Racism as a menace to humanity: a critical discourse analysis of racist language in Wright´s Black boy, Adichie´s Americanah and Floyed’s The latest suffocating utterance of ‘‘I can’t breathe’’

Abstract

Unarguably, racism is one of the unending historical pandemic that threatens the black race by the white race till date specifically in America, Europe and other westernized countries. In spite of the avowed decline in public support for racist behavior in this twenty-first century; instituting of different international agencies fighting for humanity and equality, Obama´s presidential regime and other strategic positions occupied by the blacks in the western world, racism, in its varying forms of manifestation, remains embedded in the whites’ psyche and their perception of Africans and the black race. Sadly, blacks, African immigrants are regular victims of the scourge of racism. This work adopts critical discourse analysis as propounded by Fairclough and tends to uncover how whites’ ideology, power and historical legacy are used as a weapon of oppression and dominance in the selected utterances in Wright’s Black Boy, Adichie’s Americanah, and Floyd’s lates suffocating utterance of ‘‘I can’t breathe.’’ The findings show that the dehumanization and second class treatment in racist language-use by the whites as a result of their acclaimed historical superiority against the blacks are seen as a great threat to humanity. Further findings show that racism still lingers on in this contemporary era on a daily basis, though subtly manifested and life threatening, in reference to Floyd’s suffocating utterance of ‘‘I can’t breathe.’’ This research work concludes that racism is not only a threat but an age long pandemic metted against the blacks by the whites, which manifest itself in actions and language use. Furthermore, it is a weapon of dominance by the white race to maintain the claimed ‘‘White Superiority’’ and ‘‘Black Inferiority.’’ In this case, many blacks encounter challenges on daily basis with the Whites, due to racial prejudice, discrimination and segregation. The researcher recommends that in the bid to save humanity and the future generation, there is urgent need to create more awareness on the dangers of racism and enlighten the whites on the concept of colour-blindness to ensure peace and harmony in the society irrespective of race, or skin colour.