Excerpt :
« If I may presume, your Royal Highness, to suggest », he said slowly, « the two categories are not synonymous. We ourselves know no line of color. Some of us are white, some yellow, some black. Rather, is it not, your Highness, that we have from time to time taken council with the oppressed peoples of the world, many of whom by chance are colored ?
– True, true » said the Princess.
« – And yet », said the Chinese lady, « It is dominating Europe which has flung this challenge of the color line, and we cannot avoid it.
-And on either count, said Matthew, whether we be bound by oppression or by color, surely we Negroes belong in the foremost ranks ».
There was a slight pause, a sort of hesitation, and it seemed to Matthew as though all expected the Japanese to speak. He did, slowly and gravely:
« It would be unfair to our guest not to explain with some clarity and precision that the whole question of the Negro race both in Africa and in America is for us not simply a question of suffering and compassion. Need we say that for these peoples we have every human sympathy ? But for us here and for the larger company we represent, there is a deeper question – that of the ability, qualifications, and real possibilities of the black race in Africa or elsewhere. »
Matthew left the piquant salad and laid down his fork slowly. Up to this moment he had been quite happy. Despite the feeling of being out now and then, he had assumed that this was his world, his people, from the high and beautiful lady whom he worshipped more and more, even to the Egyptians, Indians, and Arab who seemed slightly, but very slightly, aloof or misunderstanding.
Suddenly there loomed pain and clear the shadow of a color line within the color line, a prejudice within prejudice, and and his again the sacrifice. His eyes became somber and did not lighten even when the Princess spoke.
« I cannot see that it makes great difference what ability Negroes have. Oppression is oppression. It is our privilege to relieve it. »
« Yes », answered the Japanese, « but who will do it ? Who can do it but those superior races whose necks now bear the yoke of the inferior rabble of Europe ? »
« This », said the Princess, « I have always believed; but as I have told your Excellency, I have received impressions in Moscow which have given me very serious thought – first as to your judgement of the ability of the Negro race, and second – she paused in thought – « as to the relative ability of all classes and peoples ».
Matthew stared at her, as she continued:
« You see, Moscow has reports – careful reports of the world’s masses. And the report on the Negroes of America was astonishing. At the time, I doubted its truth : their education, their work, their property, their organizations : and the odds, the terrible, crushing odds against which, inch by inch and heartbreak by heartbreak, they have forged their unfaltering way upward. If the report is true, they are a nation today, a modern nation worthy to stand beside any nation here. »
« But can we put any faith in Moscow ? » asked the Egyptian. « Are we not keeping dangerous company and learning on broken reeds ? »
« Well », said Matthew, « if they are as sound in everything as this report from America, they’ll bear listening to. »
The young Indian spoke gently and evenly, but with bright eyes.
« Naturally », he said, « one can see Mr. Towns needs must agree with the Bolshevik estimate of the lower classes. »
Matthew felt the slight slur and winced. He thought he saw the lips of the Princess tighten ever so little. He started to answer quickly, with aplomb if not swagger.
« I reckon », he began – then something changed within him. It was as if he had faced and made a decision, as though some great voice, crying and reverberating within his soul, spoke for him and yet was him. He had started to say, « I reckon there’s as much high-born among American Negroes as among any people. We’ve had our kings, presidents, and judges » He started to say this, but he did not finish. He found himself saying quite calmly and with slightly lifted chin :
« I reckon you’re right. We American blacks are very common people. My grandfather was a whipped ans driven slave ; my father was never really free and died in jail. My mother plows and washes for a living. We come out of the depths – the blood and mud of battle. And from just such depths, I take it, came most of the worth-while things in this old world. If they didn’t – God help us .»
Comment :
This excerpt brilliantly shows both the kind of print that a domination system can create in any minds, even in those who are oppressed by this very system, and the type of feelings that emerge from the perception that you don’t’ belong -or rather that you’re not recognized as a complete subject- anywhere.
Here, the Japanese shows that even a person of color can agree with a kind of « color line » : « a color line within the color line, a prejudice within prejudice, » strongly marking Matthew’s mind and emotional state, as the repetition points out. We can also notice the Japanese emphasizes with « We ourselves ». Which « we » ? And if there is a so strong « We », who are the others, and how are they considered by this very « We » ?
We learn quite fast that this We, for the Japanese as the majority of this assembly , are «All people of color » – except the « Darkest », qualified by the N word.
As the Chinese lady underlines, the race hierarchization significant in the beginning of the 20th century is a product of White Western colonization. So we can wonder: if the Japanese and the others in this assembly are convinced by this color line, is it like a print from from this specific colonial system, or is there a « universal » tendance to create hierarchization, a « We VS Others » ?
We can’t forget here the class hierarchy : all these people in this assembly are rich aristocratic people, which can explain they can’t see a true solidarity outside the Market. The first time Matthew feels excluded during the diner, is when all the others speak by cultural references and quotations, playing with them in a very superficial way. But even if it is superficial, in this context it is strong enough to make Matthew feel inferior to them.
This dimension appears clearly later when the Egyptian says, « Naturally, one can see Mr. Towns needs must agree with the Bolshevik estimate of the lower classes. »
Saying this, the Egyptian has a point, because solidarity between workers exploited by Capitalism and people of color oppressed by White people is something necessary, especially since many people are both Workers and Persons of color…
But in the same time, talking of « nature » takes all kind of agency away from Matthew, as if he were by essence incapable of objectivity about this topic (another creation from Occidental point of view : the duality of Nature/Culture, Objectivity/Subjectivity etc, binary systems which sustain domination).
Indeed, we can say that the way the Japanese presents this color line is symptomatic of his rank within the social hierarchy: Capitalism needs slaves to survive, so it accommodates with Racism very well, but People of color accommodating with the system, finding a good place in it as an individual, can support it. As women can accommodate with sexism if that gives them a « good place » in the capitalist system, or a queer person with heteronormativity. It’s not because you are oppressed that you will stand for minorities if you can benefit from a domination system as an individual. Things are not as simple as the system wants us to believe.
We can also notice that besides Matthew, the two persons who clearly disagree with the Japanese are the Dark Princess and the Chinese Lady, in other words, two women. Maybe because as women of color, they have to deal with at least two oppressions, which make them more empathic and determined to struggle for minorities; « Oppression is oppression ». Period.
Nevertheless, while she’s taking the defense of American and African Black people, the Dark Princess quotes as reference a report written by « Moscow », as she needs to refer to a scientific point of view, denying Matthew’s existence is enough to prove what she says about education, success, etc. Another bias?
Another thing that seems noteworthy is the fact that in this assembly, except Matthew, none character is named. The Dark Princess, her, has a kind of surname. The others are called by their nationality ; is it a way to present them as Archetypes, while they think they are the only « real subjects » ? Or to make the reader notice how much the concept of Nation is crucial for them, probably making them blind to other characteristics ?
Also, is being part of a Nation the only way to be recognized as Subjects ?
Matthew’s emotional state degradation is quite relevant. Even before this excerpt, the fall is perceptible : if he begins strongly confident, responding to the Egyptian (« « All the darker world except the darkest », said the Egyptian« A pretty large omission », said Matthew with a smile. »), then we find sentences like « Here again Matthew was puzzled » or « Perhaps Matthew was sensitive… »
In fact, he is not sensitive. He has to face a new form of Racism. But it is too hard for him to admit that once again, he is a stranger, an alien, considered as inferior. He truly realizes that during the Japanese’s speech, even if he still pretends everything was fine before :
« Up to this moment he had been quite happy. Despite the feeling of being out now and then, he had assumed that this was his world, his people ».
But now he truly realizes this, and his speech in the last paragraphs shows how oppression in a group you tend to consider as yours can make you loose all agency, no matter how brilliant or strong you truly are : even if he concludes with a call for Equality, it is saying that we all come from the Bottom, and not that anyone can be powerful and High.
Alex
