Many people have questioned the existence of multiple consciousness. In his book, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, W.E.B. Du Bois writes about the “double consciousness” of African Americans. In his views, the double consciousness of African American can be seen through their racial identity as well as the identity of what remains of slavery into which all African Americans are born. President Obama is an exampleof someone who had experienced a multiple consciousness. In many ways, one can say that African Americans live a multiple consciousness existences and in his book, Du Bois attempts to lift the veil so that the reader can fully understand life as an African American.
According to Du Bois, African Americans have a double consciousness that is varied. African Americans are in a constant battle with themselves to adjust to having an American culture and African culture. It is undeniable that the first African slaves in the United States saw their homeland as being Africa and that America was the land where they were forced to live an enslaved life. Since the early African slaves had refused to accept the idea of the United States was their homeland led many to believe that one day they would be able to return to Africa. Yet, it was the African-American experience with slavery that led to the destruction of the dream of returning to their homeland, Africa. During slavery, plantation owners disregard the fact that many of the African slaves belonged to different tribes and countries. Instead, many ethnic groups were forced to mix. Additionally, the slaves were forced to forget their traditions, languages, religions, and cultural identities. They were forced to practice Christianity and given Christian names all in the attempt to stem any slave revolt. As time went on and early slaves died, their descendants lost many of their African identity due to slavery. Additionally, while the African American slaves were prohibited from practicing any African culture, they were also prevented from taken part in non-African American culture in the United States. The prevention of African American slaves and their descendants from taking part in American society led to a unique cultural identity for African Americans.
The reason there is a conflict between the "African" and the "American" identity of African Americans is the way Africans and African Americans perceived each other. African Americans viewed the various cultures of Africa as being radacially different from their own culture in America. African culture was strange and sometimes mysterious. Additionally, African Americans were left uneducated about how life was in Africa. Many assumed that all Africans are poor, had health issues, and were at war with each other. The Africans viewed the African Americans differently as well. Africans assumed that African Americans lived a good life free from discrimination and racism. Since the African Americans viewed the Africans as being odd and the Africans viewed the African Americans as having a better lifestyle, it became difficult for the two to form some a connection with each other.
The consequences of their culture being destroyed and given a new identity that was not theirs led to many myths about the African American homeland. The remnants of slavery led to many African American believing Africa, with its strange cultures, was a more liberal country where Africans were freer to practice their culture and develop an identity than African Americans in the United States. This was the African Americans' way of coming to terms with their slavery past with their current attempt at making an African American identity in the United States. It was their multiple consciousness that allowed them to believe that they could go to Africa and improve upon the ancient ways of Africans by incorporating their Western identity into the African identity.
When speaking about multiple consciousness, Du Bois uses the term "double consciousness." The African American identity has and will always be in conflict about what is truly “African” and what is “American” about the culture that they inherit through their forced enslavement in America. Having faced discrimination and racism by non-African Americans in the United States, African Americans question whether they identify culturally with Americans or with Africans. In one article titled The Double-Consciousness of John H. White, Clarence Williams remember being asked, “Are you a black photographer or a photographer who happens to be black?” (Williams 2016). These questions about their identity arise due to remnants of slavery.
The idea of multiple consciousness such as Du Bois concept of “double consciousness” plays a part in several aspects of the African American community. For Du Bois, double consciousness was seen as a white American privilege that the African slaves and their descendants could not afford due to historical reasons. For many of the early African slaves, spirituality was part of their consciousness which started in Africa. Many African American folklore, faith, and history of suffering are rooted in the spirituality that was brought by the African slaves to America. Today, Du Bois double consciousness takes on a new meaning through President Obama’s term in office.
During his term in office, President Obama faced a unique situation with regards to the African American community. Even though President Obama is the son of an African man and a White woman, is still perceived as being African American rather than mixed. Due to his classification, many took it upon themselves to point out that President Obama was trying to push a “Black agenda” while in office. In 2013, President Obama appeared in the press room to speak about the issue of the death of Trayvon Martin. His appearance started a national talk about the race problems in the United States. In his article titled Obama’s “Double Consciousness” On Race, Jonathan Alter wrote “But the surprise appearance will have lasting importance if it keeps the President on the hook, too—if it helps reconcile a double consciousness that had left the Obama White House facing some of the most important issues of the day as if under a veil (another of Du Bois’s concepts)” (Alter, 2013). The multiple consciousness that President Obama face is race based. He tried to reconcile the racial issue by downplaying his feelings for issues that were close to his conscious. He was private about what he wanted to accomplish with regards to the African American community so not to offend the non-African Americans in society. However, he was able to help as he wanted by passing laws that would benefit the African American community due to their disadvantages.
Compare to other racial groups in the United States, African Americans are at a disadvantage. According to statistics, “fourteen per cent black unemployment; four out of ten young black men caught up in the criminal-justice system” (Alter 2013). When President Obama came into office, many wonder if he would be able to successfully help the African American community. There were those who even called into question how black President Obama really was when he failed to push the necessary changes for the African American community. However, it could be seen that many things Obama had done, while it benefited all Americans, helped African Americans. “The expansion of food stamps, unemployment insurance, and the Earned Income Tax Credit under Obama have disproportionately helped blacks because blacks in America are disproportionately poor” (Alter 2013). President Obama also increased the Pell Grant, the Affordable Care Act, as well as helped save jobs by stimulating the economy. Additionally, he helped to fund the historically black colleges and universities and end the sentencing gap between certain drug uses. Faced with multiple consciousness, President Obama had overcome a great deal to help shorten the gap between the African Americans and other racial groups in the United States. Despite all of these actions, the African Americans still have a lot of issues to go through especially since they tend to live behind a veil.
Du Bois believe that the African American community suffered from a multiple consciousness known as double consciousness, and since they suffer, the African Americans live a life behind a “veil." There are three things that the “veil” refers to for African Americans. Firstly, the veil refers to the African American skin color. Next, the veil is the fact that the white Americans have an inability to see African Americans as a contributing part of the American society. Finally, the veil that Du Bois refers to in his book is the African Americans’ inability to clearly see themselves apart from the definition that white Americans gave them. In fact, Du Bois believed African Americans had the ability to see themselves through their own eyes as well as the eyes of white Americans. This gift of dual sight gave the African Americans a unique insight into racial issues that many other racial groups does not possess. However, the multiple consciousness of the African American community continues to be an issue as they attempt to define who they are as people living outside of their ancestral homeland.
W.E.B. Dubois had written that African Americans have the “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (1996). The multiple consciousness that African Americans face on a daily basis in the United States comes from the days of slavery. In trying to prevent slave revolts, slave owners destroyed the African identity of their slaves. Left with no former understanding of their African cultures, African Americans attempt to come to terms with their multiple identities. Often, those the “African” and “American” identities do not fit comfortably together. Yet, African Americans continue their attempt at forging an identity.
References
Alter, J. (2013, July 25). Obama’s “double consciousness” on race - The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/obamas-double-consciousness-on-race
Du Bois, W. E. (1996). The souls of Black folk. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm
Williams, C. (2016). The double-consciousness of John H. White - Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved from http://www.cjr.org/the_feature/the_double-consciousness_of_john_h_white.php
