Perverting a “Perverted Rite of Passage”

By Sarah Ballan

[1] Whites massacred the African Americans of Rosewood, Florida, in 1923, and had their town literally wiped off the map. John Singleton found this somewhat secret story of genocidal racism “so horrifying” that it “really needed to be told” (Dauphin). But how in the conservative world of commercial filmmaking does/can a black filmmaker represent the basis for and the persistence of such utterly abhorrent, seemingly deep-seeded white hatred without turning off timid white backers and morally-jittery white audiences? One of the ways that Singleton does this is by allowing his white characters (as he does with the black as well) considerable “psychological complexity and individuality” (Arsenault). The initially sexploitative Mr. Wright, for instance, “finds his conscience in the heat of the massacre” (Guerrero). But it is in young Emmett Purdy’s rejection of “his father's wretched path” that Singleton registers his reassuring message “that hope resides in the next generation” (Guerrero). Emmett perverts the “perverted rite of passage” to nigger-hating manhood staged by his “racist lunatic” father Duke Purdy (Cottrol and Diamond), a rite we literally witness in lynching postcard photographs (Without Sanctuary, images 51 and 67).

[2] Where does racial hate come from? Are people born racist? Although it may seem like a “natural” feeling to some people, racism is not something inherited; it is something we learn from our environment, especially our parents. Duke is over-eager to breed hate, to “learn” Emmett “how to live in the world.” Although he teaches lessons with rope and rifle as well as rhetoric, Duke is ultimately unsuccessful in transmitting these beliefs to Emmett. Eventually Emmett’s innate moral conscience trumps family brainwashing, and he speaks up, talks back, and ultimately walks away. Even though he agrees racism can be passed down from father to son, Singleton suggests through Emmett that the evil cycle can be broken. But the questions then become why is Emmett unaffected by his father’s perverted pedagogical syllabus? Is his escape justified within the film? Or is the ending simply an inorganic manifestation of Singleton’s romantic idealism, or, more crassly, his base capitulation to the brute realities of filmmaking and marketing. And, beyond all this -- does this optimistic message that not every transmission of racist beliefs succeeds meet the truth test: can we trust the “feel good” aura with which we leave Rosewood?

[3] When the two characters are initially introduced, Duke tells his son, “I don’t want you around that colored boy no more . . . Don’t look right, my boy chasin’ around after a nigger.” Emmett starts to protest, as Arnett is his friend, but Duke responds by hitting the back of his head as if smacking the thought right out of him. Emmett does not try to defend Arnett after his father makes it clear that he does not approve of his friend; he is unsure how to handle his feelings of resentment to this ultimatum to end the friendship. Although Emmett is clearly upset and denies his feelings as he chokes back his tears, he does not want to disobey his father’s wishes. To avoid getting smacked a second time, Emmett assures his father that he understands that it is unacceptable to be friends with Arnett. He does not seem willing to obey Duke, but he has not, at first, decided on his course of action to stand up to him, so Emmett chooses to stay silent.

[4] Duke’s lessons become more graphic when he forces Emmett to watch, and later participate in, lynching Aaron Carrier. Duke exposes Emmett to this violent behavior to prove to him that white people have an upper hand over blacks and should exercise this advantage whenever possible. Duke wants desperately for his son to remember the moment he pulled the rope tightly around Carrier’s neck as something that makes him proud. He hopes that this experience will influence Emmett to engage in similar actions in the future. Ironically, Emmett seems upset by this display. He does not join in the other men’s laughter. Instead, he tries to look down in order to avoid seeing Carrier suffer. Duke does not seem to notice or care about his son’s disinterest in participating, and he seizes the opportunity to show his son “the ropes.” Duke urges Emmett to take his spot among the cheering, boisterous, encouraging crowd and hold the lynch rope in what is clearly a perverted rite of passage. One of the white guys tells Emmett, “come on, take that rope and snap his neck!” “Be a man, now,” Emmett hears, starkly linking lynching to manhood. How can a young boy resist his adult role models and recoil from exacting pain from a suffering black? All but impossible, but we see evidence of essential nature warring with environmental nurture in his lackluster participation.

[5] Duke Purdy takes his racial hatred lessons a step further when he teaches Emmett how to tie a noose (Vol. 2 0:26:46 Father-Son Bonding). In this scene, the burning church illuminates the screen, and we can only see shadows of Emmett and Duke instead of their faces. There are people screaming and guns being fired in the background, further reinforcing this eerie feeling. Emmett does not speak; he solemnly watches his father’s hands carefully craft the rope. "Now you've got it boy. There's your noose.” The camera zooms in on Emmett, and we are able to see their faces as he grabs hold of the rope. Duke does not watch his son tie the rope. Instead, he looks around, in satisfaction, at the fiery mess. “Oh that's a good one," he says with pride. Duke turns and makes eye contact with Mr. Wright who looks on, disapprovingly. The intense look on his face is dramatized, as the camera focuses on his expression. He glares back at “the nigger lover,” asserting his authority in teaching his boy these behaviors.

[6] Despite the continued efforts of Duke and the rest of the white adults, Emmett ultimately rejects the transmission of the racist ideas as he transforms from a listless, passive, physical participant to an active thinker and ultimately to a decisive and rebellious doer. The turning point is the burial scene. Duke moves the crowd aside to give Emmett a clear view of the pit. Emmett looks down at the pile of bodies and back up at his father and decides he has had enough. Not only does he attempt to gaze in another direction as he does previously when the mob beats up Carrier, but he turns around and walks away from pit, therefore removing himself from the situation entirely. This time Emmett does not try to hide his emotions. With tears in his eyes, he murmurs to Duke that there are babies in the ground. Once again, Duke slaps Emmett to correct his “warped” thinking. “A nigger’s a nigger, boy,” he says, “God made the world the way it is an’ we just got to live in it.” Emmett’s body language, specifically his heavy breathing and narrowed eyes, is a dead giveaway -- he is disgusted with his father. He walks away from his father during the explanation of why it is fair that there are dead innocent black children. It is here, climactically, that Emmett loses his respect for Duke and becomes determined to express his conflicting ideas.

[7] Why doesn’t Emmett turn out like his father like most of the other kids some day do? Emmett’s intuition proves to be strong enough to challenge societal norms. He recognizes that his father’s ideals are monstrous, and he makes the decision to run away, thereby distancing himself from such horrible behavior. Emmett makes his final transformation from thinker to doer in his last interaction with his father. He no longer feels a connection to him; their views on race could not be more opposite. Duke firmly believes that it is acceptable to lynch a black man because, as a white man, he can without facing any consequences. He has a deep-seeded hatred for African Americans with which Emmett simply cannot identify, having had one as a friend.

[8] At first, Emmett tries to accept his father’s ways, despite the fact that he disagrees. Out of loyalty to his father, Emmett ends a friendship he cherishes and causes an innocent man to writhe in pain by pulling the rope tighter around his neck. He reaches his threshold, however, when he sees the dead black babies. This, to Emmett, is pure evil and not what being a man is about. In the climax to the film, Emmett stands with his back turned to Duke, a sign of defiance. He takes a deep breath, as if to prepare himself for the much anticipated confrontation, and yells out, “I hate you! You ain’t no man . . . I don’t know what you are.” Singleton uses this powerful dialogue as proof that the cycle can be broken. By rebelling against his father’s teachings, Emmett perverts this perverted rite of passage, therefore stopping the legacy of racial hatred from being passed to the future generation -- at least for him.

[9] Thus, the story of Emmett’s resistance is internally consistent. The film dramatizes his gradual development of his own ideas and resistance to those of his father. The “reel” story works because it is believable because of the circumstances Singleton creates, not to mention it is also entertaining. Unfortunately, Emmett’s tale of “reel” heroism was not typical of his time. Most children were not able to recognize the brutality of the actions of their fathers and therefore followed them blindly, thereby prolonging the vicious cycle of hatred for several decades. The question then becomes, is this ending merely a black man’s romanticized version of the "real" history, his wishful thinking? I believe that by highlighting a rare, and here invented, case of defiance, Singleton shows his audience possibilities of defiance in the face of injustice. He wants to remind viewers that if you know the difference between right and wrong, and if you’re brave enough, you can challenge authority. He desperately wants to convey to the audience that the attitudes of the majority are not always universal and that sometimes it takes a young, fresh mind to challenge deep-seeded hatred.