Black Identity in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman
When reading this play or viewing the movie, many would make assumptions that there is a definitive statement on blackness that is solely derived from Clay’s monologue. In such, he passionately argues for murder and anger as the solution to the neurosis of black people. In particular, he says to Lula, “You don't know anything except what's there for you to see. An act. Lies. Device. Not the pure heart, the pumping black heart.” That statement obviously shows a form of black identity, but to argue that this is the central message of the play, does not make sense. To many’s disbelief, Dutchman is not about a search for blackness and defining a socially distinct identity, it is about becoming a man in America. Masculinity defines the ideologies of black nationalists during this time and this is the character that Jones/Baraka is trying to articulate in Dutchman.
In Dutchman, Lula and Clay mention the topic of manhood during the dialogue on the train. Clay questions what they are going to talk about “endlessly” and Lula replies “your manhood”. From this exchange in conversation, we can see that Baraka is trying to construct and define black “manhood”. This type of masculinity can be described as tough, assertive, uncompromising and virile in addition to separating ones self from weak and effeminized men. Baraka and the leaders of the Black Power movement associated themselves with such definitions of manhood in order to recuperate some degree of power over long time notions of subordination created by racism.
In Clay’s monologue we see how he rejects and separates himself from the less masculine men. Amidst his rant of telling Lula how he is going to kill her, he also threatens to kill the “weak-faced ofays”. Clay recognizes that these “weak-faced ofays” are separate from him and by doing so he asserts a definition of