No one is born racist, but if one is born into a racist environment, they are liable to become racist and eventually raise their children with similar values. Children often derive their social constructs on morality and worldly views from their parents. As a result, racism is still prevalent in America despite the abolishment of slavery following the end of the American Civil War and later on, the civil rights movement that led to desegregation. The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan demonstrates the effects of generational teachings pertaining to racism and bigotry through the Forge family, as readers are able to witness three generations (none of which who were slaveholders themselves) convey blatant racism and ignorance towards African Americans.
Despite being wealthy and well-educated, John Henry Forge retains archaic views towards African Americans when speaking to his young child. During this period in the novel, a young Henry Forge is inquiring about the desegregation of schools in the south. His father reassures him that “the Negro is [their] Socratic shadow” and that even if schools were to become desegrgated, “de facto divisions will always remain” (54). These oppressive views are echoed by Henry on numerous occasions throughout the novel, such as when he casually refers to African Americans as “niggers” (73) and is firmly corrected by his Northern-born tutor. Henry also snaps at his cousin, stating that she “sounds like a nigger lover” (84) after she inquires about Filip, his family's former worker, and later affirms that she does not see race. Interestingly, Henry does not realize the severity of his vernacular on either occasion. His racist upbringing has led to such slurs being deemed acceptable in everyday speech. As the novel progresses, readers see Henry as an adult raising his daughter with the same mindset bestowed upon him by his father, such as Henry’s utilization of evolutionary claims to assert white dominance and black inferiority (126). Ironically, Henrietta’s racist outburst during class (122) compels Henry to remove her from school due to her education being too politically correct for his liking.
On a larger scale, the Forge family is not merely one family who spends most of the novel stuck in a different time period as a result of their anachronistic ideals. The Forge family epitomizes the regressiveness of the South through their desire to keep blacks oppressed by quoting and twisting the works of famous academics in order to justify their social status and reinforce their superiority within the American hierarchy. Later on, the Forge family’s gradual transition away from racism symbolizes the slow progress made in America. The Southern region of the United States has a dark history that included slavery, the Jim Crow Laws, and the bloody battle for civil rights. As time passed, racism began to fade as newer generations became more racially tolerant. The transition has been slow and filled with numerous setbacks, mainly as a result of racist views being inherited from previous generations.
Henry was certainly molded by his father, John Henry, to be the racist man that is portrayed through most of the novel. The opening line of the novel asks the question, “How far away from your father can you run?” (1). This novel can, in many ways, be analyzed in this light; many of Henry’s actions are directly a result of John Henry’s teaching. John Henry tells Henry, “’The Klan and their ilk, for all their rabble-rousing, often have a keen sense of right and wrong undiluted by relativism, and they can carry out justice with alacrity,’” (56). Almost immediately after Henry reports on his mother’s relationship with Filip to his father, Filip disappears and can be assumed to have been killed by the doing of John Henry. John Henry’s explicit racism in every aspect of his life easily becomes ingrained in Henry’s life and is inevitably part of the Forge legacy. Henry is just as concerned as his father with the Forge legacy, and he states, “’All this corn farming is ridiculous. It’s a waste of this farm’s potential, a waste of this family’s legacy,’” (83). Henry wants to establish the Forge name as the premiere name to be associated with Kentucky horse racing. He wants nothing more than for his family to breed and produce the most dominant horse to ever race in Kentucky. I would argue, by the end of the novel, that the Henry’s legacy becomes the breaking of the tyrannical and racist name. He recognizes the change in himself, and he sees Samuel as perfect.
ReplyDeleteIt is very obvious that even though Henry did his best to stray from his father's way, he is very much so a product of John Henry's upbringing. From justifying the Klan, prejudice vernacular, and eventually the highly suspected killing of Filip, John Henry was no saint, who clearly had viewed his white bloodline as superior. Therefore, it is completely understandable that the apple does not fall far from the tree, and Henry is indoctrinated with the same prejudice views. Growing up, he was never around black people who did not work for his family, or were even remotely on the same playing field of power. Therefore, there was never any opposing to views to make him question his opinions. However, there becomes a point in time where his actions are no longer excusable as product of circumstance. During the story, Ginnie’s husband, Roger, says that adults should “take responsibility for [their] adult mind,” (407). This is specifically applicable to Henry, and even Henrietta in her later years, that one cannot justify their outdated, prejudice views based on how they were raised.
ReplyDeleteI think you’re absolutely right to say that Henry Forge’s story serves as an allegory for racism in America, and an apt one at that, but I’d argue that the ending is darker than you describe here. You say that the racism of the Forge family gradually fades over time, and that this is reflective of racism in the United States. I would argue instead that dramatic circumstances cause dramatic, revolutionary results, each of which slightly eases the intensity of racism in both Henry Forge and America, but which ultimately will never truly go away. Henry’s change is caused directly by the death of his daughter, a dramatic event that reshapes the entirety of his world view, especially as he is left behind with a black child. In America, the civil rights movement shook the core of the American worldview, one that had previously been completely centered around whiteness (much like Henry’s own). Nevertheless, the dark stains of racism have not left Henry’s mind, nor America’s. We still see people of color killed on the streets by white cops, people of color churned through the prison system at insane and unfair rates, and the systematic oppression of people of color is even burned into our constitution. Similarly, as we discussed in class, just because Henry Forge is able to accept his singular black grandson doesn’t mean that he’s become less racist entirely, simply that he has become less racist in this particular case. To say that racism has gently faded away not only ignores the reality of modern America and Henry Forge’s character, but it discounts the drastic revolutions of the civil rights movement, as well as the points about race that C.E. Morgan was trying to make.
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