Whose Canon is it ?

As a child I was always taught about racism by a textbook, handout, and of course by word of mouth. By word of mouth we all know that the person who is telling us doesn’t really separate what’s real and what’s not, it is not because of their ignorance either, they just do not know. Stereotypes have always and forever ruled the world. How can we the people of the United States make a change? In literature u cannot even go by what they say anymore their conceptions of different ethnic groups are all wrong when they use different characters. People fail to realize that America is indeed a melting pot we cannot separate into a white canon and a black canon that just will not work living in America. Just like a book racism and cultures will always start one way but it will always have a suspenseful ending. I agree with my peers that most literature goes against with what is real in life when it comes to the topics of race and sexuality. Society makes you want to be someone that you are not, leading to the point to believe it is ok by using literature. If god says come as you are, why can’t society do the same? At the end of the day it all comes down to the battle of the sexes, who “The Man” really is whether he is black or white, and the idea of acceptance.

"Whose Canon is it, Anyway?

I agree with Gates' article in the fact that women and African Americans get discriminated within literature. Here's an example: remember back in your history classes in middle school, “Did you ever think, did a white male write this?” Back in middle school I was learning about the olden days where there were no women’s rights, there would be two different viewpoints, if a woman wrote it rather than a man writing it. Cause if a man wrote it they might have been sexist towards women and he would write bad things about women. Same thing with African Americans, because men didn’t want women or African Americans to be able to vote, write books, and have rights. So they don’t really have many sources for back then written by a woman or an African American, because they weren’t able to publish anything. There are still some places where the people still believe in African American’s and women to not have many rights. This is just awful, our constitution even states that all people are created equal, but I still believe that some people in society don’t follow that Amendment in the Constitution. I think our society says that but deep down the people don’t really believe it sometimes. This is a real big thing in society that we just ignore.

"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.

Culture Clash

Equality is what America's foundation is built upon, and the one word that we "swear" we abide to. The discrimination towards African Americans and Women that occurred and is still present today in some places is appalling. Every ethnicity and culture has its own stereotypes and issues. But in reality no race with every "fade away" or become obsolete in today's society. I believe that contrary to some beliefs today we are much more accepting and embracing to change and ethnicity then "older" generations that strive on a conservative mindset. They way we are raised (both physically and mentally), and the time period we are raised in greatly determines a person's prejudice and mindset. The idea that the color of my skin determines my status in the "social pyramid" is insane and the way men degrade women and blacks is also crazy. The color of your skin should not determine your superiority and all these thing that i have mentioned are also extremely relevant to schools and writing. The idea that history repeats itself is really inevitable in my mind when talking about these extremely hard topics.

On that note I was reading through other posts that had been submitted and Ian made the most powerful point that i believe really hits home with the reading that Gates wrote. He said, "The challenge is questioning a generally accepted ideal and convincing others and ourselves to maintain that ideal.It’s the only way an individual will change the norm and change the minds of the masses." This to me truly was the essence of the reading and how equality will really be achieved in today's society. The idea that everyone must be on the same page and everyone must be heard to make a change can go a long way.

whose canon

Gates has some interesting point is in his piece “ Whose canon is it anyway?” “ There can b 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.” I think what gates is saying here is that both text are influenced by one another and because America is so heavily integrated it would be impossible to separate the texts completely. While many experiences might overlap I feel as though learning the experiences of others would still be extremely beneficial. When it comes to our education I feel like we should be given a wide verity of text to gain a greater understanding of people. One thing that I always wanted to learn in school was the other side of history. I would love to know how the Germans teach about the world war. We always want to paint our selves in a better light but I would rather not be deceived. Whether its an account of a black slave a house wife or a German solider I think all sides should be heard.

Canons

Every race and culture comes with it’s stereotypes.   No race is going to become extinct.  With that being said it is amazing that it took 200 years for America to mesh together blacks and whites.  Obviously everything is not perfect today but I like to think we are getting there.  Everyone throughout their educational journey through school learns of the discrimination towards women and blacks.  White men were always considered the elite race, but what made them considered the best?  People grow up with a mindset of who they like and who they don’t like for reasons that literally make no sense.  It is not their fault it is just the way they were raised; especially the older generation in society.  They were used to the segregation of blacks and whites.  They thought nothing of it because that was what the texts in school were telling them and that is all they knew.  The famous, women are only good for cooking and sex kills me to hear.  I honestly have said it before as a joke and not in front of a female audience.  That does not mean I feel that way at all but guys are guys and insulting women is going to be done by men forever.  Half of the reason for this is the way boys are brought up through school.  They learn about women’s rights and that is when the stereotyping occurs.  In most cases the stereotyping isn’t true but the only way for a stereotype to start is if some of it is true.  My girlfriend is an awesome girl and I can confidently say that she does not fall under the normal jokes directed towards women.  I respect people’s feelings towards others but society as a whole needs to not be single minded and give everyone respect unless there is a solid reason to do so instead of bullshit stereotypes.       

Literature and Race.

While reading this I thought about how we're taught about other cultures in school. We're taught about culture from a textbook that has one point of view and unless the teacher has more to add to what the textbook says that's pretty much all we'll ever learn from schools. The beginning of the reading talked about affirmative action and that's really where my mind stayed. Affirmative action is supposed to help the minority groups, but I never thought it did. I worked hard to get where I am now. I didn't want to get accepted into a college because they had some sort of ethnic quota that they needed to fill.

Most literature that has ethnic characters usually gets them wrong as well. There are so many stereotypes that surround all racial groups. Most people never take the time to actually figure out what is real and what isn't. I feel like that was the point that Gates was trying to make when he brought up the White Canon and the Black Canon. You can't have both live separately, especially in America. Whether we like it or not all the cultures in America do mix. I might be Asian but I was raised American. Literature in America should be like this too. It might have began at one point, but it's never just going to be one thing. Literature is what you make of it.