Post Colonial-Melissa Zaragoza

Post Colonial

So far with what I read in beloved I would have to say that I have lived all my live with a different perspective on racism. Towards the first section of the book Beloved by Toni Morrison I experienced the dark side racism. My understanding of racism was just about white people not liking African Americans because of their different skin tone. White people also labeled  dark skinned people as “slaves”. A slave is a person who is legal property of another and is forced to obey them. In my mind I never thought racism was so horrific and abominable. Sadly African Americans had no choice but to indoor their life style. Now on when I think of racism one word that comes in mind is “abuse“, White people had no heart and no sympathy for these African Americans. In Beloved, these people would get rapped, abuse, and even hurt. Racism would make black people feel dehumanized.

“God damn it of two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast the other holding me down” page 83, this quote to me is so terrifying, knowing that someone had to go through that. People were not being respected, I can't even imagine the pain Sethe had to go through having two white boys abuse of her and steal her breast milk . Who would even think about doing such a thing to another person . This to me is a very sick and mind blowing situation because if people are out there doing these kind of stuff, something should be done about it immediately. Sethe had to live her entire life feeling disgusted about her body and self. Having to go through something like this can be a life changing experience knowing someone forced themselves into you.

This was a dark side on Racism that I had never heard about, which made my perspective change completely. To sum everything up my beliefs and understanding on slavery was just related to whites making African Americans do labor. I never thought there was more to slavery such as the intense abuse and control . After reading the couple chapter in Beloved  I now recognize all the harm that was done to the African American people.