Black like me

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Black Like Me
John Howard Griffin, a resident of Texas in the 1950’s was deeply worried by the racial injustice he witnessed. Due to his inability to relate with the black man’ s experience, he thus decided to take a radical but an awkward step. He receives a temporary medical treatment that would alter his skin color. After his wife, as well as George Levitan, offers him full support, he sets out on a mission towards New Orleans where his life and journey as a black man would start. While in New Orleans, he comes across a black man, Sterling William, where Griffin begins his dermatological regimen. He begins by exposing the skin to ultraviolet light, undergoing oral medication as well as dying the skin (Griffins p.14). Eventually, on looking at the mirror, Griffin sees a wholly changed white man to a black man. On seeing that, he panics briefly thinking he had lost his identity completely. Immediately, Griffin starts his journey on a mission to explore the black community. However, although Griffin managed to turn his skin to black, he wouldn’t find it easy to pass himself off as a negro due to the widely spread racism that was all over the major cities.
Griffin is aware of the prejudice, hard time, and oppression that he is likely to face. From every corner of the streets, the word “nigger” seems to be a normal word from the white residents. He even finds it challenging to secure any form of employment or also getting a restroom where all blacks are allowed (Griffins p.

178). At banks, even the clerks’ declines to cash in his checks to the extent of a white man attacking him before he succeeds to chase him. Through several traumatizing days he encountered in several cities, Griffin travels towards the southern communities who are worryingly regarded to be extremely racial. This depicts the heightened cases of racial injustices and the extent to which it had grown in individuals all over the cities.
During this period, Griffin finds that situation of being a black very appalling and the communities seemed so run-down and even defeated. However, while in Montgomery, he comes across a preacher named Marin Luther King Jr who leads the community against passive resistance as well as a nonviolent form of being against the racism laws and rules (Griffin p.197). The rebellion by the southern districts towards the oppressive laws by the racists gives hope towards bringing racism to an end.
Again after being weary and depressed of his condition, Griffin decides to reduce the medicines he was taking and consequently turns back to the original color. He keeps on changing from one race to another and at the same time visiting a particular place as a white man and then later as a black man (Griffins p.201). He realizes that when he visits a position as a white, the whites show a lot of respect while the black people respect him with a lot of suspicions. Similarly, when he is changed to a black man, the blacks treat him warmly and with a lot of generosity while the whites treat his with a lot of contempt as well as hostility.
The increased racial cases illustrate that there is a terrible gap separating races due to misunderstanding. Thus a tolerant dialogue is essential to bring cohesion and understanding between races.
Work cited
John Howard Griffin. Black like me: the definitive Griffin estate edition, corrected from
original manuscripts. Wings Press, (2004): 12-208.