Racial Discrimination as a Prerequisite for Inequality

Name Instructor Course Date Racial Discrimination as a Prerequisite for Inequality Each song or poem has a story. American poets and songwriters of the 19th century used their writings to illustrate the situation in American society and beyond. However, does racism cause inequality in society? In “The Ballad of the Landlord,” Langston Hughes presents the real situation in American society during the 1940s. The landlord and the tenant feature in the poem. The Ballad is composed in the impoverished squalor background of the black American community. A conflict exists when the landlord, a white and the owner of the apartment, fails to repair a broken house and when confronted by the tenant, a black, he calls in the police. After that, the tenant gets arrested, jailed and termed a disgrace to society. Hughes presents the theme of conflict, racism, and discrimination in the poem, alongside stylistic devices such as allusion and personification that creates a picture in the mind of the reader of the racial situation in the 1940s. This paper is therefore aimed at providing a discussion on how the major themes highlighted in the poem define the real situation of the 1940s American society. Thus, an illustration of Racism as the primary cause of inequality is the main point of focus for this paper. Many scholars hold the view that racial discrimination is the leading cause of inequality between whites and blacks (Manduca 186). Hughes describes the relationship between the tenant and the landlord to illustrate how the two races differ, from the financial endowment to treatment by both the law enforcing unit, the court and between themselves. It is evident that the black tenant is living in a desolate shack with a broken stairway and a leaking rooftop that the landlord does not seem to care to repair. “Landlord, Landlord / my roof has sprung a leak” (1-2). The tenant continues to complain in stanza two, “Landlord, Landlord / These steps are broken down.” (5-6). The landlord does not treat the tenant as an equal human. He is comfortable with the tenant staying in a house in bad conditions and wants the tenant to pay more money to get the house repaired. “Ten Bucks you say is due? / Well, that is Ten Bucks more'n I will pay you (10-11). Hughes uses these lines to demonstrate inequality in the treatment of blacks. The landlord does not find a reason for repairing the house using the monthly rent. Instead, he wants the tenant to pay for repairs. Hughes uses Law enforcing authority in depicting Inequality based on racial discrimination. Even at present, the police force is still instrumental in conducting discrimination based on race. Fryer reports that police are 21 percent more likely to draw weapons for blacks as compared to whites (4). In the poem, the landlord seeks help from the police instead of attending to the plight of the tenant. “Police! Police / Come and get this man!” (21-22). The white Landlord is sure that the police department will show up and side with him. Surprisingly, as presented by Hughes, the police respond to the call of the landlord with absolute urgency. “ Copper’s Whistle! /...