The 20 th and 21 st centuries remain some of the most significant periods in history in the redefinition of the roles, functions and perceptions of genders and races. There was particularly a transition of the African descendants from a position of oppression and low self-esteem to greater significance and expression in societies. Examining the case of the US, it was only in the latter part of the 20 th century when the black man gained full legal acceptance in society. However, subtle forms of prejudice and discrimination still manifest to date as the remnants of some of the darkest periods in human history. There have been various representations of the gender and racial quagmires experienced in the past in which various themes on the same have been depicted in spoken word, literature, art, film, among numerous other avenues. Examined herein are the roles of Aldridge Cleaver and Carl Franklin in bringing out gender and racial issues in society.
Carl Franklin is a movie producer, actor, film and television director and screen writer whose productions have strongly brought out the impacts of the racial divide in the society. One of the prevalent themes in his films is violence (Catanese, 2011) . One such film is One False Move in which actor Cynda Williams played the role of Fantasia, the girlfriend of one of the three main characters. The film has some raw murder scenes in which extreme violence is displayed. Interestingly, this film was produced in 1992 at a time when violence in film was mostly attributed to African-Americans, whereas this film casts white Americans as two of its main acts.
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One False Move is presented in the neo noir style. The film is produced in such a way as to foreshadow a feeling of evil, or to portray a general negative mood that predicts negative outcomes. This mood is effectively brought out in the racial tension that exists in the film. While the two of the three main characters who are criminals being sought by law enforcement are white, the risk is compounded on the black character (Catanese, 2011) . At one point in the movie, she actually tells her brother that for black people, “looking guilty is being guilty.” This essentially means that it was much more likely for her, than for her white counterparts to be presumed guilty and be arrested. As such, her life is marred by constant fear and anxiety and she has to make much more effort than her counterparts to avoid arrest.
This is a situation that arguably prevails to date. As of 2013, the rate of imprisonment for black females is twice as high as that of the white females. African Americans have the highest rates of arrest, incarceration and imprisonment. The national incarceration rate for African Americans is at 2306 people as compared to 450 people per 100,000 people. There is also an incessant debate on the neutrality of the justice system, fuelled by the highly imbalanced statistics which indicate that African-Americans are often at a great disadvantage when faced with charges, whether criminal or civil. Thus, African Americans live in the awareness that they are at a much greater risk than their white counterparts.
In this film, Franklin also brings out the aspect of interracial relationships. Fantasia, a black woman, is the girlfriend to Ray a white man. Notably, the African-American woman is cast as the partner to a criminal. She also commits a number of grave crimes in the film. There is a certain social tension that is brought out in reference to interracial relationships. Fantasia has a son with Dale Dixon, Chief of Star City police. The two are, however, both disconnected from their child, living as if he never existed. It is later revealed that fantasia abandoned their child at a young age. Even so, fantasia is able to convince Dixon, who apparently seems to have feelings for her, to allow her to escape out of town, in exchange for her assistance in the arrests of ray and Pluto.
Devil in a Blue Dress another popular film by Franklin also brings out the tension exerted by social perceptions of interracial relationships. The family of a mayoral candidate, Todd Carter, pays his girlfriend, Daphne Monet, to leave town because they did not want the latter associated with the former. This is proof of the existence of societies in which an aversion to interracial relationships still exists. In order for Carter, a white man, to win the mayoral elections, he must not be associated with, Monet, a black woman. At the end of the film, he agrees that he is in love with her but will not allow their relationship to continue based solely on the racial differences. Daphne’s fight for survival and constant fear and anxiety is also evidence of disenfranchisement of African-Americans and women. Compared to men, women are at a far greater risk of having their rights infringed upon than men, and her race compounds the already existing risk.
Eldridge Cleaver was a victim of a birth into a racist society. He resulted into petty crime for which he was convicted and imprisoned. Cleaver later became a revolutionary and his work on gender and race was heavily drawn from his own experiences. Some of Cleaver’s ideas are radical and can be drawn from his book, soul of Ice, which he wrote while he was in prison. Indeed, the memoir caused so much controversy that it was involved in cases in which its ethical and moral impact was analyzed, leading to censorship. The Island Trees Union Free School district had the books restricted and removed from libraries in 1982.
Cleaver was one of the leaders of the Black Power Movement, which was one of the culminations of the Civil Rights Movement. While imprisoned, he had read the works of activists such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Machiavelli, Karl Marx and Malcolm X, the latter of whom he became an ardent follower. Eldridge Cleaver was one of the most active members of the Black Panther Party, whereby he led several armed protests and conflicts. The Black Panther Party stood for some of the radical beliefs which he had adopted during his incarceration experience. In one of the infamous armed firefights against Oakland Police Officers, fellow Panther Bobby Hutton was killed.
Soul on Ice was released during the early years of the Black Power Movement and is viewed by some not just as a personal account and analysis of the crimes committed, but as a manifesto or public declaration of intention. It should be noted that the Black Power Movement was unlike the Civil rights Movement in various ways. First, the Civil Rights Movement sought for equality on all people. The main objective was to ensure that all people were treated equally in society and had equal rights which were constitutionally stipulated and enforced. The Black Power movement, on the other hand, had a vengeful aspect in its operations. It was specifically designed to fight for the position of the African-Americans in the society, and was committed to ensuring that they achieved superiority over the whites. Indeed, the Black Rights Movement, and particularly the Black Panther Party, approached the emancipation and liberation objective from a vengeful perspective whereby the white man should have been forced to pay for past atrocities performed on the black man.
Moreover, while the Civil Rights Movement emphasized on non-violent methods of operations, the Black Power Movement sought to achieve the intended objectives by any means necessary. The Black Panther Party, for instance, sought to empower the blacks and to protect them from any oppressive practices carried out by the white man. The radical nature of the party’s operations complimented Cleaver’s own perspective. The Civil Rights Movement also focused on emancipation while the Black Power Movement focused on preservation and promotion of the African-American Culture and agenda.
The Black Power Movement and the Black Panther Party has very little allowance for interracial relationships, as can be deduced from their nature of operations. The Black Power Movement did not have, nor did it encourage, white sympathizers as key members. In fact, interracial relationships were perceived as an attempt by the white man to suppress the African Culture and impose their beliefs upon the Africans. This view was well justified at the time, based on the oppression that African-Americans were going through. While there was significant progress in the mid 20 th century in racial and gender equality, it was clear that African-Americans were still heavily disadvantaged compares to their white counterparts.
Cleaver brought out his views in gender and race in his memoir. One particular issue was interracial sexuality. Cleaver states in his book that African Americans has been brainwashed into believing that they were not as aesthetically appealing as their white counterparts. This perception had been imparted over two centuries of extreme abuse that had eroded the self esteem of African-Americans over generations (Cleaver & Scheer, 1969) . As such, this perception led African-Americans to desire white members of the opposite sex. Cleaver affirms this proposal by recording a love affair between him and his white lawyer with whom they exchange letters while he is in prison.
Cleaver was admittedly lustful against white women. His lust was one of the reasons why he raped. In his memoir, he is not apologetic for the sexual violations he committed. Instead, he justifies them noting that much worse violations were being done on the African-American women, and had been done in the past. Indeed, rape and sexual assault of African-American women was rampant especially among slave households. Yet any attempt of a relationship between an African-American man and a white woman had been faced with extreme hostility from the whites. Most of the African-Americans who had been accused of such actions and intentions had been killed, often through lynching. This was especially common in the south where slave ownership and labor was rampant.
Cleaver explains the internal contradictions which he experiences, and which he feels all African-American men must be experiencing. He feels that he may have let down the black community by desiring white women. He recalls of an incident in which an officer has torn the picture of a white girl off his cell wall while he was in prison. The officer has said that had the picture been of a black girl, he would have allowed it. At the time, interracial romance was not advocated for by both side of the divide and actually seemed unlikely to occur.
Cleaver`s concern was that the African-American had been made to feel inferior to the white man and had inadvertently developed low self-value and value for others. His was, therefor,e an attempt to prove that he was worthy of the white women that he had desired all his life. The case of the Emmett Tills murder illustrates the reaction that any contact between a black male and a white woman often evoked especially in the southern parts of the US where Jim crow laws had been enforced in the early and mid 20 th century. Emmett Till was brutally murdered after having been accused of flirting with a white woman at her shop. Different accounts have been given regarding the torture which he underwent and his subsequent death. His mutilated body was displayed in an open casket funeral, whereby the incident fuelled the Civil Rights movement, of which he is an icon. Part of Cleaver motivation top rape was, therefore, a need to assert his sense of value and prove that even a black man could have a sexual encounter with a white woman.
Cleaver also attributes his violence towards white women to an instinctive and defensive aversion which he had intentionally developed towards them. To beat his lust, he had invoked the sense of self-determination which characterized the Black Power Party of which he was a member. Moreover, he realizes that it was going to be difficult for him to fight for the rights of the black man if he was infatuated by those against whom he fought. He presents his resentment in form of a poem titled “To a white girl (Cleaver & Scheer, 1969) .”
After the poem, the rationale for his intention to rape is clearly brought out. He saw his sexual crimes as retaliation for similar or worse acts committed against black women by white men. He uses the explanation of his reasons for rape as a political statement designed not only to justify his act but also to rally fellow black men behind him. He described his act as a challenge to status quo and defiance against white supremacy. Rape had been a tool used against the black during their slavery and oppression, and he intended to use the same weapon against the white man. He also stated that at this point, he no longer lusted after white women, but simply sought to impose his masculinity over them.
Cleaver also presents romance as a form of resistance. He surmises that the African-American could gain their independence and assert their position in the society through interracial relationships. Interracial relationships were viewed in contempt at the time and miscegenation was seen as a threat to white supremacy (Cleaver & Scheer, 1969) . Cleaver believed that if and when miscegenation was accepted, it would be possible to live peacefully and in unity. He foresaw a time when all men would be allowed to relate to whomever they desired without racial restrictions.
In Cleaver’s ideas as discussed, it is notable that women opinions do not feature anywhere. The suppression of the women is almost palpable (Cleaver & Scheer, 1969) . Even in problems that affect them, they do not seem to have any input into the solutions. Cleaver was not involved in the recognition or promotion of women’s rights in any way, except in the determination of those with whom they could have sexual relations. This was not an honest desire for women’s liberation, father, it was a self serving desire given his confession about his lust for women.
In his depiction of women, Franklin portrays them as suppressed based on their gender. There is, however, an inclination towards their empowerment in that the women are somehow able to survive and face the seemingly insurmountable challenges within their environments (Catanese, 2011) . In this way, Franklin’s films depict women as smart and resourceful. The two films referred to herein belong to the film noir genre in which women were glorified as sexual and manipulative, which was their means of surviving and thriving in the oppressive environment in which they were. By manipulating men using seduction and sexual allure, a certain strength and dominance was often observable in the female character. This could be taken as a subtle correlation to the women’s’ fight for gender equality through the Women’s Rights Movement.
Despite the efforts made to enforce equal rights among all humanity, this objective remains unachieved. To date, social stratification is still evident. African-American neighborhoods are, for instance, significantly less developed and wealthy than those that are predominantly white. This can attributed to the exploitation of African-American labour by the whites during the two centuries in which slavery and oppression prevailed. During that period, the white man benefited from the labour leaving the African-America poor. The African-American is, therefore, still struggling to bridge the gap.
Moreover, most systems and structures still favor the white man at the expense of the African-American. The white man has had access to the best facilities and opportunities which supported their growth and prosperity. The best employment opportunities, for instance, are available to the best educate people whereby the white man has a significantly better chance than the black man to obtain education.
In addition, a subtle form of prejudice and discrimination still exists especially within the perceptions of older generations of white Americans. The economic depravity of African-Americans has also contributed to their involvement in criminal activities. These two factors have led to the perception that blacks are criminals. This perception, though rarely expressed outwardly, is prevalent and is evidenced by the incidences of police brutality in neighborhoods that are predominantly black. The arrest, conviction, incarceration and imprisonment rates among blacks are also higher than those among other racial groups.
In conclusion, Carl Franklin and Eldridge Cleaver bring out racial and gender issues in various ways. Franklin brings them out in more subtle ways than Cleaver in his capacity as a film director. The two films discussed are both evidence of racial prejudice and discrimination and well as oppression of women based on their gender. Cleaver, on the other hand, embodies the struggle against racial discrimination. Gender based violence is also brought out strongly as a theme whereby Cleaver paradoxically justifies it as an act committed against the white women in retaliation to similar acts committed against the black women in the past.
References
Catanese, B. W. (2011). The problem of the color (blind): Racial transgression and the politics of black performance . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Bottom of FormTop of Form
Cleaver, E., & Scheer, R. (1969). Eldridge Cleaver: Post-prison writings and speeches . New York: Random House.
Walker, S. , Spohn C. , & DeLone, M. (2016). The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. Cengage Learning. ( Walker, et al., 2016)
