Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism Book

Read chapter nine for a grad class. In this chapter "Space Traders" come to America and offer our Nation much needed resources and relief from debt and ask for all Black citizens in return...needless to say, I was not shocked by American's response to this offer.

Here are my thoughts on the chapter:
Sadly, the ending of this chapter did not shock or surprise me. It was apparent from the first meeting with the President and the professor that the Nation would accept the offer of the Space Traders. It was briefly mentioned in the chapter but I could not help but wonder where bi-racial citizens would stand in an event such as this. Would the government refer back to the one-drop rule of the Jim Crow laws? Or would the tone of skin come into play? Would interracial families remain intact or would they be separated by color? I also thought of the wealthy white men who held a meeting to discuss the major changes that would occur if African Americans were removed from the economy. Property values would change, poorer Whites would be more aware of their poverty, 12% of the market/jobs would be lost, not to mention that many Whites would have to take over the hard labor and domestic service jobs of the African Americans. The professor's wife brought another sad thought from the chapter to light, while the Space Traders were bound to be evil; African Americans would not be better off remaining in a racist America. It is disheartening.

I wonder what the outcry would be if this chapter was made into a movie. It would certainly bring race relations and civil rights issues back to the forefront of our minds and demand that we readdress racist policies in hopes of achieving social justice.