Macon's idea for the "Day of Apology" always seemed really off to me from the start. Having random white people just going and saying sorry to random black people on the streets just sounds like a crazy and bad idea, regardless of what the intentions were, and the day does end up turning out very badly.
Looking at it in an extremely general sense, the Day of Apology does sort of represent a good idea. Having whites become more aware of white privilege and express that they don't support it is clearly a good thing to have happen, and it would help to lessen racist feeling. However, as with most of his good ideas, Macon really doesn't go around accomplishing this in a good way. In addition to the general awkwardness of the situation, Macon also seems to have some goals for this thing that aren't as good. He seems to be at least partially motivated by humiliating whites, as he wants them to feel uncomfortable and even wants them to get attacked by blacks, showing his hatred of white people and culture.
Macon was correct in predicting that the apologies would be very uncomfortable, as people generally don't know what to say. This is understandable, as there really isn't a good way to make an apology in this situation. Most people haven't actually done something obviously racist that they'd be able to apologise for, and those who had probably wouldn't be the people willing to apologise anyways. People more apologise for the system in general, basically saying "sorry that racism exists," without actually doing anything about it.
The apologies generally go down poorly with the blacks towards whom they're directed. The whites apologising, for the most part, don't actually seem to care that much, they seem to just be doing it just to say they'd done it; they're not that sincere and the blacks sort of pick up on that. They also seem to feel that whites apologising like this doesn't make up for or mean anything. Macon eventually does get his wish as the apologies turn violent in multiple cases, but the whole thing turns into a disaster when Macon helps start a large gunfight at the end. The Day of Apology seemed doomed from the start, and it ends up going very badly for everyone involved.
There were problems all around with the day of apology idea. I think the main problem was that nobody was ready for it. Not the whites, not the blacks, no one had the right mentality for it and no one probably will ever. There are still too many racial tensions and they keep people from forgiving one another.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Luie, and also it all started because of an offhanded comment from Macon, right? He seems to just go with the flow of things, which isn't necessarily a problem, but also he doesn't seem to think that there will be any consequences or problems at all, which I think is what made it a failure. The interaction between the tap dancer seemed to show how the apologies were going alright, but it was really just a downward spiral from there.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Luie on this topic. Though this comment at the end of his comment also brings up an interesting new topic that though mentioned a little in this book hasn't been commented on too much which is black nationalism. It seems as though through the utter failure of any of the races in the day of apology, black nationalism might seem much more appealing which I feel like could be a potential reason for Macon's creating this day.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of planning in the day of apology situation really seems like determined the outcome. It started as a random comment, and without any real thought it evolved into this massive ordeal that nobody could control in the end. There were good intentions behind it, but the end result wan't able to show them.
ReplyDeleteThe Day of Apology was a good idea, but the execution was terrible. It could have been better planned, or as best planned as you can with an event where white people go up to black people and apologize. In reality, I don't know how Macon could have set it up so that violence wouldn't have broken out.
ReplyDelete