Racism and Identity

By Pierce K. Kozlowski

Ellison on Art and Protest

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, written in 1945, revolves around a narrator struggling to find his identity and his voice as a black man in the early nineteen-hundreds of racist white America. The narrator eventually determines what his identity is, with much of it being shaped by his experiences with racism. Ralph Ellison (1914-1994)—an essayist, famous author, and literary critic—brings to light two concepts which are central to the issue of racism in America: First, while varying and reasonable minds may differ, many “anti-racist” intellectuals agree that America and her institutions are still inherently racist and beyond saving; second, scientific communities alike agree that racism is an obstacle to personal development and handicaps the pursuit of personal identity.

While racial activism is undoubtedly relevant to Invisible Man, the book was not written to be an activist novel, nor was it written to be solely art either. Contrary to what may be naturally assumed, Ellison believed that artistry and activism could be conjoined to convey the broader message of creative work. It is irrefutable that Ellison’s novel closely focuses on a Bipoc young man whose development was continually thwarted by the jackboot of racism. However, beyond decrying the vice and wickedness of racism, Ellison was still trying to maintain the integrity of artistry in the process; and he sharply expressed that view with regard to his Invisible Man in a 1955 interview with The Paris Review:

I recognize no dichotomy between art and protest...If social protest is antithetical to art, what then shall we make of Goya, Dickens, and Twain? One hears a lot of complaints about the so-called protest novel, especially when written by Negroes, but it seems to me that the critics could more accurately complain about the lack of craftsmanship and the provincialism which is typical of such works. (“Ellison”)

After giving what some might call a ‘hot-take,’ Ellison went out of his way to even highlight the unspoken downfalls of some activist novels. This, of course, is not because Ellison was pledging solidarity to the racist systems that be; the opposite was true. But this speaks to a broader point regarding Ellison’s writing: Activist novels often call for action and justice; however, Ellison’s novel simply tells a story, with no intention of leaving a moral imperative on the reader. As Ellison originally said in the interview, “I am not, primarily concerned with injustice, but with art” (“Ellison”).

While Ellison does not call for action in his novel, that does not mean the novel’s themes cannot be further explored. One of those themes is the moral evils of institutional racism, which is an incessant background hum in the Invisible Man, and that segues into the next point. Given that the book took place and was published under the heinous regime of Jim Crow, the topic of institutional racism naturally enters the frame. Thankfully, the landmark of the 1964 Civil Rights Act aimed to dissolve all laws racist in intent, thus ridding the American legal system of systemic racism (Brown). However, racial justice advocates, past and present, have argued the converse, suggesting that institutionalized racism remains rampant in America, and in all her systems therein.

The Topic of Systemic Racism

Racial justice intellectuals deliberating over the evils of racism have argued that it is a widespread phenomenon, present within the facets of everyday life. Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, the founders of Critical Race Theory (CRT), outlined this idea when they said, “racism is ordinary, not aberrational — ‘normal science,’ the usual way society does business, the common, [and] everyday experience of most people of color in this country” (Delgado & Stefancic). The founders of CRT proposed a remedy for this problem: In order to alleviate the prevalence and practice of racism, institutions and cultures that upheld racist ideals would be disintegrated. Delgado went on to argue this perspective, saying that, “critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of [American] constitutional law” (Delgado). This idea was not new, however, and predated Delgado. Derrick Bell (1930-2011)--a civil rights activist and pioneer of CRT--reflected Delgado’s original sentiments years earlier, boldly declaring that “the whole liberal worldview of private rights and public sovereignty mediated by the rule of the law needed to be exploded…a worldview premised upon the public and private spheres is an attractive mariage that masks the reality of economic and political power” (Derrick Bell). Since America is inherently racist, according to Bell, core American institutions would have to be disintegrated.

Moreover, many proponents of racial justice posit that statistical disparities are indicative of discrimination; or more specifically, that racial inequity between different racial groups is, without question, the result of racist policy. Ibram X. Kendi, the director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research, echoes this line of reasoning almost verbatim, declaring that, “Racial inequity is evidence of racist policy” (Kendi). Robin DiAngelo, a professor at Westfeild State University, lays fourth a position that is synonymous with Kendi in her book, White Fragility: “if we truly believe that all humans are equal, then disparity in condition can only be the result of systemic discrimination” (DiAngelo). On the basis of this reasoning, racial justice argues that since there are racial disparities in society, there are therefore racist policies, meaning there is, without question, systemic racism.

However, controversy developed amidst such accusations. While the claims of systemic racism by CRT absolutely applied during the vile periods of slavery and Jim Crow, other academics have disagreed that such claims still apply today (2021). Mike Gonzalez, a researcher in foreign policy, wrote a piece for the Heritage Foundation challenging the formula that disparities equal discrimination: “Disparities more likely result from the choices that free Americans of all colors, now released from the yoke of government-imposed color-conscious policies, make.” Gonzalez also cited a study which showed a population of West Indian kids closing the gaps with their white counterparts in public education, despite the West Indians facing legitimate “discrimination” because of their isolated communities (Gonzalez).

Systemic Racism within the Book

As previously mentioned, varying minds may differ when it comes to answering the question, “Is America still systemically racist today?” Beyond this, however, a pressing fact remains: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man took place during Jim Crow, and instances of systemic racism in the book reflected the realities of Jim Crow in real life. Despite the debate around the legitimacy of CRT’s claims applying to today, their claims of systemic racism existing prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are utterly irrefutable. In Invisible Man, the effects of systemic racism are ever-present when the narrator receives a letter that reads:

"Brother, This is advice from a friend who has been watching you closely. Do not go too fast. Keep working for the people but remember that you are one of us and do not forget if you get too big they will cut you down. You are from the South and you know that this is a white man's world. So take a friendly advice and go easy so that you can keep on helping the colored people. They do not want you to go too fast and will cut you down if you do. Be smart . . . " (Ellison 383)

The sentiment of the letter is indicative of the systemic racism within the culture of the book because the letter’s author fakes support for a just cause while also opposing just change in the interest of “negative peace.” It is this appeal to moderation which Martin Luther King Jr. lamented over in his Letter From a Birmingham Jail: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is . . . the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice” (King). The “white moderate” prioritizing racism over justice is an aspect of systemic racism because the “white moderates” are, by definition, prolonging laws that are racist in intent and content.

Naturally then, based on King's sentiments, the systemic racism present in the letter to the narrator applies beyond the novel itself. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)--a prominent Civil Rights spokesperson and thought leader--faced the same danger as the narrator within the culture of the real world. King effectively led the Civil Rights movement from 1955 to 1968, and famously effectuated cultural change through nonviolent means. He would later pay with this for his life when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray; an outspoken racist who vehemently despised King for his ideas on racial equality (Reddick). Just as Ellison’s narrator was becoming a threatening enemy to the broader culture of racism, so too was Martin Luther King Jr. Just as Ellison’s narrator faced backlash, Martin Luther King Jr. also risked and bore the brunt of said backlash.

Affect of Racism on Mental Health and Identity

While Ellison deftly introduces the problem of systemic racism through Invisible Man (which has lent itself to wider discussions on racism today), he simultaneously investigated how racism affected personal identity. Most notably, the narrator speaks on this matter in the book’s opening lines:

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination - indeed, everything and anything except me." (Ellison 1)

After the narrator is victimized by racism, something which repetitively transpires in the primary chapters of the novel, the narrator decides to shelter underground in order to seek asylum from society’s cruel exclusion. Just a few pages later, the narrator depressingly suggests that racism has watered down the significance of his presence so much that “Without light I am not only invisible, but formless as well; and to be unaware of one's form is to live a death. I myself, after existing some twenty years, did not become alive until I discovered my invisibility” (Ellison 6). However, even before that is mentioned, the narrator underscores the mental toll racism has taken on him: “I am not complaining, nor am I protesting either. It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves” (Ellison 2). Racism's impact on the narrator is not fictional. It extends past the pages and applies to reality. The University of Notre Dame Australia defined identity as “ . . . an individual’s capacity to develop a positive sense of self and to integrate their self within a number of valuable social settings” (Timler). Racism makes this unachievable because it tears down “a positive sense of self” and discourages integration with “valuable social settings.” Predictably, the narrator painfully reminds readers of racism's devastating effects when he seeks isolation from a society that refuses to acknowledge him.

Whether racism is crammed down through the provisions of law or inflicted socially from within the culture, is it, without question, an obstacle to the development of identity, and that consensus is held widespread in the halls of medical intelligentsia. The National Institutes of Health found that “discrimination may be particularly harmful for African American students who perceive their race to be central to their personal identity” (Perry). The findings of the SSM - Population Health Journal are perhaps the most damning: “There is evidence that racial/ethnic identity is a crucial and complex contingency factor that shapes the psychological burden posed by racial discrimination” (Woo). This lends truth to Ellison's larger point, which is that racism affects identity. Assuming the narrator’s race was central to his personal identity, and because he endured severe racial discrimination, he, therefore, bears an extreme psychological burden. Just as the narrator affirms his identity as invisible in the “Prologue,” he does so too in the “Epilogue”: “I'm an invisible man and it placed me in a hole -- or showed me the hole I was in, if you will -- and I reluctantly accepted the fact” (Ellison 443).

Conclusion

Almost 160 years ago, Abraham Lincoln fought to thwart the abhorrent practices of slavery through the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that “all persons held as slaves . . . are, and henceforward shall be free” (Lincoln). The provisions of Lincoln’s virtuous executive order would not be fully realized until June 19, 1865, which was coined as “Juneteenth,” and recognized as a national holiday. Just 50 years ago, Civil Rights supporters like Martin Luther King Jr. fought to dissolve the villainous institution of Jim Crow through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which disintegrated segregation and barred racial discrimination.

The myriad of America’s historical evils, which cannot be excused or denied, have been challenged with the virtuous efforts to make America “a more perfect union.” The founding fathers echoed the creed that “all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.” Since the time of the founders, this vision has been slowly realized, as legal racism has dissolved over time from the systems and cultures that be. However, racism and other regressive world views will always exist within cultures, and America is no exception—it is Ellison wisely notes this. Ellison brought to the limelight the presence of racism in society and its effect on identity. The concepts Ellison raises ought to be explored because they teach lessons of the past, and remembering the evils of the past is what helps create a road for a more righteous future.

References

1. Chester, A., & Howard, V. (1955). “Ralph Ellison, The Art of Fiction No. 8.” The Paris Review, 20 Mar. 1955. other. Retrieved December 12, 2021, from https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5053/the-art-of-fiction-no-8-ralph-ellison.

2. Brown, Paulette. “The Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Washington University Law Review, vol. 92, no. 2, Feb. 2015, openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol92/iss2/9/.

3. Stefancic, Jean, and Delgado, Richard. “Critical Race Theory (Third Edition): An Introduction.” United States, NYU Press, 2017.,

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Critical_Race_Theory_Third_Edition/dHI4DQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

4. Bell, Derrick. "Racial realism." Conn. L. Rev. 24 (1991): 363.

https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPagehandle=hein.journals/conlr24&div=26&id=&page=

5. Kendi, Ibram X. “How to Be an Antiracist.” Random House, 2019. pp.84

DiAngelo, Robin. White Fragility. 2018. Pp.17

6. Gonzalez, Mike. “Institutionalizing Racial Fanaticism Across American Society.” The Heritage Foundation, 21 May 2021, www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/institutionalizing-racial-fanaticism-across-american-society.

7. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1952.

8. King, Martin Luther, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail. Penguin Classics, 2018.

Reddick, L. D. Crusader without Violence: A Biography of Martin Luther King, JR. NewSouth, Incorporated, 2018. From,

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Crusader_Without_Violence/-ftmDwAAQBAJ?h=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

9. Timler, Amanda. “The Who.i.am Study : Identity Formation and Motor Competence in Adolescents.” ResearchOnline@ND, 2018, researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/175/.

10. Perry, Sylvia P et al. “The Impact of Everyday Discrimination and Racial Identity Centrality on African American Medical Student Well-Being: a Report from the Medical Student CHANGE Study.” Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities vol. 3,3 (2016): 519-26. doi:10.1007/s40615-015-0170-3

11. Woo, Bongki et al. “The role of racial/ethnic identity in the association between racial

discrimination and psychiatric disorders: A buffer or exacerbator?.” SSM - population health vol. 7 100378. 5 Mar. 2019, doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100378

12. Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863; Presidential Proclamations, 1791-1991; Record Group 11; General Records of the United States Government; National Archives.