The Embodiment and Expression of Authentic Black Identity in “Battle Royal” and “All Falls Down”

            “Battle Royal,” the first chapter of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and Kanye West’s song “All Falls Down” expose the consequences that oppression has on racial identity. In “Battle Royal” the anonymous narrator struggles to develop an authentic understanding of his identity. He experiences self-doubt and the need for approval from his perpetrators amidst being abused by them. Similarly, in “All Falls Down” an African American speaker admits he is self-conscious because of shame cast upon him by white people. West shares that the watches on his wrists and the Benz that he drives are manifestations of his insecurities as a black man in a white-dominated world. Both song and story postulate that the most intimate and fundamental relationship an individual has with him or herself is utterly tarnished by racism.

     

            In “Battle Royal” the protagonist is searching for his identity through the eyes of the white characters. The narrator discusses his grandparents having been slaves and the shame he has “for having at one time been ashamed” of his grandparents’ past. He shares that his grandfather lived a meek life, yet on his deathbed, his grandfather compares the struggles of being African American to a life of war. The grandfather titles himself a traitor, “ever since [he gave] up [his] gun back in Reconstruction.” He instructs the narrator’s father to “overcome [white people] with “yeses” and “undermine ‘em with grins.” The grandfather urges his son to continue to present himself as submissive, but to equally resent the white man for the disconnect from self-identity that they force black Americans to internalize. The family is left in shock, and his grandson struggles to overcome submission and his longing for acceptance from the white man.

Throughout “Battle Royal,” the protagonist is humiliated for the pleasure and entertainment of his superiors. The narrator is invited by prestigious white men of his town to deliver his speech that emulates Booker T. Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise,” which traded meek and submissive black people for basic education and due process in law. The protagonist is required to take part in the “Battle Royal” for the night’s “performance.” Throughout the evening the invisible man, alongside other black men in his community, are exploited and are ordered to fight each other blindfolded. Prior to the fight the men are forced to observe a naked white woman with an American flag tattooed upon her belly. The narrator suffers from a dichotomy in the feelings he has for the woman: at first he has a strong desire to have sex with her, yet simultaneously wants to murder her. His anger, shame, and fear are all transferred to the woman (who is also a minority-in regard to her gender identity-and is being exploited for her body as a sexual object). The men are compelled to share the same feelings as a group and therefore lose their individuality. The invisible man is merely a part in a wider group of anonymous black men that have been stripped of their ability to choose. Moreover, there also a double standard cast upon the black men by the white male superiors in the room to be and not to be sexual; as the invisible man observes: “Some threatened us if we looked and others if we did not.” The men experience shame and are not given the opportunity to obey the white man’s rules because they are receiving contradictory instruction. These opposing set of demands end with the narrator observing one African American boy faint. The expectations forced upon the invisible man are tactics that are designed to degrade his individuality. To the white men, the invisible man is just another black boy that they can demean for their own entertainment and satisfaction in power.

            Similarly, “All Falls Down” highlights the racial degradation that exists between black and white people in society. In West’s song, the speaker describes his struggle to please the white man and how this has led him to turn to materialism and adopt low self-esteem. Kanye West raps, “Man, I promise, I’m so self-conscious/ That’s why you always see me with at least one of my watches.” This allows the listener to recognize that the reason he spends money on expensive brand name items is to develop a sense of self-worth in fear that he will not be accepted by the majority. By putting valuable items on his physical body (for others to observe), he demonstrates to the world that he is still worthy and valuable, although his skin is black. In these lyrics the listener can form an understanding of "cultural capital." This concept refers to the social benefits and advantages that encourage social mobility. A few examples of “cultural capital” include: speech, dress, physical appearance, education, and/or societal knowledge. It is a relevant notion because it reinforces inequality by maintaining dominant (and in this case predominantly white) cultural codes, behaviors, and practices that are considered normative. Furthermore, people who cannot access, learn, and practice these codes of conduct often fall victim to severe inequality. 

             West is suggesting that successful black people are shaped because of the hate aimed towards them by white people. For example, West sings, “We shine because they hate us, floss ‘cause they degrade us.” West suggests that African Americans must excel and maintain their cleanliness because of degradation and ignominy aimed towards black people. An Atlantic article written by Gillian B. White shares that many black parents have raised their children with the notion that they must work twice as hard to be half as good as their white counterpart. The article discusses that there is research to suggest that black people in the workplace do in fact have to work much harder to get and keep their jobs. Additionally, in Devah Pager’s article “Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration,” she argues that there are extreme racial disparities during hiring practices in the United States. Pager found that a white applicant with a criminal record was just as likely, if not more likely, to receive a callback for a job than a black applicant with no criminal history (that satistics were 17% to 14%). Employers generally viewed white applicants with the criminal record as no more risky than a young black man with no criminal history. Her study proves the theory that the black man must work twice as hard to be received as half as deserving as the white man.

In the second part of the verse West raps, “We trying to buy back our 40 acres.” Here, West compares himself as the vocalist of the song to a slave. According to PBS.org’s article “The Truth Behind ‘40 Acres and a Mule,’ “the first form of reparations for freed slaves was the “40 acres and a mule” promise. The ruling was dismissed; federal and state policy would not condone land distribution to African-Americans after they were free from slavery. Most all the land was returned to its previous owners. West’s lyrics reveal an identical experience of basing one’s perception of self on the social expectations and demoralization through his or her social environment. It is clear that this phenomenon exists for many African Americans as we see the theme present in both “All Falls Down” and “Battle Royal.”

Moreover, in the “All Falls Down” music video, we see Kanye forced to put his body through an x-ray machine that is used for security purposes. As we see him pass through the tight-fitted and claustrophobic tunnel, we observe the image of his skeleton, suggesting that under the skin “we are all brothers” (Rand, 1993, p.312). However, he is submitted to surveillance so deep, that his bones are exposed for the white authority to inspect in order to examine whether the black man poses as a threat. ["All Falls Down" Music Video Clip]

Both the invisible man and the speaker in “All Falls Down” struggle to come back to themselves once they have been humiliated into subordination. Although one’s experience may differ from a black person’s experience of repression in America, generally people who are facing oppressive forces suffer from a disconnect from identity. These two works from American pop culture prove that this occurrence has evidently been a similar experience among many black Americans. Through self-reflection of their experience, both men are able to come to the conclusion that only they themselves can reveal and express their own authentic identity aside from the white man’s lens. 

References

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man: Battle Royal. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965. Print.

Pager, Devah. Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration. Chicago, IL: U of Chicago Press, 2009. Print.
Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead. N.p.: Plume, 1943. Print.

The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/why-black-workers-really-do-need-to-be-twice-as-good/409276/>.

"The Truth Behind ’40 Acres and a Mule’." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/the-truth-behind-40-acres-and-a-mule/>.

West, Kanye, and Lauryn Hill. All Falls Down. Kanye West feat. Syleena Johnson. Rec. 24 Feb. 2004. Kanye West, 2003. MP3.