Black Like Me Essay Research Paper Greg

Black Like Me Essay, Research Paper

Greg Trumbold

Black Like Me

In the Fall of 1959, John Howard Griffin set

out on a journey of discovery. A discovery of his

own nature, as well as a discovery of human nature.

With the help of a friend, Griffin transformed his

white male body into that of an African-American

male body. Through a series of medical treatments,

the transformation was complete. He spent the next

several months as an African-American traveling

through the deep South of the United States. What

he discovered changed his perspective of himself,

as well as his perspective of others.

On his journey, John Howard Griffin encountered

what could be termed the dark side of human nature.

He experienced racism in its purest form. He

experienced what it was like to live in squalor

with a sense of hopelessness. John Howard Griffin

also experienced the antagonism of those that

feared him solely because of the color of his skin.

His experiences even included witnessing acts of

racism with the African-American community. (1)

As a “white man” in “White America”, John

Howard Griffin enjoyed certain luxuries. With

those luxuries, however, is an independence of

sorts. A majority of white people pass through

life without much notice of other white people.

What he found as an African-American was that he

developed a bond with other African-Americans. The

type of bond that is shared between people in the

same situation. (2)

With this discovery came a certain amount of

hope. A hope that the human spirit will prevail

through any hardship. Through his journey, he

would step back into his true white self, and enter

back into the white world. He would then observe

the “black” world with a new sense of clarity. (3)

While in the “white” world, he encountered white

people that had a desire to change the wrongs of

white society.

It would seem that white society is comprised

of a great deal of felicity. That is to say, a

human being will naturally be drawn towards the

preservation of the self. (4) During this time

period, the white man viewed the black man as a

threat to the white lifestyle. As experienced

through the eyes of John Howard Griffin as a black

man, the white man would have many questions as to

the nature of the black man. (5)

Through Griffin’s experience, he learned that

there is no fundamental difference in the nature of

the white man as compared to the nature of the

black man. There seems to be a desire to survive.

The white man attempted to survive by making the

black man a “second citizen”, which is to say

“lesser citizen”. The black man attempted to

survive by banding together as a race. This helped

the race survive through a feeling of empathy. If

a human feels that he is not alone, it tends to

give a more powerful sense of strength.

Another interesting finding from John Howard

Griffin was that white children did not necessarily

share their parents racial beliefs. This offers

proof that racism is not a part of human nature,

but rather a by-product of the human nature of the

fear of the unknown. Since the white person was

unfamiliar with the black man, there was a sense of

fear of the black man. Racism is merely a defense

mechanism passed down from parent to child. The

white men in “Black Like Me” would teach their

children to use racial slurs like “nigger” in

reference to a black man. (6)

This theory is supported by the great thinker

Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes theorized that man is

dictated by a “psychological egoism”. That

basically is to say that people are selfish. They

put their own needs in front of the needs of

others. (7)

It is in this manner that the white man “saved”

himself from the black man. The white man saw only

his own need for self-preservation. He feared the

black man because of the white man’s ignorance of

the black man. The white man feared that the black

man was different than the white man, and therefore

dangerous. It is from this fear that racism

springs. By keeping the black man “down” in

society, the white man can fulfill his need to

survive. This is the manner in which Hobbes’ views

of psychological egoism are supported by John

Howard Griffin’s experience as a black man in the

Deep South.

John Howard Griffin’s experiences also helped

to point out many of the known African-American

stereotypes held by many white people. One scene

in particular involves Griffin hitchhiking in

Biloxi, Mississippi.(5)

It was November 19, and Griffin had just

arrived by bus in Biloxi. He proceeded to seek

transportation to his

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