Homeostasis of an enduring narrative

This is quite a famous photo, of the Little Rock 9 and the protesters. This clearly distinguishes a “raced” body in the African American woman in the fore ground and of the Caucasian woman in the middle ground shouting. This is an enduring narrative here that has been seen throughout history.

The African American woman in the foreground is keeping her emotions in tack. Her lips are pursed and her body language depicts that she is stronger than the Caucasian woman behind her who is shouting in her ‘disgust’ of the breech of social harmony, as she sees. The other Caucasian woman standing in the middle ground, with her head turned, shows that she is also ‘disgusted’ and cannot even bare to look upon the African American woman.

My feeling for this image is heartbreak. I believe in equality and here it is absent, but it also lets me reflect on what is the equality that I’m referring to. Today equality is lucrative to people; it is still absent in society. Take the issue of having the first African American president. Many were not in good spirits when this happened in 2008 and are still not.

None the less this image delineates the struggle that can be seen on the African American Woman’s face that is going unnoticed by everyone around, because it is not the crowds concern. Also, the shouting Caucasian woman’s behavior is going unquestioned because she is the ‘norm’ and the homeostasis of the hegemony depicted in this time of history.

This cultural body, raced body, which is depicted, is important to recognize because it details the struggle that ruled society for the African Americans, the struggle just to be able to live without being persecuted. This representation clearly shows that we, as an audience, should be shouting at the African American woman, because she is different. But you could also take the position of siding with the African American woman. She is hurting inside, and there is a certain ethos displayed by the photographer, with the angle of the shot and how each woman is positioned, that attracts the human sympathy.

Overall this cultural body and raced body helps distinguish the brutality shown towards different races, the enduring narrative between Caucasian vs. African American that can still be seen today, although it runs stealthily through our culture, it is none the less a domineering characteristic in society.