Examples Of Racism In Go Tell It On The Mountain

Words: 616
Pages: 3

As we have seen in today’s news, race and racism is still an ongoing problem that America is conflicted with. However, if you were to ask someone the difference in brutality back then compared to today would there answer be different; Or in a way somewhat similar? In the book, Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin, the author brings to life the struggles and hardship race and racism had on black men and women’s every day lives. Women especially were brutally attacked and savaged by white men. One specific character Deborah, who was the first wife of Gabriel, was raped by a group of white men when she was a young girl. The damage was so severe that she was never able to bear children. Not only was it physically harmful, but also mentally changed the way she went about her every day life. Men looked at her as something that was chewed up, swallowed and spit back out. When a man finally did look at her in a more forgiving way she became submissive and scared of everything he did or said. Hesitant to stand …show more content…
Her first husband, Richard, was wrongfully accused of being a part of a robbery because of his skin color. The owner saw the faces of who robbed him including Richard’s and said, “Yeah, that’s them, all right.’ Then Richard shouted: ‘But I wasn’t there! Look at me goddammit-I wasn’t there!’ ‘You black bastards,’ the man said, looking at him, ‘you’re all the same”(Go Tell It on the Mountain, 202). The owner didn’t really care if Richard did it or not, he saw all of them equally at fault. This resulted in his sentence to jail where he in turn committed suicide. Race and racism not only took away the love of Elizabeth’s life but her ability to fully trust herself or anyone. Elizabeth blamed Richards’s death on herself so when her second husband Gabriel criticizes her for having a bastard son she shrivels up inside with guilt and