Walter White matured rapidly Essays

Walter White matured rapidly Essays Walter White matured rapidly Essay Walter White matured rapidly Essay Essay Topic: Bad Boy a Memoir Walter White in his memoir remembered a characteristic calm before the storm on that September night of 1906. White wrote, â€Å"My sister and I had casually commented upon the unusual quietness †¦ But as I remember it, no other sense of impending trouble impinged upon our consciousness. † In his more mature years, Walter White began to explain himself via a fictionalized account of the 1906 riot. And through the voice of Mimi Daquin, the character in his novel, he related the painful experience, â€Å"†¦on September 22, 1906†¦Mimi saw the mob gather steam and beat to death a bootblack near Five Points. She saw a white employer whisk two black employees to safety by rushing them in his cart right through the mob. † When the fury of the white man was fully vented this is what happened according to Dorsey: The riot began in the downtown area and spread to encompass the black neighborhoods of Darktown and Brownsville. Black citizens experienced property destruction, physical terror, and murder at the hands of their white peers. Before the riot ended, at least twelve Atlantans were dead, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property had been destroyed, and seventeen units of the Georgia State militia – among more than six hundred soldiers – had been assigned to the city. I Learn What I Am Puberty is the age where many young boys find themselves in a suspended animation in trying to discover their identity. To some it is a crisis stage and to many it is a turning point in their lives. As in the case of Walter White he did not only learned of his true identity much like a superhero would in a time of great difficulty and anguish. In his case though it came as an eyewitness to a terrible crime committed by a fellow human being to another. And the only excuse for such evil deed is the color of their skin. They have the same design, structure, ability to feel and understand. The only difference is the way nature chose to color their skin and for Walter White this is unacceptable and does not give any reason for white men to abuse black people. In that short three days of mayhem Walter White matured rapidly. His recollection of that period of time was written down: â€Å"I know the night when, in terror and bitterness of soul, I discovered that I was set apart by the pigmentation of my skin (invisible tough it was in my case) and the moment at which I decided that I would infinitely rather be what I was than †¦ be one of the race which had forced the decision upon me. † It is difficult to really know what Walter White was able to fully experience during those bleak times but it could be argued that he saw: 1. The savagery of his fellow white Americans who allowed emotions than reason to override their mental capability in the time of the riot. 2. The lies that were perpetuated just so two white people can satisfy their desire for power. 3. The disenfranchisement of a race that did nothing to deserve such treatment. 4. The insecurity of the white man to integrate with the black man does not show superiority but inferiority in the moral sense of the word. All these put together made Walter White decide that he is not white but in fact he is black. The world became a better place because of that bold decision. Walter White did not behave like the mob in which a person seeks protection from the group. He stood tall alone, in fact he stood in the middle between the black folks and the white folks. In that solitary space his bravery should be marveled upon. Conclusion The Negro race has suffered many injustices from the time that they were captured and sold as slaves many centuries ago. It was such a perplexing tale of man dominating not the beasts of the earth and all the things that contain in it but fellow humans. What is more perplexing though is the slow process of emancipation, from removing them from the fields and into a real liberation where they will be considered as equals among men. W. E. B. du Bois, founder of the NAACP, knew morality was on the Negro’s side, thus he asserted, â€Å"†¦we must strive for the rights which the world accords to men†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Still it was a slow process, a procedure that sometimes get to be expedited by men of will and character. Into the ranks of this few good men is Walter Francis White who crossed the line and joined his Negro brothers although society forbade him to do so. Not minding of the persecution and ridicule that surprisingly came from both sides, Walter White was indefatigable in his fight to achieve racial equality in American society. His baffling behavior and change of affiliation from a White American male in the racially prejudiced South into an African American male was explained by a life changing event that happened when he was in his puberty. Many people in this age experience profound changes but what happened to Walter White was beyond the physical and went deep into the spirit and soul. After the 1906 riots Walter White began the journey into becoming a Negro by choice. As a white man he was able to infiltrate the white world and vice versa. He was able to bring a whole different perspective in the Black’s struggle for inequality. His insight became so valuable because he had the rare opportunity to go where a few can enter. From the highest echelons of U. S. governance into the deepest parts of Black communities Walter White gathered information and interacted with people to become an influential leader of the NAACP. He used the NAACP, as a tool to influence others and make changes that would not have happened if things were left on its own. Walter White died not from a Klu Klux Klan’s bullet, nor from the frenzied swing of a rioter but from a health condition that snuffed his life at a relatively early age. Yet his legacy lives on. The greater degree of freedom experienced by present day African Americans, they owe to men like White who did not consider it a loss to be identified with a persecuted race. There were those who still question the motives of Walter White. There were those who were still unsure up to this day on what to make of him. It is the opinion of the proponent that one should spend less time in analyzing something beyond reach. But instead to focus on the practical ways on which average Americans can emulate the example of this great person, a man called White. Bibliography Dorsey, Allison â€Å"To Build our Lives Together: Community Formation in Black Atlanta†, Atlanta: University of Georgia Press, 2004. Janken Kenneth. â€Å"Walter White: Mr. NAACP†, New York: New Press, 2006. Tuttle, William. â€Å"Race Riot†. IL: University of Illinois Press, 1996. White, Walter, F. â€Å"A Man Called White†, Atlanta: University of Georgia Press, 1995.