A Rasin in the Sun gives non-African American readers a unique glimpse into the mindset of black people in America during the 1960s. The kind of struggles that they had to deal with, and some of the self-restricting internalized racism as well. Yet, everyone likes to think of this book as being so far away from current reality, a sort of “once upon a time” complex. Yet, the same issues that are encountered in A Raisin in the Sun are faced by hundreds of thousands of African Americans today. In this very city of Troy- the one everyone praises for being inclusive and diverse- 17 years ago two black young adults were almost denied a house. Those people were my parents. When they moved into the house that I currently live in to this day, they received a letter from our brand new neighbors. It said only two things: they didn’t want them to raise a family there, and that they were starting a petition to give to the city saying that my family had to move out because they were damaging the curb appeal of the neighborhood. The ringleader of it all was my next door neighbor, who proceeded to frown at my sister and I and flip us off every day when we walked home from school until he passed away last year. I mean, Jesus, people talk about racism like it’s dead or imaginary in the 21at century, like it’s as likely to see as a pink elephant. I think it’s important for people to start seeing literary works like A Raisin the Sun as actual history textbooks of experience, instead of just as pieces of rhetoric to persuade people to feel bad for African Americans.
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