“They were listening to the radio. … A young n----- boy had been found stomped to death in Sunflower County, Mississippi. There was no questions about who stomped him - his murderers had boasted freely - and there were no questions about the motive. The boy had whistled at some white woman, refused to deny he had slept with others, and was a Northerner visiting the South. … ‘ It was on the radio! Got to be in the paper!’ ‘They don’t put that kind of stuff in no white paper.’ … ‘Oh, they’ll catch them,’ said Walters. ‘They’ll catch ‘em all right, and give ‘em a big party and a metal.’ ‘They got to catch ‘em.’ ‘So they catch ‘em. You think they’ll get any time? Not on your life!’ “ (Song of Solomon pg.80-82)
Here, Milkman and Guitar are in the barber shop listening to the radio about how am African American man was visiting the South and simply whistled at a White woman and was killed. This clearly shows how much tension was between African Americans and Whites in this time period. The fact that, a boy was killed for finding interest in a woman who just so happened to be White, should not have happened and it shows how African Americans were always at risk of being arrested, beaten, or even killed for things that do no harm or that are not against the law. I think it is also important to point out their conversation in the barber shop. They first rightly argue about how wrong they think the killing was, but then they have a discussion on whether the killing will be put into the newspapers. This is interesting because, we live in a time, that doesn't even read paper newspapers but rather watch the news on TV or read it online. And with many current events being around African American rights and brutality, it definitely would have been in the news. But back then, it was debatable on whether it would be or not, because the newspapers were run by White people and most White people thought that the killing was just. However, looking at the killing in a different perspective, not about race, it was not and should never be just. They never say if it was in the newspaper or not, but I am guessing that it wasn't because, if it was it would have been mentioned and it probably would have had wrong information or made the killing seem just when it wasn't. They then debate on whether they will arrest the White men who killed the boy. This should not even have to be a debate, but back then, no one was for sure. They first don’t even think that the police will look, and even if they do, they won’t put them in jail. Again, I am not sure if they ever do because it is not mentioned, but I again think that they wouldn't because the police are White and would rarely arrest other White people for doing something to African Americans because most of what they did was considered ok by many Whites. Overall, this excerpt gives us a view of what many people would have thought about African American brutality in that time. We see that some have faith in the government to arrest the White men who wrongfully killed the boy and that they would report about it, but many doubted that they would even look the case over, search for the men, or arrest them even if they did find them. This shows how hard it was to grow up in this time as an African American and how they were treated wrongfully.
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