Hands Against the Wall

The caste system in America relegates Blacks to be slow-witted, ne’re-do-well, gun-slinging, and razor-carrying sector of our citizenry, keeping the masterfully designed hierarchy in order. The invisible glass wall in Hands Against the Wall is riddled with insults, dehumanization, and disregard for Black life.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson. 2020

Minstrel’s Daughter

What is it you see?

Starting in the early 1900s, Black-faced minstrels known as “city dandy’s” were the northern counterpart to the southern “plantation darky.” “The image of the minstrel clown has been the most persistent and influential image of Blacks in Am. History” (Engle, 1978). Through stereotyping, a caste system and slavery could be justified, and Jim Crow could be rationalized. Challenging stereotyping by calling it out for what it is and inviting people to examine their prejudice and biases may dispel stereotypes.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson. 2020

Down in the River to Pray

During Smith’s early years in the South, baptism took place in the river, led by the church’s religious leader. Down in the River to Pray is a montage of scenarios depicting the artist’s view of the state of America currently in play, but by no means a complete picture. Religious influences, white supremacy, class lines, maniacal leadership, government handling of a deadly pandemic, houselessness, and pending doom by the metaphorical flood and train are all in place today.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson. 2020

Black Bottom Blues

Ma Rainy, Mother of the Blues, started outperforming in the South, and due to her success, she toured in the North, including Chicago, where she recorded and performed with musicians, the most famous of which was Louis Armstrong. The Great Migration brought African American culture to the North, and the financial exploitation of their music, dress, style by the White music industry was immeasurable. Controls put on Black performers by the music industry limited their advancement.

The injustice of a racially biased system affected all aspects of Black life keeping Blacks on the lowest rung of a carefully designed American caste system.

Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom, August Wilson, 1982

The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson, 2011

Running Finish 

Imagine you are on a ‘zig’ and the way ahead is not clear. Now is the time to dance with a stylish flow and a running finish. With the burdens and threats of Jim Crow both behind and ahead, Blacks are forced to cope which untenable generational trauma, living in a society that is more invested in maintaining a status quo designed to keep them marginalized.

In Running Finish, Smith hails that facing all obstacles, “we dance”, looking for the lighthouse of hope and deliverance from pending peril.

Gods Trombones, James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), 2004

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson. 2020