Journal Essay 3 Garvey and McKay feel as if it is time to step up to white America and fight for their rights. Hurston is not the least bit bothered about her color, she feels as if she is just as equal to the white man. Garvey explains how the African-American community must overcome their struggles to progress in life and McKay is angered by the horrible treatment of his people. Garvey begins with stating that it is time for the Universal Negro Improvement Association to come forth and prepare them to get rid of anything that comes in the way of their progression. “[…] for the purpose of deterring and obstructing this forward move of our race.”(Garvey 989) White America is trying to bring down the African American community because they
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The title “To the White Fiends” already shows that he is an African American and he is not very fond of his white counterparts. In the first line, he refers to whites as "savages." The term savage describes how violent, rambunctious, and fierce a person is. The word fiend means enemy. White America is the enemy and nothing good ever comes from them. They would rather destroy the black race. “Think you I could not arm me with a gun/and shoot down ten of you for everyone/of my black brothers murdered, burnt by you?” (2-4). This is the reason why McKay is livid with the "fiends". They are pure savages who take his brothers ' lives because they can but they do not realize that is just as easy for a black man to end the life of a white one. In the southern United States lynching was a very common form of how black men were killed. In lines 5-7, the term black is now referred to evilness. Whites mark Blacks as evil beings, yet they do not let this get in the way of their thinking. If they allow this to corrupt their minds they will eventually back down and will not be able to suppress them for the fear that the blacks will soon fight
The title “To the White Fiends” already shows that he is an African American and he is not very fond of his white counterparts. In the first line, he refers to whites as "savages." The term savage describes how violent, rambunctious, and fierce a person is. The word fiend means enemy. White America is the enemy and nothing good ever comes from them. They would rather destroy the black race. “Think you I could not arm me with a gun/and shoot down ten of you for everyone/of my black brothers murdered, burnt by you?” (2-4). This is the reason why McKay is livid with the "fiends". They are pure savages who take his brothers ' lives because they can but they do not realize that is just as easy for a black man to end the life of a white one. In the southern United States lynching was a very common form of how black men were killed. In lines 5-7, the term black is now referred to evilness. Whites mark Blacks as evil beings, yet they do not let this get in the way of their thinking. If they allow this to corrupt their minds they will eventually back down and will not be able to suppress them for the fear that the blacks will soon fight