Warning: Gruesome Images are in the video
In Sula, the death of Chicken in the chapter titled “1922” was sudden and worrisome. How his body was treated after he was found reminded me of Emmett Till and how his body was found in the Tallahassee River. For those who don’t know, Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and shot for whistling at a white woman. He was so severely beaten you couldn’t even make out his face. No one was charged for his murder. But his mother made sure to publicize what those men did to her child. If you are interested, I’ve attached a video going into more detail about his case. A movie about him came out last year called Till. I recommend watching it, as it’s heartbreaking yet powerful.
Going on to read about Chicken’s funeral was heartbreaking. It had me thinking about how often black Americans see and experience death. This line, in particular, stood out to me, “Or they thought of their son newly killed and remembered his legs in short pants and wondered where the bullet went in.” (65). It made me think about gun violence in this country and police murdering black children, mothers, and fathers. I think about the recent shootings in Chicago just a couple of days ago. This article by the Chicago Sun Times gives the ages, whereabouts, wounds, and conditions of people who were shot and/or killed during this year’s Fourth of July weekend. The ages of these victims range from 5-52 years old. For centuries African Americans have been closely tied to death. From slavery to lynchings during Jim Crow to gun violence and murderous police. Just imagine the cases that don’t make national news. I’m aware that death isn’t solely tied to black Americans. However, something must be said about the rate at which death occurs in the community. To the point where Toni Morrison not only has Chicken’s death but the death of Plum as well. It’s truly mind-boggling the relationship African Americans have with death, almost to the point where we’re desensitized to it or almost tiresome of these same outcomes. It’s intensified as technology and media have advanced. Will there ever be change, or will death continue to be a plague?
