6/7/2023 0 Comments Ralph ellisonEllison believed that this delusion, which recurred “during moments of great national crisis,” was symptomatic of white people’s continued inability to face the complexities and realities of race in America. At the time, conservatives like Daniel Patrick Moynihan were advocating a policy of “benign neglect” on racial issues, while liberals like Stanley Edgar Hyman were lamenting that “Negro hatred of whites is close to universal.” Behind these positions lay the bizarre and enduring suspicion that the only way to achieve domestic peace might be by putting an ocean between black people and white people. When Ellison wrote “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks,” the nation was reeling from the reactionary violence that erupted in the aftermath of the Civil Rights movement. Ralph Ellison intermingles the language of blood, color, and culture in his famous essay, “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks.”
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