This week, we are exploring very complex themes presented in Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play (1981). The play discusses issues of aleination, intraracial tensions, internalized racism and racism in the American military. As you blog on many of thesethemes and the key word "internalized racism" this week, think about how the relationships established between blacks and whites during slavery persist in the play. Though the play is written in the early 1980s, it takes place during WWII when the armed forces were segregated. Here are some questions to consider to help you develop your blog response. Go to the texts, engage them, agree and disagree with them--just use examples in your response. You must support your ideas with evidence from lecture, the plays, supplementary readings, etc.
How do you see the soldiers in the play interlaize many of the separate and unequal practices that are in play during this time period?
What examples from the play, film or readings can you use to illustrate points of internalized racism?
Do all of the black soldiers have a positive image of themselves in this work?
How do white characters perceive blacks at this time?
How are feelings of inferiority imposed by the dominant society played out or resisted by the black characters?
A Soldier’s Play internalized racism is seen most with the character Waters. Being a black man of high rank within the military, instead of encouraging the other black men to progress like himself he constantly is pushing them down due to their race. It is said within the play that Waters is a pale black man, and throughout the story he is a symbol of assimilation with his constant reprimands to his men to stop acting like “niggahs” and speaking about sending his children to “rub elbows with the whites” at white colleges. His discrimination of the Southern black man, like the character C.J., comes from his anger over the stereotypical, subservient “coon” behavior, which Waters views as below human from his own past experience from WWI when observed another black soldier willing performing as an animal for the white soldiers. This in turn steeled Waters against the “black stereotype” that he sees around him in his own people.
ReplyDeleteI feel this represents the current struggle of identity in the world where there are cultural stereotypes of African Americans and that while some seek to break from them, others embody them and this causes issues in the ongoing fight for equality. Some argue for a image of blacks that is an assimilation to white culture like Waters who sees that imitation equals respect, while some argue for equality without assimilation, like C.J. or Davenport who take pride in who they are and what they represent.
In a soldier’s story obvious segregation took place in the film. In the very beginning there were whites working in their stores and blacks working in theirs. On post there were buildings coded colored and white. However for more in depth issues Sergeant Waters a light skin black man. Waters hated his own men of his own race because he felt they were a bad representation. This represented internalized racism but Waters even he felt this way toward his men he really hated himself. During the scene when two white officers confronted Waters when he was drunk. Waters cannot stand white people as well because he did not want to salute them. To make sense of it he hated white people for the misrepresentation of black people but hated blacks for representing stereotypical blacks. As Waters was sitting at the bar he mentioned sending his son to a white college indicting that it was better for him. Rubbing his elbows with whites would make a better and more successful individual. In that statement he hopes white life would influence his son and make and mold him into the better white world. Waters alienates his race and but despises the race his son should be more like. If anyone caught the very end when captain Davenport Cried. It was really significant because in his heart he knew what had happened and what kind of person Waters really was. I think he was hurt that this really happened. Dominant white culture was a standard and it caused division among blacks.
ReplyDeleteInternalized racism is a major theme in A Soldier’s Play and in the film adaptation of this play, A Soldier’s Story. In this show you see the internalized racism through Sergeant Waters whose goal is to destroy what he considers undesirables from his race. Waters himself reveals that he has been doing so for a while now when he says, “I waited a long time for you, boy, but I gotcha! And I try to git rid of you wherever I go.” There is also an extreme self loathing there for Waters, and he even admits that he hates himself. There is evidence of extreme internalized racism in Waters. He tries to force the men to do work so they don’t look like lazy ‘black folk’ and uses a number of racial slurs though the play, among other things. Overall, I felt that this show was a warning to any race on what internalized racism could turn into and I felt that the comparison with Waters and Hitler hit the target right on the mark. Although it shows Waters as an antagonist, I felt that A Soldier’s Play represented African Americans in a good light. Using Davenport as the antagonist, it shows an African American man as intelligent, in power, and moral, even over the white men in the play. Although, most of the black men in this show die, I disagree with Amiri Baraka’s statement that this lessens the scoreboard. This fact puts it into a real life perspective on war and keeps the show realistic and not cheesy.
ReplyDeleteThe play for this week, A Soldiers Story, clearly demonstrated many racial issues of its time. The racism is blatant, with no seeming attempt to conceal true motives behind actions. Yet such behavior continues, showing the injustices of a government institution, the army, during the time. This display mirrored real life events of the era when an entire community can know what white man killed a certain black man, yet the judicial system brings no punishment. It clearly illustrates a sad reality. I also found the commentary depicted through Waters actions very interesting. One can go so far in aliening their own race, and seeming community to such an extent that individuals feel strong dislike when they should be united as one. All while the group you desire so strongly to be accepted by through these alienating actions, which being the white officers, still ultimately reject you. A person that could not simple belong to one group, so they are doomed to belong nowhere. The classic social issues are seen. Everyone feels their treatment is unfair, yet no one is willing to stand up for themselves because, “this is the army, that’s the way it is”. You have almost the Brute character in CJ, making an extremely athletic play in the outfield with his impressive stature, yet rambling somewhat like a fool in front of the white officer. This movie clearly illustrated the issues within society, both in its individual communities and their interactions with one another.
ReplyDeleteInternalized and Intra-racism are two main themes we read about this week. They are also very important in A Soldier’s Story. Throughout the play A Soldier’s Play and the movie A Soldier’s Story, most of the younger generations of black men (Peterson, Wilkie, C.J. Memphis, etc.) ignore the racism and segregation in their company. They even make fun of the racism in the movie by chanting anything you don’t want to do…the colored troops will do for you! But it seems to be the older generation, especially in the character Waters, affected so much by racism that he turns on his own race. He is the main component of intra-racial themes in this play. It is interesting that Waters is so angry with his own race (or himself) because it makes him the “oppressor”. Similar to Suzan Lori Parks view of Black Drama being blacks as the oppressed (Hodges-Persley, Jan. 26), except for this time the blacks are also the oppressors. Even though Waters is a bad man and the oppressor of this story, one could argue this all ties back to slavery and the racism of whites. It seems like Waters hated himself so much because he was constantly hearing hateful things about himself from others. Unfortunately he was unknowingly passing this down to the younger soldiers in the play too.
ReplyDeleteA Soldier’s Play, is a story that stresses many levels of internalized racism and segregation during the time of WWII. One of the focuses I found interesting was in the dialogue, and how white men saw African Americans in the military. When Captain Richard Davenport entered the quarters, Captain Charles Taylor automatically treated him with mounds of disrespect, due to his internalized racism. “I didn’t know at the time that Major Hines was assigning a Negro, Davenport. My preparations were made in the belief that you’d be a white man” (369). This is inferring that Capt. Taylor has a problem with the color of his skin; that only a white man can be a Captain in charge. Taylor goes on to say, “Look, how far could you get even if you succeed? These local people aren’t going to charge a white man in this parish on the strength of an investigation conducted by a Negro!” (369). I found that part precisely intriguing considering this was a major problem in United States history. Many white people believed that an African American man could not achieve the same success as a white man, let alone take him serious. That line summed up a lot of what the American people were feeling at the time, and creates a social realization of that behavior. There were many more observations of racial slurs and remarks that occurred later on in the play, especially with Captain Taylor toward Captain Davenport (Taylor daring Davenport to question him as a suspect). A Soldier’s Play sums up the different racial views that both white and black men felt about each other.
ReplyDeleteA Soldier’s Play is a story that helps to explain the life of African-Americans dealing with racism and segregation of different kinds from every type of person. The play is interesting because it begins with the men living in segregated living quarters completely separated from all white soldiers. The separation of blacks and whites was a common practice at the time but because of the segregation the black soldiers were left with a commanding officer who was black but thought poorly of black soldiers caused lying, conspiracy and murder to occur. Internalized racism was a key part in the play because in the end it was the root of the problems that which killed Sergeant Waters. Waters mistreatment of black soldiers caused angst amongst the N.C.O and the soldiers which lead to the killing of Waters. His use of language such as, “Boy” and “Niggah” were just two of many examples of how Waters treated the black soldiers. The image that black soldiers see themselves as is not necessarily positive all the time as Waters preaches to the soldiers that their actions make all black people look bad and ignorant. Waters felt that the white man’s way was the only way there could be a world of equality. Captain Davenport breaks the mold at the time as an educated black officer. Davenport’s determination to solve the case his way shows that he was a man to be respected and would not be spoken to in an inferior way.
ReplyDeleteA soldier’s play was a powerful and moving piece you assigned us to read. It showed the relationships between whites and blacks in the military and the power struggle between the two races. But one of the main things I personally noticed from the play was black on black racism. Sgt. Waters seemed to have a deep underlining hatred for the other black soldiers. He would attacked them verbally and physically causing them to lose their temper, and do things that got them into trouble, he even went as far as to frame one of them for a shooting that they did not commit. Capt. Davenport and Capt. Taylor’s relationship is what showed the power struggle between white and black. Even though they both had the title captain, Taylor always thought of himself as higher then Davenport because he was white and Davenport was black. While Davenport was investigating the murder there was a point when he had to question Pvt. white soldiers and even though he was higher in rank then they were, they still treated him as if he was lower. Reading this made me camper it to today and the power struggle that stills goes on between white and black, mostly in politics. When Obama became president there was a major shift in power. For Decades in this country white men have always been in charge calling the shots. When Obama was sworn in as the next commander in chief, it did anger a lot of white people. Even though a lot of votes on his behalf were from whites, there still was a strong group of people who did not like him being president. Not because he was in the Democratic Party, but because he was black.
ReplyDeleteCortney Watterson
ReplyDeleteTHR 327
Week 3
Internalized Racism
A Soldier’s Play has some great examples of internalized racism. As we discussed in class on Tuesday January 26, internalized racism “occurs when people are targeted by racism and are, against their will, coerced and pressured to agree with the distortion of racism”. Waters has fallen for these notions. He has turned his back on his own people saying that he is sick and tired of the “yeassir” southern blacks. He thinks that they should act more like the white men like he is. He has risen through the ranks because he has turned his back on his own race and assimilated to the race that seemed to be moving up.
Waters has also assisted in others internalized racism. By picking on Memphis “The black race can’t afford you no more…and people like you just make us seem like fools”(285). Every chance he gets, Waters tries to cut down C.J. Memphis, just because he represents the ‘southern black’; he is not afraid to show his qualities that link him to his African heritage. But Waters abuse drove him to suicide.
Waters has also had an effect on Wilkie. He has turned this black man into his own personal puppet. He started doing it at first because “ I’m the one lost three stripes…so when the man said jump, I jumped” (368). But it seems like he started to believe in what Waters said and believed. He was even the one who arrested Memphis. Wanting to move up in the army, some men were willing to do this.
In A Soldier’s Play Fuller uses the character of Sergeant Waters as a basis to explore the issue of internalised Racism. Waters has risen to a position of high rank in the army and, as a result, strongly believes that the only thing preventing his men from overcoming racial discrimination is their own attitude and lack of discipline. On the surface he seems to want to prevent internalised racism by trying to persuade his men that that just because “white folks” tell them they are “good for nothing” doesn’t mean that they have to act as though it were true. He urges them to challenge the stereotypes by becoming “lawyers, doctors, generals” and making something of themselves. However, he undermines his own philosophy by repeatedly degrading and demeaning his men, referring to them as “lazy, shiftless Negroes”. Waters despises CJ because he believes that he encourages the white officers to think they are superior by acting like a “good-homey kinda niggah.” Yet, in reality, Waters is no better and proceeds to act as though assimilation is the only way to succeed; he states that he will send his children “to some big white college [...] to learn the white man’s language.” Rather than using his position to undermine the power system within the army, he unwittingly reinforces it by becoming a “copycat” and continuing to treat the men as inferior.
ReplyDeleteSergeant Waters is the main character who shows the true side of internalized racism. Sergeant Waters is a black male who is a light skinned and is embarrassed by his race. He often down played his soldiers, simply because of his race. Waters can be seen as the “oppressor” in this play and film because the way he treats his soldiers, was the same way whites treated him. I think there are people today who think like Sergeant Waters. Not so much the younger generations, but in the older generations. People born in the older generations can relate to Sergeant Waters, that is why I believe that in today’s society people “blacks” are able to down play other blacks because of how they were raised or treated growing up.
ReplyDeleteThe oppressed are not responsible for someone else’s blatant or covert racism, however are responsible for their response and internal process of catapulting the mistreatment without becoming attached to it or allowing it to fester in leech fashion. It is important to acknowledge the racism of someone else for what it is. An insecurity with self and an ignorance towards others.
ReplyDeleteThe patterns that occur as a result of internalized racism play themselves out in two distinct ways. There is racism and oppression towards members of our own group, particularly if we are in a position of power, and the other is toward self through feelings of powerlessness and invalidation. Amiri Baraka speaks to the former in his article on Fuller, “ the consciousness of the black people who have been so washed out mentally by white supremacy that they think that other blacks are the problem!” This pattern was apparent with abrupt clarity in A Soldier’s Play with the character of Sergeant Waters. He wielded his power against his troops, especially those that exemplified the stereotypes that were placed on Negroes of the time. In his own description of the guitar playing C.J. “ he’s a strong black buck.” Waters is of light complexion which is exemplified and is used to illustrate his assimilation beliefs as when he speaks about his children having the opportunity to rub elbows with whites as if that is the end all be all.
A Soldier’s Play = 2 Steps Forward & 1 Step Back.
ReplyDeleteFirst Step: Fuller boldly puts on stage the sickness that is internalized racism, the painful effects of self-hatred, the destruction to the African American community that stems from bitter intra-racial conflict, and the grossly unequal treatment of Black soldiers during World War II (p. 364-365, play intro.).
Second Step: Fuller’s play wins the 1982 Pulitzer Prize Award for Drama and an “acclaimed movie version of the play” is released as well (p. 365, play intro.) Fuller’s win is an important historical moment for both the Negro Ensemble Company and for all African American playwrights.
Step Back: Fuller’s characters can be read as embodying the following unfair trope of African American life: Blacks are so weak and scared (Memphis), so sick with self-loathing (Waters), and so violent (Peterson) that the natural end for this community of soldiers and people is that they will kill themselves and each other. This story line is not only reductive but, to borrow from Parks, “this is bullshit” (Parks 20). I propose that what makes Fuller’s play a “step back,” so to speak, is that through its award designation in 1982, the play is held up on the white shoulders of the Pulitzer institution as an example of “excellence” in drama. (In case you are curious about the continued whiteness of the Pulitzer Committee, check a picture of their current board: http://www.pulitzer.org/board/2009--). The “scorecard” (p. 53) Baraka derives succinctly captures the one-step-back effect of Fuller’s Pulitzer win. After reading the play, watching the movie (that to my shock, removes Davenport’s final epilogue AND somehow manages to make race relations between whites and blacks seem even easier (see especially the very Hollywood-ish, black/white hand shake moment in the final scene), and Baraka’s analysis of Fuller’s “descent” (p. 53)—I cannot help but feel the same frustration that I and other feminists feel when considering Marsha Norman’s ‘night Mother which was granted the 1983 Pulitzer (the very next year after Fuller). This frustration comes from the truth that: the canonization of plays by the hegemony (here through the Pulitzer) serves as another way for the dominant culture (white Pulitzer board, white male theatre critics, etc.) to praise, reify, and set into lasting place the standards “they” want to see from “minority” (Black, female, Latino, etc.) playwrights.
The Internalized racism in A Soldiers Play reminds me of a popular saying, "If you beat a dog often enough, he thinks that he has done something wrong." The same is true for the soldiers in this play. Throughout the story they are treating each other poorly and seem to have low opinions of themselve. The quote from class really touched me, saying that they would also get used to being on top.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing A Soldier’s Story, I realized the internalized racism within the Army. The relationship between the black and white soldiers is quite bitter. Within the story there are several examples of the mistreatment of the black soldiers as they are assigned to do jobs that are demeaning. For example, Captain Davenport takes a trip to see Captain Taylor to discuss the murder of Captain Waters, and before Davenport can even discuss the murder Taylor explains his little experience with black people. In addition, he explains how people will not take him seriously because of the color of his skin. I’m under the impression that white soldiers during the WWII see the black soldiers to be inferior. On the other hand, not all the black soldiers have a positive image of their work because of the mistreatment within the Army. I believe that inferiority is imposed by the dominant society each and every day, because black people then and even today are not provided with the same opportunities. Black people today are provided with more opportunities now and an example of that would be Obama’s presidency. A Soldier’s Story is a great story because it provides the viewer with an example of the realism of racism within a workplace because internalized racism happens everywhere not just in the Army.
ReplyDeleteThe black general would call black soldiers niggers and things of that sort to belittle black soldiers, when he himself was black as well. This demonstrated that even his superior ranking up among the whites made him racist to his own people because he felt they were beneath him just like the whites viewed black soldiers. In this play it is blatantly obvious there is internalized racism going on. I noticed that the captain would assign them to clean up the white people’s barracks, because they felt black were beneath them although they were both fighting alongside each other hand and hand. They way the black soldiers were being treated on a day to day basis in the army back during this time was unethical when talking about equality and general respect for a race, and that played a major roll on the attitudes of some black soldiers. Some were down on themselves because they were doing all the things the white soldiers were doing, but still weren’t accepted as equals. Therefore, negative attitudes arouse in black soldiers due to these circumstances. The black soldiers felt like they couldn’t escape the racism anywhere they went. Here they were a part of something big and doing their share to help the country and still weren’t treated like equals, and that hurt them mentally more than anything. The white soldiers weren’t doing anything different than the black soldiers in the field, but just because of the color of their skin blacks were treated like they didn’t belong.
ReplyDeleteAfter the movie A Soldier’s Play, I felt like the character Sergeant Waters was a great example of internalized racism because the way he made black soldiers feel inferior to him and the other white soldiers there.The one person he has the main problem with is Memphis because he feels like his character is not helping blacks move in the right direction to make whites respect them. Amiri Baraka speaks to the former in his article on Fuller, “ the consciousness of the black people who have been so washed out mentally by white supremacy that they think that other blacks are the problem!” This pattern was apparent with abrupt clarity in A Soldier’s Play with the character of Sergeant Waters. In the play there are several ways that show internalized racism one being trying to keep a group oppressed by installing untrue stereotypes in the media and in the plays case the military by telling them that they are inferior to whites or telling them that they are lazy. a lot of these stereotypes are still prevalent in today’s society still it may be blacks that believe it. Some whites still believe that blacks are lazy and never on time.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between slaves and slave owners are shown the best when looking at Sergeant Waters and the soldiers. Although the whites thought very low of the soldiers by making them do dirty work, which was expected, Sgt. Waters came down on them the worst. This is an example of what we discussed in class as intra-racial tension. One would think that Sgt. Waters treated the soldiers bad because he wanted to help them and show them ways to become more accepted by the whites, but he went about it all wrong. For example, Sgt. Waters insist the soldiers paint the officers club house even after his hierarchy Corporal Cobb tell the soldiers to take the day off because they played a good game of baseball. Sgt. Waters felt the soldiers had no reason to be rewarded. He was more interested in obtaining the power he had as a sergeant. Also, in this same scene we saw the theme of class come into play when Corporal Cobb congratulated C.J. on his good work but when C.J. wanted to go further in depth on the topic the corporal turned his head and stopped the conversation. The corporal figured what he said to C.J. was all that was important and anything stated after that was redundant.
ReplyDeleteA Soldier’s Story is the perfect example of all types of racism. Internal racism, racism against others from a different background (as far as bias because one is better off than another) and racism against others with different skin color. In this film, the stereotypes that are projected are made very clear. To me every single stereotype that you may have herd or about blacks, it seems like it was in some way used. You have the black superior, who thinks he is better than all other blacks but still answers to the white man and then you have the black man who at times looks down on himself, looked at as the “a lazy nigga” Yes, some of what the story portrayed was realistic but to me it kind of just proved, what many whites were already thinking. To me, since Sergeant Waters was their superior, I would expect him to be the one who is giving positive feedback instead of be-little them.
ReplyDeleteIn a soldiers play internalized racism sits heavy on a few of the characters stomachs, but I want to talk about alienation of the black soldiers. Although they are soldiers they are not allowed to do the things that the soldiers do. Instead they are left with the jobs of handymen or cooks, which show not only alienation but internalized racism as well. Looking back on the soldiers play brings me to think upon the movie Boys in the Hood directed by john singleton. In the movie Ricky is struggling with his decision of going to college to play ball or maybe going to the army. His best friend Trey tells him that “the black man aint got no place in a white mans army”. The way that blacks were treated in the army created the racial barrier that the army belonged to the white man and we were the slaves that wanted to be apart of the military. So they treated us as if we were still slaves, cooking and cleaning. But the soldiers in the play had baseball that they could confide in. when they played the white soldiers in baseball they no longer felt alienated but the racism grew stronger. They would often beat the white soldiers leaving the black men feeling as if they were superior for at least the moment. Knowing that they would suffer consequences they didn’t care. It made them equal but victory made the alienation tolerable.
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