The Tides of Racism

    It is widely known that conditions in the Jim Crow-era South were viciously oppressive and harmful to Black people, as well as anyone else without white skin. Even today, many ideologies of this time, like the idea that giving other people rights "costs you yours," continue to actively hurt the same communities as they did nearly 100 years ago. And throughout history, natural disasters have only further shown the effects of systems of discrimination through the disproportionate harm they cause to marginalized communities. In "Down by the Riverside," Richard Wright places a fictional yet realistic Black farmer, Mann, in the real and deadly Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, mainly to protest the immense inequality in the South under Jim Crow. But also, at several points, he uses Mann's thoughts to present his idea of a world free of the racism that caused the story's violence and injustice in the first place.

    One such passage where these goals are apparent runs from page 67 to 69 of the story, starting as Peewee and Mann notice the faint lights of a house in the distance while trying to reach the hospital with a boat stolen from Mr. Heartfield. They choose to come closer despite reports of violence against Black people in town and the possibility of someone recognizing the stolen boat, believing that "where there were lights there were people, and where there were people there were help." Mann, exhausted from struggling against the brutal current and mighty winds, drags the boat towards the house with what remains of his strength, and when he arrives, calls up twice towards the window. It slides open, and, to Mann's shock, Mr. Heartfield and his family appear inside. 

    But, still hopeful, he stays where he is and continues talking, introducing himself and asking for a phone or medical assistance for Lulu. In return, he receives a flashlight beam straight in the face. The family immediately recognize their boat and begin hurling racist threats at the unmoving, unthreatening Mann, and without so much as giving him a chance to negotiate, Heartfield begins to shoot in Mann's direction. But the boat is suddenly shoved away by the current and out of view, causing Heartfield to frantically begin searching again with his flashlight. Seeing an opportunity for self-defense about to vanish, Mann hesitates, but forces himself to draw his gun and, trembling, shoots Heartfield. He snatches the oars and desperately paddles on towards the hospital as the body plunges into the water. The Heartfields' slur-filled insults and demands that he stop echo behind him, but, for the moment, they fall on deaf ears.

    Mann is not evil, though. His constant self-sacrifice throughout the story, kindness towards his family, and especially immense guilt after killing Heartfield ("He felt he was lost because he had shot a white man") strongly suggest the opposite. But there was no "right choice" for Mann in this situation, even though he had tried his hardest to be civil and polite, follow the law, work with what he was given, and help his family. He didn't even choose to steal the boat; in fact, he had sent Bob to buy one legally by selling the family mule. And in this passage, he had no desire to engage in this act of self-defense, but his hand was forced by the instant, deeply internalized reaction of the white family he encountered.

    This conflict helps develop one of Richard Wright's core messages: that racism keeps people "in their place" by convincing their oppressors that more rights for their victims means fewer rights for themselves. This common justification for racism has no basis in reality, but the flood turns it into a life-or-death situation where this idea of rights being a "zero-sum game" becomes extremely real. In the eyes of the Heartfields, giving the Black people in front of them the right to explain themselves, use their phone, or borrow their boat came with the serious risk that their house might have been underwater by the time they finished helping others. The key naturalist element of this story, the flooding of the Mississippi, contributes in this way to Wright's criticism of a way of thinking that he sees as harmful and problematic. On the other hand, though, Mann's idealistic belief that "where there were people there was help" reflects the way that Wright thinks the world should be. Evidently, Wright believes that natural disasters like the Great Mississippi Flood shouldn't impact Black communities as heavily as they do, and that people should feel comfortable in such a situation with helping each other regardless of race. But he also seems to dream of a world outside of times of disaster where the conditions that led to the hatred and violence in "Down by the Riverside" are eradicated once and for all.