Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

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16 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 5 Stepin Fetchits of radio and screen, we are by no means ignoramuses, brutes, or fascists— although some day history will surely find some uncomplimentary term for our benighted state. White men have been victims of a social disorder which has placed the Negro on a lower plane in the scale of human values. The Negro has generally been seen in an inferior position — living in slum dwellings, working at menial occupations, traveling in Jim Crow cars. These obvious facts would hardly be worth mentioning here, were it not to explain why even the most liberal heart under a white skin occasionally fails to react to the stereotype with pain and outrage. These facts explain why belly laughs, instead of roars of indignation, greet the slap-stick portrayal of the Negro— the stereotype which depicts him as an eye-rolling, shuffle-gaited, “no-account” fellow, who hates to work, loves to gamble, carries a rabbit’s foot and suffers from the abject cowardice created by his own superstitions. When such a twisted characterization appears in the pages of a story, we ought to snap the book shut and drop it in the incinerator ; when it comes through the radio loudspeaker, we ought to twist the dial and write the sponsor a burning letter; when it appears on stage or screen, we ought to cease our chuckles and sit silent and ashamed, making the boxoffice shudder. If generally we don’t do these things, it may be because we are not aware. The stereotype, the pattern, has been too well established. This is perhaps as true for teachers as for everyone else. Even those of us who are most sensitive to this problem may have passed over instances of dangerous racial patterns with out seeing them for what they are. Nearly everyone has read Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Gold-Bug. Certainly every English teacher is familiar with it, and many have included Poe’s tale of treasure-hunting in reading assignments for their classes. How many of us have recognized that for the immature minds of high-school students this story is n dangerous formative influence and an undesirable reading assignment? How the Stereotype Works The Gold-Bug is a favorite of anthology makers, appearing in a number of collections. Because the study of the forces creating prejudice has only recently been begun, the implications of a character like the Negro Jupiter in The G(dd-Bug have been overlooked. Poe was no bigot, and his treatment of Jupiter was certainly sympathetic. Had Poe’s attitude been really vicious, had he shown hatred or contempt for his Negro character, the effect on the modern high-school student might have been less telling. Our local schools have sought to educate boys and girls in ideals of tolerance and. better yet, of mutual respect and acceptance of others. Today’s high-school youth might be repelled by an intolerant attitude in an author’s work, but Poe obviously loved that foolish old darky, and so all the defenses that might be raised are down. Our first introduction to Jupiter is in this sentence: “In these excursions he was usuallg accompanied by an old Negro, called Jupiter, who had been manumitted before the reverses of the family, but who coidd be induced neither by threats nor by promises to abandon what he considered his right of attendance upon the footsteps of his young ‘Massa Will.’ ” As he reads this, the student unconsciously establishes certain patterns of thought. (What do I know about Jupiter? 1 know that he is a Negro. He is cdso a servant, just like the Negroes m most stories. The author says that Jupiter has been “manumitted”; according to the dictionary that word means “freed from bondage.” So Jupiter must have been a slave once, but the fine old fellow still worships his master, and )ieither threats nor promises will drive him away. The people in the story find it necessary to humor him by letting him attend and serve his “Massa Will”) The student reads further and encounters this description : “Jupiter, grinning from ear to ear, bustled about to prepare some marshhens for supper.” (That's familiar. I’ve seen some characters like that in the movies, usually Negroes, too. Happy-go-lucky in a kind of simple-minded , childish way. hi stories people who are dignified and important don’t grin from ear to ear.) Progressing with the narrative of the treasure hunt, the reader learns that Jupiter was to drop the gold-bug from the branch of a tree in order to locate the buried hoard. He reads Master Will’s inquiry as to whether Jupiter could climb the tree — and the servant’s reply : “ ‘Yes, Massa, Jup can climb any tree he ebber see in he life.’ “ ‘Then up with you os soon as possible, for it will soon be too dark to see what we are about.’ “ ‘How far mus’ go up, Massa?' inquired Jupiter.” (There’s a big difference between how Jupiter talks and the way his master speaks. Jupiter’s dialect is a little funny. Not that I’d want to laugh at it in any