"Niggerish ways"

When the gang is trying to steal the safe from the store during the riots, Gunnar encounters his father who is pulling up with he other policemen, and tries to distract him to let the others get away. When he tries to talk to his father, his father says, "You are not a Kaufman. I refuse to let you embarrass me. You can't embarrass me with poetry and your niggerish ways" (137). 

This scene way very striking to me in a couple of ways. Just looking at what his father says first, "You are not a Kaufman" gives off this very hostile vibe that you would not expect from a father to a son. The fact that he is willing to completely separate himself from his son without even knowing the situations he is in seems like their relationship was already messed up. In addition, Gunnar's father see him as only a source of embarrassment. This seems weird especially when he mentions poetry because the gang he runs with and all the other gangs have resident poets, and it seems to be fairly accepted in the society, but Gunnar's father sees it as a source of embarrassment. This puts a twist on the situation where your parents are supposed to be accepting of what you want to do with your life, and his mother is fairly accepting of everything he does, but his father is angry with him for it. 

The other striking phrase is when he says that Gunnar's "niggerish ways" are an embarrassment. Previously Gunnar was ecstatic when he was called the n-word, but in this context it is very insulting. The way he acts is seen as bad and unseemly, playing into the stereotype of the aggressive. uncultured black man. Gunnar's father dislikes how Gunnar acts so much that that he is willing to hurl what could be considered one of the worst insults at Gunnar. I think this insult is so bad because it is basically telling Gunnar that his identity is wrong and wont be respected by people outside of the community.

Overall, Gunnar's father dislikes Gunnar very much, enough to basically call him out as a completely different person, completely unrelated to himself. He also harbors enough animosity towards him that he is willing to call him an embarrassment, and even call his character bad.

How to get out

Gunnar has a unique life where he exceeds at multiple things and can choose between them to figure out what he really wants to do. He has amazing basketball skills and is a famous poet by the time he is in college. This situation is very peculiar as it gives Gunnar the ability to abandon either of these when he wants to or is not enjoying it, and pursue the other. This is not the case for most people with some talent. Usually people are only really good at one thing, and especially if they are poor they have to pursue that to have a chance to get out of the cycle of poverty. Its Gunnar's talent at both that allows him to not really care much about basketball and allows him to pursue poetry as well.

This situation gives us an interesting dynamic where Gunnar doesn't need to focus solely basketball, and where he doesn't really enjoy it even though he is good because he doesn't need to force himself into liking basketball. Although Gunnar's character is defined by his basketball talent, he doesn't actually buy into the sport that much. The fact that he feels like he is performing shows this to a great extent. Gunnar knows he is just being used for entertainment, and so he plays along with that aspect, but Gunnar never really wants to play basketball for others.

This is opposed in his poetry as he write only for himself for the most part. Gunnar is able to express his true thoughts about issues that he thinks are relevant and he doesn't really need to worry about a public image or audience.

Overall, if Gunnar only had talent for basketball, he probably would have needed to care more about his public appearance as basketball would have been able to give him a good life. If Gunnar was only good at poetry a similar dynamic may have existed, but the fact that he is good at both allows him to express his true self.

Reflections on Ethnic Notions

Ethnic Notions had a large discussion about how the stereotypes of blacks created in the slavery and post-slavery eras continue and are reinforced today. Particularly, the stereotype of the aggressive, uncultured black man that is not respectable and can't do much with his life is and was present and depicted very often. Although this stems from the thought that African Americans were dependent on white population, the stereotype still somewhat exists today.

One major form of this today is in music, specifically the G-rap, or gangsta rap genre. Iconic rappers such as Dr. Dre have many songs that exemplify this stereotype. Songs like "Forgot About Dre" on The Chronic 2001 where Dre asserts himself in an aggressive way as one of the most important people in the era. Other songs like "Bring Da Ruckus" by Wu-Tang Clan on Enter the Wu-Tang Clan- 36 Chambers also show this fairly well.

Many rappers tap into this stereotype, making song about drugs, sex, or killing people and all of these songs seem to be a descendant of this stereotype of the aggressive black man that was created so that people would regret stopping slavery. In addition, many rappers are only characterized by this style of song when in many songs there are deeper messages.

The main rebuttal those making the songs have to say about this is that what they are representing is generally just a depiction of life in the ghetto. Instead of being aggressive because they can't not be aggressive, its is because these people had to survive through rough times and they want to represent their hardship through music. Although this may be true, many also do not like this representation because people tend to generalize more than is needed and this seems to reflect badly on the others of the population.

Overall, this stereotype is still very present today, and I believe it will continue to be as long as it is being used in situations like these.