Corruption in this society
This play depicts a society that is permeated by corruption. Corruption is rampant within the authority and it is being used to oppress the less fortunate in the society. A few individuals who have a connection with the authority seem to benefit from the prevailing corruption. The rich have continued to thrive in their riches while the poor languishes in their poverty.
Corruption in the society is depicted by the demolition of the Mr. Barlow’s house. It turns out the taxes were paid, and authority did not sell it, . Harmond and Roosevelt want away around to build on the same plot. Hammond’s father had been allegedly paying taxes, . Harmond then hands Mr. Barlow a few $10,000 dollars to woo him into accepting the lie that the house is due for demolition, . The title deed that belongs to Mr. Barlow had been unlawfully acquired by Harmond just because he wants to be the mayor. Harmond lies that the authority had auctioned the house, . There is, however, lack of evidence to indicate that the house had been auctioned. He confides to Roosevelt that Mr. Barlow could not accept the cash he offered him. Roosevelt accepts that they just have to demolish the building. After Harmond has realized they are acting unlawfully by trying to demolish a property that does not belong to them, he decides to cancel the tender, . However, Harmond still intends to carry out development on that property nonetheless.
Old Joe also hands some money, $100, to Harmond in the name of paying taxes, . Harmond is not the authority to receive taxes. The payment was corrupt and meant for the personal benefit Harmond. There is no legal receipt issued to acknowledge the receipt of tax. After Harmond has realized that his own father was allegedly paying taxes, he decides to change plans for demolition this is because he is aware that the tax records would have soon proved him wrong, . He also cancels the demolition perhaps to hide his father’s scandal and to keep Old Joe from discovering the truth. He later claims that he has no idea why his father was paying taxes for Old Joe’s mother. It is shown in the preceding parts of the document that he and his father were involved in scandalous deals of selling and acquiring property illegally, .
Corruption is also evident when Harmond calls the authority to cancels Mr. Barlow’ summons for the offences he committed. Just by a phone call, he manages to cancel the summons in a bid to have Mr. Barlow convinced to accept the money and have his house demolished, . He solicits his agreement to the project of demolishing his own house. Harmond succeeds in obtaining a waiver for Mr. Barlow’s (Old Joe) charges because he is connected with the authority. In fact, Old Joe was wrongly accused of these charges, . The primary aim was to have him give in to the demand of demolishing his house without compensation or consent.
Harmond also admits to corruption. He admits that the house they were intending to demolish (Old Joe’s house) was illegally purchased through corruption. He admits Bedford Hills acquired the house, 1839 Wylie, illegally from him, and he did not own that house rightfully. It was acquired during one of the black dealings of the city authority,.
Harmond also tries to get an affidavit seeking to stop the demolition. He is forcing his way to obtain this affidavit by telling the officer in charge to state that the houses were being sold as a measure of expediency. He also lied that they have proof of the market rate at which the house was sold. “They are trying to scare you. They cannot nail you for anything. Just sign the affidavit. There’s no way they can charge you with criminal intent,” Harmond to Herm .
The city has been involved in selling property seized for real taxes without holding a sheriff’s auction. Harmond has been involved in these underhand deals, . It turns out that Harmond’s father was involved in this. Therefore, when the issue for Mr. Barlow’s house came up he figured out that he was going to be caught. This explains why after the renaissance of their past with Old Joe he changed plans not to demolish that house.
Racism in this society
American society practices so much racism in terms of the color amongst its black population. Africa Americans (Blacks) are prejudiced and are secluded from enjoying the benefits in the society that is meant to be free for every individual. Consequently, they have remained the poorest in the society, performing odd jobs and suffering from inferiority.
The setting of this play involves a society comprising of African Americans, referred to as Blacks or Negroes (‘niggers’), and White Americans. This play highlights several occasions where blacks are prejudiced mistreated or denied of important rights. To begin with, the black individuals are not having a fair chance of participating in business activities and investment. Roosevelt remarks that there was a time blacks were not “letat the table.” Blacks were meant to open the door, shine the shoes and serve drinks as the whites made business deals, .
There is a large difference between the white Americans and black Americas. Black Americans are poor. As Old Joe puts it, when a white individuals dies, his children get some money, but when a black man dies, his children are indebted (receives bill from the undertaker). As Sterling puts it, one needs to get a white lawyer in order to win court cases. If it happens that a black lawyer is involved, then a black criminal will most likely end up in Western State Penitentiary. For white criminals, the furthest they go is country club jail, .
Blacks are usually oppressed. According to Sterling, it does not matter whether a black man or lawyer wins a case. In that case, they will change the rules so that the black remains guilty and charged for criminal case. In addition, if a black man is suspected to be guilty, he gets into trouble unless he emigrates elsewhere to start living. If a black person is marked criminal and is allowed to live, most rights will be denied. “If you learn the rules, they will let you back on the playing field. Now you are crippled. You haven’t got, but one leg” Harmond also acknowledges this that the law does not mean anything to the whites unless it is beneficial to them. He remarks this in response to the injunction against demolition. The judge dismissed the injunction and ordered the demolition to continue nonetheless. “The law does not mean anything unless it favors them Right and wrong do not matter,”
Sterling also brings more perception of racism against blacks. He says that the white people refer to them as “niggers.” He remarks that, before the whites, Negroes are the worst thing in God’s creation. Negroes have blind-eyelids. Even a dog or a cat knows their identity, but Negroes do not know their identity. They assume they are white. This implies that the white race is superior.
Black people are oppressed. Sterling remarks that black men stoop for white men in order to get favors. “You go round kissing the white man’s ass then they see me think I’m supposed to kiss it, too.” There is open prejudice against blacks. Harmond admits that if the blacks had a black mayor, a black CEO or a black head of the department the blacks could not possibly be prejudiced, .
Black people are being used to fulfill the needs of the whites. Roosevelt is buying out Harmond to get money to invest into the radio station. The motive behind this is to get a minority black person in the project. “Bernieis using you (Roosevelt) to get back a stake in a prime redevelopment site that is being funded by the federal government. However, he still needs minority endorsement. He still needs a black figure on the enterprise.” Harmond regards Roosevelt as a “grinning nigger in the woodpile” implying that Roosevelt is being used as black in shoddy, scandalous dealings.
Reference
Wilson, A. (2012). RADIO GOLF. Retrieved November 29, 2012, from MyPage: http://mypage.siu.edu/leitner/pdfs/radiogolf.pdf.
