Going to Meet the Man: A History of Racial Terror Many Americans still choose to downplay the prominent role racism played in the formation of our country. However, the choice to ignore racial violence, both past, and present, perpetuates a dangerous history of violence against African-Americans. James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” centers around Jesse, a white deputy sheriff, his childhood experience of attending a lynching, and his violent inclinations as an adult. In “Going to Meet the Man,” Baldwin intimates that both the racist and victim are psychologically damaged by violence and racism. Jesse never recovered from viewing a lynching during his childhood, and the resulting damage led to Jesse’s steady violent behavior against African-Americans
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It’s symbolic and actual grounding in literature and history originated from slavery and the slave laws that legally defined people of African-Americans as physical property (Gibson). During slavery, there were thousands of public punishments of slaves, none of which were preceded by trials or any civil or judicial processes (Gibson). Justice rested solely in the slaveholder’s hands. Brandings, whippings, castrations, executions, and other forms of harsh punishment, including the separation of families, were issued by the command of the master (Gibson). Often, slaves from the plantation and nearby plantations were assembled and made to watch the punishment as an example of the master 's power to wield life and death over each slave (Gibson). Legally, black slaves were not considered human beings and endowed with any right to life or liberty beyond what their slave owners granted …show more content…
The changes taking place make himself both impotent and sleepless. Earlier in the day, Jesse brutalized a black man at the county jail, the "ring leader" for a group of black protesters (Baldwin). Before dying, the black man reminded Jesse of an incident when as a boy he had defied Jesse for showing disrespect to his grandmother (Baldwin). This memory fuels Jesse 's unrest and mental paranoia because although he believes he and his fellow whites are soldiers "outnumbered, fighting to save the civilized world,” he realizes they have become "accomplices in a crime
It’s symbolic and actual grounding in literature and history originated from slavery and the slave laws that legally defined people of African-Americans as physical property (Gibson). During slavery, there were thousands of public punishments of slaves, none of which were preceded by trials or any civil or judicial processes (Gibson). Justice rested solely in the slaveholder’s hands. Brandings, whippings, castrations, executions, and other forms of harsh punishment, including the separation of families, were issued by the command of the master (Gibson). Often, slaves from the plantation and nearby plantations were assembled and made to watch the punishment as an example of the master 's power to wield life and death over each slave (Gibson). Legally, black slaves were not considered human beings and endowed with any right to life or liberty beyond what their slave owners granted …show more content…
The changes taking place make himself both impotent and sleepless. Earlier in the day, Jesse brutalized a black man at the county jail, the "ring leader" for a group of black protesters (Baldwin). Before dying, the black man reminded Jesse of an incident when as a boy he had defied Jesse for showing disrespect to his grandmother (Baldwin). This memory fuels Jesse 's unrest and mental paranoia because although he believes he and his fellow whites are soldiers "outnumbered, fighting to save the civilized world,” he realizes they have become "accomplices in a crime