Baldwin

I am floored by this short story.  I was primarily shocked at the torture of the black man.  Of course, I have read about the awful treatment of the black man; the hangings, the arrests and beatings, and the burning of their properties and churches.  I have never heard of this brutal type of torture.  Not that hanging isn't brutal but... you know what I am saying.  This was uncomfortable to get through.  I guarantee this happened a lot and I have either been oblivious to it (nah!) or I have never come across written accounts of this type of torture. This truly depicts "man's inhumanity to man". After reading the story, my mind went back to a line Baldwin wrote, "They had not been singing black folks into heaven, they had been singing white folks into hell".  Rightfully so!!  The treatment of blacks at this time was horrific.  I thought Baldwin's use of something as beautiful as music (singing) to depict the horrors and plight of the African American race was beautiful.  There is something so powerful about listening to a group of people sing.  Voices raised together are stronger than one voice crying out and Baldwin symbolizes this with the continuous singing. 
I literally DESPISED Jesse by the end of this story which also led me to cry over the idea that, at the time, the white man thought he was so superior to everyone else.  White men living by the word of the Bible and sadistically torturing their fellow men.  I just want to throw up.
I was also crazed by the fact that so many white people were raised with this superior quality.  Jesse's parents were the devil.  The father might as well have had horns and a tail.  After witnessing the horrific torture, this is what we read, "His father's face was full of sweat, his eyes were very peaceful.  At that moment Jesse loved his father more than he had ever loved him".  SAD!!!  And then the true colors of the white man really come out with, "Yeah, said his father, they'll come and get him by and by. I reckon we better get over there and get some of that food before it's all gone."  JEEZ!  It really pisses me off and makes me sad at the same time.  Don't even get me started on the fact that Jesse (as a man) is having sex with black women and that as a kid, his best friend was black.  Baldwin really shows the side of the white man that was so obvious to the black man.  I feel as if this blog is not very coherent, but I feel sort of light headed after reading this.  Yeah, I read King and Barker.  Yeah, I watch crappy horror movies like SAW and Hostel.  But the fact that this horrific treatment of men happened (and in some places - still does) is the scariest thing of all to realize.  It sounds strange to say that I enjoyed this story but it did open my eyes even more to the strength of the black man and what he has to go through just to live and breathe.