Racial Tension In Bell's The Space Traders

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Bell’s story points out the racial tension in America through a seemingly outrageous analogy of aliens requiring all African Americans to be taken from the country in exchange for prosperity. Evidently, the Space Trader 's offer of gold, fuel, and chemicals to restore the county 's suffering environment in exchange for all the Black Americans is absurd. and impossible. The Space Traders are similar to Columbus and the Spaniards who forced natives in Hispaniola into slavery. The story illustrates a largely racist America, with Washington especially eager to give the black population to the aliens. The trade points out that blacks continue to be viewed negatively and more as objects rather than humans. America ultimately agrees to the inhumane …show more content…
Rather than focusing on what makes a person “black”, post-blackness is an attempt to ignore stereotypes. Touré does offer reasons to be optimistic about the future of race relations. Towards the end of the passage, he witnesses a baby excitedly devour a slice of watermelon, immediately bringing the stereotypical relationship between black people and watermelon to mind. Although Touré is originally upset, he realizes that rather than a confirmation of racial stereotypes, the event simply exhibits the hilarity of a child. The laughter he hears is not microaggressive, but simply the sound of joyful parents. This account suggests that while many events can be viewed as racist, they may not be. The world is less discriminatory than it seems at times. While racism and discrimination are still apparent in modern day society, not every event encountered is intended to be racist, showing that racial relations have certainly and will continue to …show more content…
In Space Traders, blacks are viewed as inferior and a generally disliked demographic. According to Touré’s and Harris’ experiences, while blacks do not suffer such outright racism as encountered in Space Traders, discrimination is experienced in society. Many people act racist unintentionally, such as Sam Williamson in Touré’s American History class. People actually fear being labeled a racist and thus are often seen as discriminatory without the intention of being so. Rather than blunt racist remarks or actions, society favors stereotyping. Blacks are assumed to have a certain behavior and level of intelligence. Bell 's message of strained racial relations remains true but extreme when compared to Touré’s and Harris’ accounts of more indirect racism via

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