fanon

      Fanon presents us with two types of coupling: a black woman with a white man,
and a white woman with a black man. He relates a number of problems with each.
      A binary opposition is presented. Black and white seem to be in constant, opposing
conflict with one another. Black is given all negative qualities, and it is thought to be
without positive qualities. When one of the characters that Fanon follows sees a movie
that presents God and angels as being black, she says, "'How is it possible to imagine God
with Negro characteristics?'" (p. 51) But, as Fanon says, "One is white as one is rich, as
one is beautiful, as one is intelligent."(p. 51-52)
      When a black woman desires to marry a white man in order to become white. She
wants to save the race - not to save it by preserving it and keeping it pure, but to save it by
making it white, "and here you have Hegel's subjective certainty made flesh." (p. 44) But,
this situation is very unlikely. Fanon says it is true that a white man may often sleep with
black women, but often these are his servants. And, "Let us not exaggerate. When a
soldier of the conquering army went to bed with a young...girl, there was undoubtedly no
tendency on his part to respect her entity as another person." (p.46) The black woman
does not want to marry a black man because she wants to marry white, therefore she has
to marry into the white culture and privilege. And, the mulatto woman would even more
dislike the idea of marrying a black man, because she is almost white and would never
want to go back. "From black to white is the course of mutation," (p. 51) because a
woman would never want to move towards being black, but perpetually wants to be white
because white is the master class, and in the master/slave dialectic one would not desire to
be recognized by anyone other than the master.
      It is the same when a black man wants to marry a white woman. He wants to be
recognized as a white man. A black man cannot marry a white woman, so to do so would
take him into the white world and he would become more of a white man. He would gain
the recognition of a white man. As Fanon shows with the black university student who is
afraid that he is not taken at his full worth due to the color of his skin, and joins the army
while refusing to be sent to the colonies or in a colonial unit - "He wanted to have white
men under his command. He was a boss; as such he was to be feared or respected. That is
just what he wanted, what he strove for." (p. 61) He wanted to be the master, and to be
recognized as such.

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