This week we have talked about many things. One reoccurring theme both in the Carby-Hazel article and the rest of Smith's book, was interracial relationships, miscegenation laws, and lynching in the name of "saving white womanhood". Ida B. Wells spoke against lynching and presented it as a way of keeping the white male powerful and dominant. I have four short videos (ranging around two minutes each) that tell the story of Sam and Kate. This was in the popular 2003 film, Holes.
As you watch these clips think about how patriarchy is established? This film shows both the power over white women and the power over African-Americans. What does this kiss threaten? Is this a case where the white men are "saving" Kate? Is the claim of rape relevant? What is really at stake here? Can you point out visual images (not just the lynching) but why would they burn the school house, or kill the animal? What is the purpose? Who was the lynch mob accountable to... the town authorities? Why is Sam killed and not Kate? What is the purpose of this? How is Kate viewed by the men of town? As a person or as something for their exclusive consumption? Explain.
If the man had been white and the woman had been an African-American would the story be the same? Would they have had to hide their relationship in 'tasks' in the first place? Would the town have reacted in the same way? Would the man have been lynched? Why?
The kiss in the last video threatens the power of white males; Miss Kate rejected a white male when propositioned but decided to kiss Sam. The white men, of course, think that they are "saving" Kate, but the claim of rape is not relevant. It is obvious that she wanted to kiss him back, even though the Sheriff said that that was not the illegal act, but the opposite. The relationship of black males and white females was not only discouraged, but made illegal. In addition, according to Smith, even cartoons were made to "warn" the public about the "dangers" of interracial relationships; one picture displays a young white woman about to kiss a hairy, ape-like black man, and the words "Kiss of Death" are below (133). The purpose of the other visual images like burning the schoolhouse and killing Sam's mule was to portray the extreme to which white men would go to ensure that their power was known. Sam was killed because he broke the law, despite how unjust it was. Kate, according to the Sheriff, did not break the law. From the video clips, it seems as if Miss Kate is seen as something for their consumption; one man asks her on a date but in a very demeaning way, and then the drunk Sheriff demands that she kiss him, not considering if she would want to or not. If the color and sexes were switched in this story, there would be no storyline; the white man would kiss the black woman, and the world would continue as it was. I cannot say for certain, though, how this relationship would be viewed by others because from most of our texts, it is clear that most white male-black female relationships were forceful or included rape. Either way, though, the white man would have never been lynched.
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