Reassessing Baraka

Racism is a topic that keeps reacquiring in my everyday life, in school, and even on social media. After the historical research, it helped me understand the play more because the play reflects on our real-life racism issues. On how there are obvious equality differences between white and black people. In the play, Lula was acting crazy and no one questioned her because she is white and Lula's action was protected by the system. If Clay was the one acting crazy and disruptive, the passenger wouldn't react the same way. This quote from "Ballot or the Bullet " was the quote that spoke to me the most:  "That's why, in 1964, it's time now for you and me to become more politically mature and realize what the ballot is for... if we don't cast a ballot, it's going to end up in a situation where we're going to have to cast a bullet. It's either a ballot or a bullet". I connected this with the play by seeing how back in the days African Americans don't have a voice or the full right to vote. When they try to speak up, the government would not consider their words and the solution would always result in the "bullet". Like how Clay was getting harassed by Lula but he didn't fight back but instead he asked her to calm down which resulted in him getting stabbed. It's unfortunate to see how the white men will use their political power over African Americans can abuse the power by not letting them have their voice. Like Malcolm X said, "Not only did we give of our free labor, we gave of our blood. Every time he had a call to arms, we were the first ones in uniform". The Negro help fight for the country and sacrificed themselves for America but they are still getting disrespected. All they wanted was their civil rights as a human. Notice how Clay, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King all are African Americans that's got killed because of their color and how the system failed on protecting them. Most of the question I have was clarified through this research but one question I had was "Was the passenger scared to help or they didn't bother to help".