The Plight Invisibility [

Lisa Hayden

AP Lit &Comp/Per:4

Mrs. Romano

21 May 2015

The Shadow of the Veil

In a society that values individual dreams and unique opinions, an American citizen’s identity should be very important. Many people go throughout their life believing that what they do and how they act impacts the world around them. This may be true for many people, but for a significant amount of people in America this is not the case. The majority of the black community is construed by society as a collection of general stereotypes rather than an actual, individual person; or they are invisible. In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, he develops the narrative of a black Man who, after people label him everything he is not, realizes he is invisible and goes into a hole. This invisibility is described by the protagonist as how people, “see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination-indeed, everything except me” (Ellison 3). “One face” media coverage and the separation of whites and blacks are factors that contribute to this invisibility. In order to get closer to visibility these factors must be abolished.

The media has a tendency to portray the black community, specifically black males, as one face. African-American men and boys appear in the news as thieves, criminals, predators, and violent disturbances and rarely as good students and fathers. Our country is now comfortable with the one-dimensional portrayal of black youth in not only the news but also video games, magazines, movies, and advertisements. This is a result of  the firm grip white supremacist structuralism has on  the media. This grip is deep-rooted in history and has been present for a very long time. In years following the abolishment of slavery, white lynch mobs justified the mutilation and lynching of black men with merely, “we’ve got to lynch a nigger now and then to protect our women” (Ginzberg 210). Messages like this one resonate with the justification of police brutality with their efforts to protect their own mortal hides. Both messages are coated in racism and preconceived notions of the black race causing black boys to be criminalized before they know what a criminal is. The criminalization of black youths creates the perpetuation of this cycle of blacks being guilty until proven innocent (and in most cases they’re never proven innocent). With this prevalent portrait of the black community it is easy to neglect any other opinions about the black community. The individuality of each gem is forgotten and one, single puzzle is seen instead of each unique puzzle piece.

Invisibility is not only caused by the purposeful manipulation of the media, but a subtle undertone that our society is comprised of: the veil. The veil is a concept that is present in W.E.B. Dubois’ novel “The Souls of Black Folk”. The veil is comprised of three concepts. First, the veil “suggests to the literal darker skin of Blacks which is a physical demarcation of difference from whiteness” (Dubois 87). The second suggests white people’s lack of clarity to see Blacks as “true” Americans. And lastly, the veil “refers to Blacks lack of clarity to see themselves outside of what white America describes and prescribes for them” (87). This veil shades the vision of both Blacks and Whites. The veils reference to the physical demarcation of blacks, or skin color, is the basis of racism. The perception of African-Americans as inferior to the white race is a result of white supremacist structuralism, a system of stratification based on the belief that skin color makes whites superior. The invisibility of the black community is caused by racism based on the skin color of blacks and whites. Race ignores words spoken, images seen, and what is in the heart and minds of blacks it instead focuses on skin color; an aspect with hardly any relevance to a person’s identity. This is why the separation of whites and blacks contributes to invisibility. The labels produced, based of a person’s skin color, neglect the individual’s identity and perpetuate the general stereotype. 

Works Cited

B., Du Bois W. E., Henry Louis Gates, and Terri Hume. Oliver. The Souls of Black Folk: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.

Cacioppo, John T., Richard E. Petty, and Stephen L. Crites, Jr. "Attitude Change." Encyclopedia of Human Behavior 1 (2004): 261-70. Web.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED. July 2009. Lecture.

Ginzburg, Ralph. 100 Years of Lynchings. Reprint ed. N.p.: Black Classic, 1996. Print.