You don’t know what’s there for you to see. An act. Lies. Device. Not the pure heart, the pumping black heart. Baraka, p. 9
Clay’s statement above regards Lula’s statement about Uncle Tom, which the writer already stated in the second problem formulation. Based on his statement,
he aggressively asserts his identity by telling Lula that who he is, is not any of her business. And he claims that White people are foolish to realize that there is a
mask blacks present to the world, so as much as White people claim to know blacks, in fact, they actually do not.
CLAY. The belly rub? You wanted to do the belly rub? Shit, you don ’t
even know ho w. That ol’ dipty-dip shit you do, rolling your ass like
elephant. That’s not my kind of belly rub. Belly rub is not Queens. Belly rub is dark places, with big hats and over-coats held up with one
arm. Belly rub hates you. Baraka, p. 9 With this remark, Clay not only criticizes the Whites
’ propensity to appropriation but also ridicules Lula. She who in the beginning seems to be an attractive woman
is now a common fool. Clay manages to reverse the white usage of black as a signifier of evil, death, and darkness to make white carry the suggestions of
sickness, death, and absence. Yet, from his responses, Clay shows his real identity as an African American to fight against racist issues happened towards him and
his people.
2. Clay’s Responses toward Lula’s Statement about Blues
Lula delivers cynical comments about blues music, which can be heard usually in the plantations, more because it is the African American
’s music. And plantations are closely related to African Americans in the sl
avery era. In Clay’s final long speech, he replies with a defensive opinion regarding blues music.
CLAY. If Bessie Smith had killed some white people she wouldn’t have
needed that music. She could have talked very straight and plain about the world. No metaphors. No grunts. No wiggles in the dark of her soul.
Just straight two and two are four. Money. Power. Luxury. Like that. All of them Baraka, p. 9.
Again, Clay is trying to fight for himself and his people, instead of he has a self- awareness about the condition happened in that event. Through the explanation
about Bessie Smith, this is evidence that Clay is trying to break down the wall that Lula builds to cover her justification to society as a White American woman who
has higher level than the African Americans. As for Bessie Smith, she was an African American blues and jazz singer
and she was very popular in the 1920s. She was famous for her powerful voice and the emotion she was able to carry out her singing. Clay continues his
statement as follows CLAY.
They say, “I love Bessie Smith”. And don’t even understand that Bessie Smith is saying, “Kiss my ass, kiss my black unruly ass”. Before
love, suffering, desire, anything you can explain, she’s saying and very plainly, “Kiss my black ass”. And if you don’t know that, it’s you that’s
doing the kissing. Baraka, p. 9 Clay is trying to satirically insult Lula and her people inside the train. For those,
the White Americans who love Bessie Smith, are just swallowing their own words as they discriminate against and hate the blacks and love their music instead. Yet
for Lula, his statement seems to be a hard knock for her after she mocks and yells in blues-y tune at Clay. Again, from this response, it can also be seen that Clay
struggles for his people’s music.
3. Clay’s Struggle for Discrimination towards his Belief
Belief is a part of identity that lies within self, it is owned by the people who believes in it. Further, Clay also adds more statements about Christian charity
and rationalism, which are also part of the discrimination towards African Americans, which racial stereotype is a part of discrimination. They sacrifice
themselves in so many aspects, including their beliefs. As the heat of Civil Rights Act was spreading over the U. S. In the 1960s,
White Americans were taking political action inside religious places to control the African Americans. Lula states to Clay,
“You would-be Christian” Baraka, p. 8. Clay’s responses toward Christianity in the utterance below
CLAY. Don’t make the mistake, through some irresponsible surge of Christian charity, of taking too much about the advantages of Western
nationalism, or the great intellectual legacy of the white man, or maybe t
hey’ll begin to listen. Baraka, p. 9 The African Americans could not get equal status with the White Americans even
in a religious place such as church. Even if they have the same beliefs as White Americans, they still struggle with facing some discrimination. As Golden states
“the colored man’s church, mainly Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian, was controlled and dictated to by white men who deprived Negroes of religious
autonomy” Golden, 1964: 41, makes it clear that race issues are also a problem in the field of religion.
