Prejudice Observed and Assessed

I recently watched The Help (Taylor, Green, Columbus, Barnathon, Radcliffe, Berkus, Skoll  Lunsford ,Blum, Al-Mazrouei & Jones, 2011) remembering  that this is the world I grew up in.


There was the overt aggression by the white family of not allowing their African American maid to use the family's washroom. By building her a separate room outside the house, they thought they had done well and  were not guilty of racism. Even to the point that they commented on how fortunate she was to have her own space (Taylor, et al. 2011).

 One of the privileged ladies commented that all would be right again once 'this whole Civil Rights thing blows over''(Taylor, et al, 2011), This showed show a complete denial of the plight of the African Americans, her fellow citizens.

The 'right' she referred to later was being 'separate but equal' /9taylor, et al., 2011). From her position of privilege she remained completely unaware of the inequity in her own household.

When her journalist friend was taking on the role of advocate for the maids she warned her that there were 'real racists in this town (Taylor, et al, 2011). Again she remained totally unaware of her racists attitudes and actions. She further admonished her advocate friend that things were fine the way they were. That there was no need to make changes.

 When the journalist, a white lady, approached the maids about telling their stories she framed her request by saying she wanted to 'understand what it is like from your side' (Taylor, et al., 2011). One of the African American ladies phrased  it later  as 'what it feels like to be me'.(Taylor, et al., 2011).

A little aside, it was not only racism rampant at this time but also sexism. The femaleness of this journalist was not appreciated. The opening line upon meeting a potential boyfriend was him asking patronizingly what she did with her time.

There was no equity for the African American women here. They were fired/expelled in a moment with no chance of defending themselves with the truth. They were in constant threat physically. There was no question from the white families that they were inferior to the point they didn't matter and were lucky for anything they could receive from the white society.

 I was struck with the immensity of the battle for one human to ask respect from another human. The latter being 'Christian' and 'civilized' makes the dilemma all the more difficult to understand.

 In this particular case it took an advocate to help the minority  get their feet under them. Someone who  listened and let their voice be heard. This was a part of a much bigger march to victory that continued to gain advocates from the dominant community. Someone from the dominant culture moving to inform her own and empower the other. Before the oppressed could move forward they needed to rebuild belief in themselves and their inalienable worth.

 Reference
Taylor, T., Green, B., Columbus, C., Barnathon, M., Radcliffe, M.A., Berkus, N., Skoll, J., Lunsford, S., Blum, J., Al-Mazrouei, M. K., Jones, D. (Producers), & Taylor, T. (Director). (2011). The Help (Motion Picture).  (With E. Stone, V. Davis, B.D. Howard & O. Spencer). United States:DreamWorks.