The Politics of Respectability Exhibited in Gem of the Ocean

Caesar is a character in August Wilson’s play Gem of the Ocean. He is a black sheriff in the early 1900s. Caesar is the physical form through which conflict manifests itself throughout the play. Caesar acts as an enforcer of the law. The law that often times not only does not protect African Americans, but also hurts them and is a force that prevents African Americans from creating human space for themselves. Caesar has a strictly literal sense of the law. He thinks the law is infallible and should be followed no matter what, without exception. So much so that he often times comes onto the set complaining about the “damn n*****s”.  He looks down upon and downright despises black people if they are not absolutely upstanding citizens. Not upstanding citizens in the sense of justice, but upstanding citizens in the eyes of white people. He constantly complains about the laziness of African Americans because they refuse to go to work at the mill (they refuse because the mill was paying such a small wage that they could not even buy food). His open and utter disrespect is, obviously, not received well and thus causes him to be cast out of his group of friends all together. When the cast abandons him, the audience is meant to feel a sense of relief, like the cause of controversy has been resolved. The audience is meant to despise Caesar from the moment he first walks onto stage. But after talking to the cast, they offered a unique vantage point and insight into Caesar’s character.

Perhaps Caesar was not trying to hold his race back, but rather, move it forward using the politics of respectability. Meaning he wanted African Americans to be the best they could so that they make a better impression, a better name for themselves. Because of his position in society, he was privy to all the views what people had. He saw the bad names black people were getting and he didn’t see any way to fix what was happening other than the law. He was trying to conform to what the white people wanted him to be. What he did not see though, was how much the law really was unfair and how it was hurting a significant part of society. How the law and attitudes like his were making race tensions rise even more. Making the hope of one day living together in peace an impossibility.

I wonder how often it was the case that African Americans seemingly turned against their race and projected values that were not common among most of the black community. Although the politics of respectability has a noble cause, where is the line determining when it has gone too far and is now holding the community back because it is segregating an already segregated community? Could something like the politics of respectability become a bad thing? Did it ever just fuel the vicious cycle that was happening during the Jim Crow days when the white population had unreachable expectations for black people, in so much that as soon as one hurdle is accomplished in terms of racial tension, another one is created?