When Ralph makes his speech to Sarah about all the disparaging names that people used for black people, it made me think, "Hold on, this isn't the Deep South that they're in, it's New York where people of all different races have lived together for a looong long time."
Was there still such discrimination at this point in time where the two would still consider their respective race as an issue?
As in most large northern cities residential segregation was still a fact of life in New York City. Whites feared blacks moving into their neighborhoods would cause a drop in property values or at least that was the excuse. It wasn't as bad as Chicago where the Democratic political machine played off different races and nationalities against each other but it was still a problem.
When Burton was talking about racial slurs he was talking polite southerners using "Negra'" when they talked about black people but less then polite southerners saying n----ar. His point of view reflected the He was talking about the south; not New York.
The whole Donald Sterling situation is a reminder racism still exists anywhere in the country. Of course if he had done the same thing in the fifties he might of gotten away with the racial slurs. However he would have been dragged through the New York Post and other tabloids for having an affair with a racially mixed women. Social segregation was a fact of life even in the north.
TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.
Hi, that's a really interesting reply, many thanks. I'd always assumed that after WW2, especially in the northern states, you didn't have such segregation as in the south. Strange to think how recent it was too.
shareNew York was definitely racist in those days (and far beyond).
In 1964 Paco Rabane used black model Donyale Luna in a New York fashion show and the model was booed by journalists. Rabane himself was verbally attacked after the show for using a black model.
I'm a middle-aged black male who grew up spending a lot of time in NYC from the late 50s. Obviously, there was never any overt "Jim Crow" I was aware of, but plenty of residential discrimination and job discrimination. Unless you were a celebrity, certain upscale nightclubs and restaurants were off-limits, whether you could afford them or not. Still, compared to most places at that time, NYC was the Garden of Eden.
May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?
They live together, but people still harbor their prejudices. Interracial coupling was still quite rare.
I lived in Manhattan for 20 years. Race is an issue. Not officially sanctioned, but there is subtle discrimination. I saw a woman who would not sit next to a black lady on the bus. Oh, the other women tore her apart for that.
But then there is anti-semitism, homophobia, sexism, nativism, xenophobia, etc there as well. As in every spot in the world today. It's just easier to call people on it in 2016.
"I slept with you and you're in love with my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"
Things are better than in 1959, for sure.
Back then racism was a fact of life, it's just how things were. Today nobody would blink an eye over a racially mixed couple, in 1959 it was a very different story. Even in NYC.
Harry Belafonte was always active in the civil rights movement.
We still have a long way to go, as 2016 has shown us.
[deleted]
I think maybe you aren't aware of the different boroughs and neighborhoods of New York.
Both of my parents were born and raised in Brooklyn. Pretty much everyone in their neighborhoods were of a similar ethnic background. It wasn't forced segregation, but people more or less tended to settle in their own 'neighborhoods.' Little Italy, Chinatown, etc. I think many of the African Americans were uptown in Harlem.
So all of these different people 'lived together' in the same city, yes, in a very general sense. You might see people of other ethnic backgrounds on the bus or subway. But many stuck to their own turf.
As for discrimination....yes, and it still lives today. However I thought it a bit odd that Ralph was making it an issue. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the society they had been a part of, I realize that...but, guess what? That society was gone. There was no one left, so the old rules (Jim Crow, back of the bus, etc.) were all gone. He didn't need to keep thinking that way. For as smart as he was, he should have realized that.
The film is made for the whole country, not just New York City. Of the 3 characters, none said they were New Yorkers. Only the woman could have been one and probably an upper middle class one at that.
Yes, race was still an issue even in NYC in 1959. It's still an issue now. Just ask Eric Garner.
if man is 5
then the devil is 6
if the devil is 6
then God is 7
and if God is 7...