The Help by Kathryn Stockett has been around for a while. If you haven’t read it yet, go ahead and get a copy. It’s just as good now as it was when everyone was reading it in their book clubs and talking about it on TV. I gave it a re-read recently since Martin Luther King Day and the Columbus to Ferguson march had me thinking a lot about civil rights and how far we’ve come since the 60s.
The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s and it includes one of my least favorite tropes– the writer as protagonist. Once you get through the obligatory “how hard it is to get published” cliché the real plot sneaks in and takes over. Instead of just being about another writer finding her voice (and a publisher) it becomes about voices used to being silenced speaking up and telling their story.
We (and by “we” I mean people pale enough not to not be confronted by it every day of their lives) like to pretend that racism and prejudice is behind us. But I would argue that in spite of fifty years of civil rights progress we still institutionalize and perpetuate many forms of racism.
“Do you ever wish you could… change things?”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help
In The Help, Skeeter co-authors and curates a collection of stories from the lives of black maids in Jackson, Mississippi. While the stories expose cruel and racist practices, the do far more than that. For most of the women, it is the first time anyone ever listened to them. It’s not about the racist culture of 1960 Jackson, that’s just the setting. It’s about creative, dynamic, loving, hating, striving women– women that have been unheard and silenced too long.
“….we ain’t doing civil rights here. We just telling stories like they really happen.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help
A few weeks ago, I had another opportunity to hear stories like this. I attended and marched in the Columbus to Ferguson demonstration and protest. While Columbus, Ohio today is not nearly as racist as Jackson, Mississippi in 1960, there were still some uncomfortable similarities.
“…I want to speak!”
― Activist, Columbus to Ferguson demonstration
Before the March to the Columbus Police Headquarters, we met and organized at Goodale Park. There, protestors took turns sharing their stories of what it was like to be black in Columbus. There were many white allies at the rally too, but organizers requested that those voices, traditionally ignored or silenced would have the floor this evening. It was a beautiful demonstration of how important it is to listen to someone’s story and not assume you know what it is like for someone else.
“…I want to read what you’re thinking.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help
I would encourage white allies to re-read The Help then use it’s example to be the help. Perhaps the best way to finally overcome racism and prejudice is to follow Kathryn Stockett’s example in The Help and provide a platform for people to tell their stories. More importantly, to seek out and listen to those stories. Education, explanation, and advocacy will only ever take us so far. Perhaps we have already come as far as we can that way. To really make it. To make racism and prejudice a thing of the past, we must listen to the stories of others.
Read ~ Write ~ Wander
~Angie