Prestigious Black Women

First off, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed being able to listen and see Toni Morrison. Her majestic feel and power really captivated me. She gives this impression of being a very strong woman that sort of demands respect, you know what I mean?

Well, anyways, I really liked this interview. I thought that the whole analysis of laws and how they tend to "define the relations between people" (Morrison 7:13) was very interesting. Morrison goes into detail and talks about laws in early America that made white people in general feel superior than blacks. (Once again, I find myself going into this whole racial issue but to hell with your criticism about me being repetitive, right?)

So, slavery...

I find the whole interview almost ironic because there's this scrawny, clearly American white guy asking this powerful, strong and proud black lady about whether she feels like they are now in a "post racial time" (Rose 8:30). I don't know why, but I got the feeling that this guy is sort of telling this proud and almost resentful African American woman that has written a variety of books about racial constructs that the whole notion of racism is America nowadays is a fraud. I think that Morrison handled it very well in how she said that racial hierarchy is a "fantasy" (Morrison 10:30) but I think that what she might have really wanted to say is that OK, although there aren't anymore racially biased laws there are still unwritten laws in the social construct of America which keep alive the racial crudeness in this nation. To me, this is clear because I mean, how often in Song of Solomon has the whole motif of people trying to get away from their pasts and prove themselves in the present come up? All of the biblical references in the novel and the whole idea of people being freed from an oppressed past is clearly connected to the black people's history. The time period in which the story takes place is also very associated with black rights and the whole racial revolution topic.

All in all, I like Morrison. She clearly uses the past and the present when thinking about books and what to write about. She takes these things into consideration in absolutely all aspects of the novel and I think that this is what makes her such a great author.