What’s really behind the current controversy over this 1957 piece of writing and is the infamous article still worth reading?
But despite its defects,"The White Negro" tapped into an aspect of American society —the growing alienation of white Americans from the dominant sociological and cultural trends—that few writers at the time had recognized.
In"The White Negro," the 34-year old Mailer described the growing unease of some members of his own generation as well as the next generation of white Americans. Mailer wrote that Black Americans had to deal with the worst aspects of American society every day, especially violence, poverty, and overt discrimination by cops, employers, banks, the media, and other institutions.
, also published in 1957—which included the author's description of a spending time in the"Denver colored section, wishing I were a Negro, feeling that the best the white world had offered was not enough ecstasy for me, not enough life, joy, kicks, darkness, music, not enough night." Mailer should have given Kerouac some credit for inspiring"The White Negro."
Mailer believed that"The White Negro" displayed sympathy for the plight of Black Americans. To the extent that Black people engaged in anti-social or even criminal behavior, Mailer thought that it was a way to cope with the harsh realities of racism. He was not blaming the victim, but blaming the system.
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