Outsiders

"Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

'Eat in the kitchen,'

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America."

              -from Langston Hughes' I, Too.

We all know that African American people have had a tough history in America. They were enslaved, and treated as the garbage of the world. They were not seen as equally valuable human beings as white people saw themselves, and they suffered, collecting stories to tell. However, some of them got educated to demonstrate that the beliefs held by whites about blacks were utterly wrong. Through his poem, I, Too, Langston Hughes manifests his love for himself, an African American, and his people; and states that nobody should ever dare blaming him and his community for what he is. Instead, they shoud be ashamed for what they've done to such marvelous beings. 

I cannot help relating this poem with The Outsider, a short story written by H.P. Lovecraft. If you want to read it, you can click here. If you don't, I can try to summarize it for you. The story is about someone who has lived isolated from people all his life without knowing why. He lived in the ruins of an old and dark castle near a labyrinth-like forest, where trees are tall enough to block every source of light. He dreams of the colorful pictures of people and the world he saw in books (from which he educated himself), and one day, tired of the darkness and the seclusion, he decides to climb a sheer tower near him, facing the obstacles that appeared in his quest. After getting to the top, he finds himself walking freely in the world. He recognizes a castle and proceeds into its walls, where he finds people crying frightfully at the moment of facing him, evading him; and, where he encounters a ghoulish indescribable creature, which ended up being himself reflected from a mirror. 

I believe that if the physical features of the character of this story wouldn't had been so shocking for the people he encountered in the castle, they would had seen him as another guest to even develop a conversation, since he was able to elaborate thoughts as they could, to see the beautiful things in life, to feel confusing human emotions, and so the list continues. In the same way, if it was not for their skin color, African American people could had been treated with respect, and love. 

Seeing people that might look or behave differently to what others consider “normal” as outsiders rather than what they truly are is very common today, especially at school. Some students tend to discriminate those who are different, and sadly, most of them continue doing this as adults. How do you think we, as future teachers, could avoid this?