The Baptism of Racial Emotion

Recently, I read Zora Neale Hurston’s “How It Feels to be Colored Me” and Richard Wright’s Black Boy. These two works engage in dialogue about the “baptism of racial emotion,” otherwise regarded as the realization of race and racism. Although both writers become cognizant of the color of their skin at a fairly young age, they do so in different ways. 

Hurston describes a sense of voyeurism between the white tourists passing through her all black town and the inhabitants of Eatonville. This speculation between the two races, white and people of color, lays an unintended foundation for Hurston in terms of a conscious observance of race, but still, Hurston thinks nothing of it. Her realization of race truly comes at the age of thirteen when she moves to Jacksonville and marks a shift in her identity from being the individualistic Zora to a person of color. This transformation is rather matter-of-fact, which foreshadows Hurston’s reception of her own identity. On the other hand, Wright’s realization comes at a point where he identifies segregation. Wright, unlike Hurston, prods at the question of race due to his desire for understanding the difference between white people and people of color “who lived side by side and never touched.” Wright’s inquisitive nature causes an awakening in him about racial disparities in America. 

However, Hurston and Wright differ in their reactions in their awareness of the construction of race. Hurston chooses to not be negatively affected by the color of her skin, and instead, chooses to be an empowered individual. She claims that she is not “tragically colored.” Although Hurston recognizes her skin color, she decides to be an individual first, meaning that she chooses not to let her skin color dictate her whole identity. On the contrary, Wright senses some tension within himself about being a person of color, but does not grasp to full extent exactly what is so uncomfortable about this part of his identity. Retrospectively speaking, Wright writes that he did not know to be “afraid” to be a man of color. It is evident that Wright determines to confront the color of his skin as an essential part to his livelihood more so than Hurston who embraces her individuality before she accepts the shackles of her pigmentation.

These two reactions to the realization of race have led me to reflect on the concept of race and its relationship with identity. Particularly, society is often inclined to call itself "post-racial." In the midst of the current political climate, many people have been using rhetoric that matches the description of what it means to be"post-racial" by underplaying the concept of race. In their language, many consistently use language, such as "regardless of" race specifically when speaking about activism. This verbiage is guilty of underpinning the strife and identity of people of color. When in reality, much of activism stems from the inherent "regard to" race.