How Times in Which DuBois Lived Have Influenced Him
DuBois was born in Massachusetts, largely unaware of race prejudice, until one day, as he wrote in Souls of Black Folk, a student in his class refused to exchange greeting cards with him simply because he was black. That is when he became aware of being “a problem”. After that Dubois realized that he was inside two worlds: the white world (because he lived in it) and the world of race prejudice (black world). But those worlds were separated by a veil.
According to Du Bois, “the Veil prevents white people from seeing black people as Americans, and from treating them as fully human”. Ever since Africans were stolen from their homeland and forced to come to America as slaves, the United States has had what it used to call the “Negro Problem”, according to Penn Today, an online news media from The University of Communication in Philadelphia. Black peoples’ struggle to access education was unimaginably difficult.
Dubois was black but he was successful, he went to Harvard and graduated. According to Donald J. Morse, an author, “Du Bois’ philosophy is significant today because it addresses what many would argue is the real world problem of white domination. So long as racist white privilege exists, and suppresses the dreams and the freedoms of human beings”. Du Bois argues that even the few black people who manage to achieve prosperity, higher education, and professional success cannot escape the mental and emotional effects of living in a racist society.
The veil is an important symbol in this book. The veil is an imaginary boundary between races, specifically black and white people. Those boundaries are access to opportunities like jobs, universities, and places to live. DuBois also said that “the veil prevents black people from seeing themselves as they really are”. That means black people weren’t who they wanted to be because of the discrimination. For the veil to disappear, blacks needed to have complete freedom, rights and education. The American Negro was not only a problem, but also, according to Du Bois, a symbol of struggle [4]. Back then, Negros were a problem because white people were afraid that blacks would begin to change The United States to Africa. The goal of black people was not to take over America, but to gain acceptance. Because of Dubois’ education, he wasn’t entirely a problem.
James Baldwin, a novelist and social critic, didn’t like either the term ‘’Negro Problem”. He suggested no to use that term with human beings. Baldwin said that there is no such thing as Negro, but there is a boy, or a man, or a woman, who may have different skin of color. They are all colors. It is ironic but some whites wanted to help to solve the “Negro Problem” but without interacting with them (blacks) [5]. According to Baldwin, “when you say ‘the Negro problem,’ you create a big monolith, and beneath this wall are thousands of millions of human beings’ lives which are being destroyed because you want to deal with an abstraction”. That means because of racism, a lot of black people are not treated well.
In today’s society “Negro Problem” still exist but, now it has changed to racism and discrimination. The inequality remains between light colored skin and dark colored skin. As an example, blacks have less opportunities than whites. Although racial segregation doesn’t legally exist, mentally, for many people it does. Today’s ‘’Negroes Problem” is not just black, it also includes Hispanic, Asian, Islamic, and more. Many white people consider a “problem” everyone who is not Native American, even if they were born in The United States. Racism will continue, because society teaches people to be racist. People learn to be whatever their society and culture teaches them. We often assume that it takes parents actively teaching their kids, for them to be racist. But not, it comes from the environment.
