Trapped in History

 

As I was re-reading "Stranger in the Village" today, I was struck by the line "People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them (Baldwin 167). I was reminded of all of the figurative language, imagery, and diction in "Everybody's Protest Novel" that deals with traps, cages, and prisons. In the last paragraph of that essay, Baldwin imagines first Richard Wright and Harriet Beecher Stowe "locked together in a deadly, timeless battle" (22), but the image quickly expands to ensnare all Americans: "the cage betrayed us all" (22).

For Baldwin, and for me, American identity cannot be divorced from that fateful day in 1619 when enslaved Africans first arrived in Jamestown Colony. The harder we try to separate ourselves from that moment, the firmer the trap clamps down on us. Denial is another prison.

Current events have led to a discussion about how the history of race in America should be taught. There are people who believe that examining how the horrible legacy of slavery still impacts our country today is un-American, that it tarnishes the shine of America's greatness. But I've always been of the opinion that a problem can't be fixed until it's acknowledged. Until America as a whole confronts and repents its ugly past, we cannot truly move forward. We are trapped in our history.

I'm reminded of a poem I read this summer called "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said" by Mahogany L. Browne. In explaining what Fannie Lou Hamer meant when she said, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired," the speaker says

 Equality will cost you your luxurious life
                      If a Black woman can’t vote
                      If a brown baby can’t be fed

                      If we all don’t have the same opportunity America promised 

I've thought a lot about these while re-reading Notes of a Native Son. There's the same kind of paradox in it that resonates through Baldwin's work, and paradox is sometimes the only way to understand something as complex as the human experience. The only way we can have more is by making sure others don't have less. The only way to escape the prison of the past is by acknowledging the strength of the bars.