Explication
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As the story unfolds in Timothy Tyson’s Blood Done Sign My Name, he shares many memories about interactions between white and black people, mostly not pleasant ones. It is a book about Tyson’s childhood as a white boy living in the Southern town of Oxford, North Carolina, in the 1970s, with a father and mother who object to segregation. Tyson effectively describes racism in its many forms and the problems that come along with it. The book also shows white people’s denial when speaking of racism, but most importantly, it shares the idea that even people with the best intentions and belief in equality can end up supporting and benefiting from white supremacist policies. As Tyson grows older he begins to gain a better understanding of what is going on around him and tries to identity the source of the mistreatment of black people. As he searches for what promotes this idea of white supremacy he comes to the conclusion that it starts with a system that is designed in part by those whose identity and status involves keeping African Americans down - a government that is supposed to protect its people equally, but from the beginning, only counted white males as people. He speaks of the legislative actions that have been taken to supposedly help the “people,” when they actually only help middle and upper class whites. As he begins to talk about whites like himself being protected from helping out the people who have dirty, low paying jobs, Tyson uncovers the truth behind a history of legislative acts that have hurt African Americans and continue to further separate them from whites. The most important line in this quote to think about is the last one: “There was nothing clean about the way white people’s houses got cleaned in Oxford, North Carolina, including our own house.” Tyson knew of the problems involving suppressed African Americans and may not have wanted to participate in them in principle, yet still benefitted from them in his daily life. This is where eradicating unequal treatment enters a grey area.
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This Is Timothy Tyson as a fifth grader at the age of ten. This was the year of Henry Marrows death which sent Oxford, N.C., into mayhem about Civil Rights.
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This is a cartoon depicting the discrimination African Americans receive yet is commonly overlooked by the vernal public because the government puts up a false front to act as the "honest white man."
As African Americans were continually suppressed from both their surrounding neighborhoods and their government, African Americans began to believe that to be "White" is what equals success.
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Tyson has a unique story because he is a white who has had close connections with African Americans in his community whether they be through church, on the streets of Oxford, or from growing up with his family’s African American housekeeper. Although his dad frowns upon segregation and so does Tyson himself, they still have an African American housekeeper who is suppressed by the legislation Tyson speaks of such as the Social Security Act of 1935, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), and other New Deal legislation. Although his family knows that acts such as these deny a safety net and economic opportunity to the hard-working minorities who do domestic work and farming while paying into the tax system, they continue to benefit from them themselves; and meanwhile often take a paternalistic attitude toward blacks as if the opportunities were equal. The discrimination in these acts and in the government as a whole combined with subconscious acceptance of inequality is not only a problem for Tyson but for the American public as a whole. The problem derives from the dominant idea of white supremacy. Although white supremacy is based on the idea that whites are better than African Americans, the more unspoken basis of white supremacy is the unacknowledged need to be better in general, even amongst whites themselves. This idea is best represented in an analogy used early on in the book when Tyson speaks of the nature of it: “White supremacy permeated daily life so deeply that most people could no more ponder it than a fish might discuss the wetness of water” (17). This unconscious immersion in white supremacy drives even those who dislike segregation to support the continuous actions of the government that deprive its African American population from many of the benefits that the whites are receiving. Most whites were most likely not even aware of the flaws in the Social Security Act and other New Deal legislation. If they were aware then they just accepted it as normal while still blaming African Americans for their disadvantages. The southern whites in the community where Tyson grew up did not make any connection between the help given to white citizens, the obstacles put in the way of African American citizens, and the difference that made in their lives. This is yet another way of keeping African Americans suppressed, furthering the gap in inequality in the United States.
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A group that has manifested this subconscious idea of white supremacy and used it as a weapon is one that is quite well known. With the acquiescence of big business and much of American society, the United States government has been able to put up a false front of the values of democracy while preserving the deep-rooted traditional ideas of white supremacy through their conservative members - politicians who can both pass and block legislation. This deep-rooted traditional idea started way back during the formation of the United States Constitution. Many of the frameworkers of the constitution were southern, and not only southern but had slaves as well. during the formation of the constitution, these frameworkers wanted to “ban slavery” but using the phrase “all men are created equal”. the only problem with that sentence is that it doesn’t have the world slave in it, therefore acting as a useless right.
Slaveholders, who were usually people of great power, wanted to preserve the idea of slavery because free labor was the basis for their wealth and status. This drive of success in the economy through free labor is what has made wealthy landowners resistant to change. As this idea of preserving white supremacy and slaves continued to be integrated into society by wealthy landowners as well as politicians, African Americans continued to be suppressed, falling behind in the race for a better life. This idea unfortunately has been able to stick within the conservative politician’s mindset of what seems to be fair or “equal”, therefore integrating it into the government power structure.
This integration has lead to many conflicts and power struggles between conservatives and liberals within the government. It has become a game of numbers and the bigger majority you have of one party, the more dominate their power is in passing laws. As the conservatives win the Congress, House of Representatives, and the Presidency, unequal legislation is more commonly passed, setting our progress on equality back. This constant act of African Americans being suppressed has led them to be unable to build or accumulate wealth under the conditions of government, business, and social discrimination.
Slaveholders, who were usually people of great power, wanted to preserve the idea of slavery because free labor was the basis for their wealth and status. This drive of success in the economy through free labor is what has made wealthy landowners resistant to change. As this idea of preserving white supremacy and slaves continued to be integrated into society by wealthy landowners as well as politicians, African Americans continued to be suppressed, falling behind in the race for a better life. This idea unfortunately has been able to stick within the conservative politician’s mindset of what seems to be fair or “equal”, therefore integrating it into the government power structure.
This integration has lead to many conflicts and power struggles between conservatives and liberals within the government. It has become a game of numbers and the bigger majority you have of one party, the more dominate their power is in passing laws. As the conservatives win the Congress, House of Representatives, and the Presidency, unequal legislation is more commonly passed, setting our progress on equality back. This constant act of African Americans being suppressed has led them to be unable to build or accumulate wealth under the conditions of government, business, and social discrimination.
