Manufactured or Natural?

This week, we reviewed a short story titled, In Darkness and Confusion by Ann Petry. It was a story about a man, William Jones, whose son, Sam, has been shot, arrested, and imprisoned for twenty years. The story takes place in Harlem, New York, where William discovers his son’s unfortunate fate while getting a haircut at a barber shop. Sam was a stand up guy who did very well in school and looked forward to college. Unfortunately, during this time, many young men were being drafted because of the ongoing war. William was worried for Sam, not because he was in the army but because he was sent to Georgia, where they did not treat African-Americans fairly indicating discrimination in the defense industry.

Sam was Williams pride and joy and lived his dreams by becoming what he wasn’t, an educated African-American. When Sam was shot by a Military Police Officer over an argument, it was like having Williams dreams shot down too. This became part of an emotional build up the community of Harlem experienced at the time, not to mention food shortages because of the war. Eventually, the buildup ruptured and a riot broke out. What sparked the flame was when the community believed the police shot a young black boy dead, when in reality, was still alive. This just proves people believe what they want to believe. They tend to believe in events that never happened such as fake deaths and phantom rapes, which have been the reason for racial riots throughout America.