"The" Canon

Racism still exists; it will never fade. Some of the best examples of racism remain in literature; mostly in historicals or textbooks for history classes. Writers of different generations and races tend to see events in a different canon, yet still influence one another: “There can be no doubt that white text inform and influence black texts (and vice Versa), so that thoroughly integrated canon of American literature is not only politically sound, it is intellectually sound as well. But the attempts of black scholars to define a black American canon, and to derive indigenous theories of interpretation from within this canon are not meant to refute the soundness of these gestures of integration.” A white writer from the Civil Right Movement era may still have racist tendencies and may write about his side of the story and his thought about what happened in those events. On the other side, a black writer from the same era may write something completely different. But the question is: who is right? Whose canon is more correct?

Although Gates does say that integrated canon in literature is politically and intellectually sound, he also says that black canon is not defined. So in a sense, he is contradicting himself. If a canon is not fully defined, then it cannot be “sound” with other canons. Which means what? That literature will always be one sided to white canon until the black American canon has a definition, and until then, black canon cannot be taken seriously. As a result, people will continue to see the white side of literature more clearly than the black side of literature. People will only read about the white man’s version of the Civil Rights Movement and not the black man’s version. Racism will continue to exist within literature until black canon says otherwise.