Banjo · Chapter
XVI: The “Blue Cinema” explained
Ray engages in a series of intellectual debates about race, identity, and colonialism.
What happens
Ray engages in a series of intellectual debates about race, identity, and colonialism. He first argues with Goosey about the nature of sexual and race relations, asserting that property and power control sex and that the white race's advancement is tied to the emancipation of its women. He then meets a Martiniquan student who expresses pride in the Empress Josephine and disdain for Senegalese Africans, prompting Ray to critique educated Negroes who despise their own people and to advocate for a racial renaissance rooted in the common people and native cultures. Later, at the African Bar, Ray observes and enjoys the rich African dialects and tribal diversity, while a conversation among the patrons reveals tensions between French West Indians and native Africans, with the patron arguing that American Negroes are the best off, a claim Ray challenges by pointing out the realities of Jim Crow and lynch law in the American South.
Themes in this chapter
Race and Identity
Ray's debates with Goosey and the Martiniquan student explore the complexities of racial identity, the impact of education on racial consciousness, and the idea of a racial renaissance rooted in the common people.
Colonialism and Exploitation
The chapter discusses the hierarchical relationships between French West Indians and native Africans, the banning of 'Batouala', and the broader context of colonial power dynamics and their effects on racial attitudes.
Alienation and Modernity
Ray critiques educated Negroes as a 'lost crowd' who are alienated from their own people and roots, a condition he links to their white education and the modern world's racial hierarchies.
Community and Comradeship
Ray expresses his love for the environment of the common black drifters at the African Bar, valuing the joyful friendships and the rich, communal atmosphere over intellectual companionship.
Characters to notice
- Ray
Engages in philosophical debates about race, sex, and colonialism; critiques educated Negroes for despising their own people; advocates for a racial renaissance rooted in common people and native cultures; enjoys the atmosphere and dialects at the African Bar.
- Goosey
Participates in a debate with Ray about race relations, questioning Ray's views on white women marrying colored men and the role of white women in society.
- Malty Avis
Mentioned as part of the group at the café, but not actively involved in the conversations.
- Banjo
Mentioned as part of the group at the café, but not actively involved in the conversations.
Key passages
“Property controls sex. “When you understand that, Goosey, you’ll understand the meaning of the struggle between class and class, nation and nation, race and race.”
Ray argues that economic power and property ownership are the fundamental drivers of sexual and social relations, and that understanding this is key to grasping larger conflicts between classes, nations, and races.
Ray's central thesis on the relationship between power, property, and sex.
“Getting down to our native roots and building up from our own people,” said Ray, “is not savagery. It is culture.”
Ray counters the Martiniquan student's view, asserting that embracing one's own cultural heritage and common people is a form of culture, not a regression to savagery.
Ray's defense of a racial renaissance rooted in native culture.
“You’re a lost crowd, you educated Negroes, and you will only find yourself in the roots of your own people.”
Ray tells the student that educated Negroes are alienated and lost, and that they can only find their true identity by reconnecting with the common people and their own cultural roots.
Ray's critique of the alienation of educated Negroes.