“You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down”

I thought that the article written by Alice Walker was very interesting but kind of concerning at the same time.  It was interesting to read about the black couple and how the husband viewed not only black women in general, but also his wife.  I think that is pathetic that he cannot get over the fact that black women yes were mistreated and it was awful that were treated that way but he cannot take that out on his wife.  Just because he cannot get over does not mean that his wife is like those women or make her suffer from his own insecurities.  The wife should be proud of her heritage and not hide behind it just because her husband disapproves.  I just do not understand why the husband believes that her body has belonged to someone else and why he cannot love her as she is.  The whole idea of lynching and pornography is still confusing to me.  However, from what I understand is that lynching and sexual exploitation of enslaved black women were just ways for white men control the black people of their community.  For example, the text says “American slavery relied on the denial of the humanity of Black folks, and the undermining of our sense of nationhood and family, on the stripping away of the Black man’s role as protector and provider, and on the structuring of Black women into the American system of white male domination...”  The husband struggles with the fact that he is not a white male but he tries to be because he hides his afro and tries to straighten it.  He is struggling with his identity in society and that is why he is attracted to white women, because if he is attracted to white women then he should be considered white.  It makes sick to think that her husband could feel so negative about his wife and not even be able to look her in the eye.  This idea of culture and race and sexual exploitation is interesting to read about, however, this idea was new to me and it definitely grabbed my attention while I was reading it.