Oppression of Minorities Throughout Literary Periods

            One social issue that has remained prevalent, though at varying degrees, throughout the literary periods we have studied in class is the oppression of minorities. The treatment of this issue by writers, however, has changed dramatically over the decades.

            In the Victorian Period, the racist ideas of whites living in Great Britain were spoken and written about without shame. Whites felt that it was their duty to civilize those underneath themselves; they felt superior to other ethnicities. This notion can be seen in Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Minute on Indian Education”, where he states that, “We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.” Macaulay perpetuates racism and justifies it by saying that it is necessary to teach Indians western values because Great Britain is India’s ruler.

In contrast, the Early Twentieth Century contains the novel A Passage to India by E.M. Forster. This novel does not advocate racism. It takes place in India and includes characters of color, who are not made to be bad characters; however, the protagonist is still white, and many of the other main characters are as well. Also, the novel, although providing a new perspective for its predominantly white readers, was written by a white male who had only traveled to India twice. This demonstrates just the extent to which people of color were still marginalized during this time period.

One of the most significant differences between the Late 21^st Century and earlier periods is that we see more and more works written by authors of color. These authors finally have the chance to speak out about their situation in life and the difficulties they may have encountered. In 1991, Jamaica-born poet Linton Kwesi Johnson published “Inglan Is a Bitch.” This dub poem depicts the troubles that Johnson encounters while living in London. In lines 35 to 36, he writes, “dem seh dat black man is very lazy / but if y’u si how mi work y’u woulda seh mi crazy.” Johnson is frustrated by the fact that he is not appreciated for the hard work he does. Clearly, although people of color are not restricted by as many racist laws as before, they still face maltreatment based on the color of their skin. Another poem, titled “In My Country” and also published in 1991, discusses the way that non-whites are subject to scrutiny and questioning solely based on how they look. The author of this poem is Jackie Kay, a half-Nigerian, half-white woman. She writes that, “a woman passed round me / in a slow watchful circle / as if I were a superstition; / or the worst dregs of her imagination… / ‘Where do you come from?’ / ‘Here,’ I said. ‘Here. These parts.’” The speaker of the poem is in her own country but is unfairly treated as a foreigner. People of color at this time were still viewed differently than whites, and still face injustice at the hands of those in power. Even though they are not harmed in the physical and overt way that they were in earlier periods, they are subject to a certain degree of oppression, mostly in the way that they are perceived by others.