America and the nessecity of blackness

After inspecting a group of rhododendrons in bloom, it is obvious that they are truly magnificent flowers that brighten up the day. Rooted next to a shrub of thistles, it is obvious that the thistles are ugly and obtrusive, with not nearly the same amount of color or smell as the rhododendrons. But what makes the rhododendron so beautiful? The fact that it itself is beautiful, or that it sits next to a less appealing specimen? Is the thistle truly ugly, or is it simply because it is overshadowed by the rhododendron’s grandeur?

It may seem that this has nothing to do with Derrick Bell’s “Space Traders” or Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” however this concept is deeply rooted in both. Both Ellison and Bell describe how African Americans are the foundation and victims of their discrimination. Bell and Ellison show that a country’s majority cannot be superior without making a minority inferior. Throughout history people have been persecuted as a scapegoat to adhere this label of inferiority. Hitler did it to Jews, and now in Derrick Bell’s “The Space Traders,” white Americans do it to the black Americans.

In “The Space Traders,” the whole of America is set to believe that it would be economically, socially, and holistically beneficial to deport all the African Americans. The whole of America felt, “as black people [were] marching stoically into the Space Traders’ ships” that black people were doing their duty to America by entering the “ancient sacrificial altars.” (Bell 347) Then Bell questions what Americans will have to do next to secure their superiority and “prosperity” when the black people are no longer the scapegoat. Bell implies that by giving into the trade for African Americans it leads way to other precedents, eventually trading away “Hispanics, Jews, Asians,” or anyone of “identifiable politics or religion or geographic location,” only to allow the dominance of the white Christian population which is presumably the heritage of the united states. (350) With the departure of black people, how will Americans be defined? This notion digs at the fact that blackness is essential for whiteness, which is precisely what Ellison depicts pragmatically in “Invisible Man.”

In Chapter 10 of Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” the main character finds himself mixing white paint but is stunned to find that white paint starts out black as coal. The liquid inside the paint can “was dead black” and after measuring ten “glistening black drops,” the paint suddenly becomes “as white as George Washington.” (Ellison 201) Ellison exemplifies the essentiality of blackness by using the metaphor of paint and the allusion to the founding father of America. Though being black has been persecuted from the foundation of our country, the black population is the foundation of our country. Lucious Brockaway is Ellison’s example of blackness founding America; he is the “only one who knew the location of all the water mains. He had been employed at the beginning, before any records were kept and actually functioned as an engineer though he drew a janitor’s pay.” (Ellison 211) Lucious is this machine behind the machine, he knows all the nuts and bolts and steers the white majority into oppression of the black minority. Lucious is an example of the black slavery that began since the beginning of the colonial revolution and the oppression that still occurs today.

Both Derrick Bell and Ellison emphasis the fact that black people have defined America because of their obvious minority. Bell and Ellison both point toward America’s necessity to divide the economics and politics of America through the color of skin or the difference of cultures. Both articles are an explanation of this existence of a colorline and it’s perverse necessity to the foundation of our nation.

Works Cited

Bell, Derrick. "The Space Traders." 1992.

Ellison, Ralph. "Invisible Man." 1952.