Toni Morrison’s 2016 essay about white supremacy and violence resurfaces amid shootings
An essay the late novelist published just after the 2016 election has caught new attention because of the recent deadly shootings and the correlation of at least one to racist ideology
An essay the late novelist published just after the 2016 election has caught new attention because of the recent deadly shootings and the correlation of at least one to racist ideology
In the wake of Toni Morrison’s passing, an essay Morrison published just days after President Trump was elected in 2016 has resurfaced bringing new emphasis to recent events, QZ.com points out.
The renown author of Beloved and Song of Solomon, among other novels, died Monday night at age 88 in New York. But a collection of essays published in The New Yorker have caught new attention, given the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Tex., and Dayton, Ohio. One of them, written by Morrison, entitled “Mourning for Whiteness” was commentary on a desperation to uphold white supremacy which has led the most desperate to violence.
READ MORE: Nobel laureate Toni Morrison dead at 88
It reads in part:
In order to limit the possibility of this untenable change, and restore whiteness to its former status as a marker of national identity, a number of white Americans are sacrificing themselves. They have begun to do things they clearly don’t really want to be doing, and, to do so, they are (1) abandoning their sense of human dignity and (2) risking the appearance of cowardice. Much as they may hate their behavior, and know full well how craven it is, they are willing to kill small children attending Sunday school and slaughter churchgoers who invite a white boy to pray.
This was far from the first time the history-making Nobel Prize winner used her writing abilities to bring awareness to the flaws in American society. Morrison, born in Lorain, Ohio and a graduate of Howard University, wrote 11 novels throughout her career, with one of the most well-known being the critically acclaimed Beloved.
According to QZ, prior to becoming a novelist, Morrison used her position as the first Black woman senior editor at Random House elevate Black writers. In 2012 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama and in 2015 she published what would be her final book “God, Help the Child.”
READ MORE: Oprah Winfrey praises Toni Morrison at Manhattan dinner gala
Read the full essay at The New Yorker.
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