimination because “there’s an unspoken
code of racism and white supremacy that says that [his] life [as a black man]
does not matter”(New York Times). This
“code of racism” is rooted in United Stated history, a bias is deeply ingrained
in American culture and government. Black lives are still portrayed as worth
less then other lives. Since the fugitive slave act of 1850 there has been a
war, amendments to the constitution, African Americans were given freedom and
the right to vote but these were not enough to change a country rooted in
racism and founded on the backs of African slaves. Children should not have to
be taught to fear the police. It is 2016, not enough has changed.
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