
The short story “Whose War: The Color of Terror” by John Wideman argues that the governments recent solutions to problems is not to solve them but to direct the public’s attention away from them. This has resulted in issues such as racism being hidden from the public eye and led to further issues, especially for African Americans. Wideman uses racial oppression and government trust to highlight the current issues African Americans face. The employment of concepts such as oppression and trust throughout the story are important to the overall message. Oppression is used to exemplify the hidden horrors, such as racism African Americans face in America with little recognition. While trust is used to exhibit how these horrors are hidden. Both oppression and trust enable the reader to feel the dark cloud that is hanging over African Americans due to the lack of attention the racism in this country is receiving. 

The short story “Whose War: The Color of Terror” is set post the 9/11 attacks on The World Trade Center. The war that is addressed throughout the story is the one that we are fighting in The Middle East. The story highlights that African American people are feeling forgotten while we wage a war on terror in a foreign nation instead of addressing the racism that is occurring in America. Though America has come a long way since the times of slavery and segregation, the apparent effects of racism are still present in daily life. This can be seen in things such as a black man feeling as though he must “defend his everyday actions” (Wideman 537).  The article “The Ugly Side of America: Institutional Oppression and Race” by Renita Seabrook addresses how this idea of racial oppression of African Americans came about. This article highlights that we once had this idea written into our laws, and to be frank it wasn’t that long ago. Our recent ancestors grew up with bathrooms and water fountains dedicated to “colored” and “white” people separately. The idea of written racial segregation and differentiation transferred to our minds as a way of oppressing those with darker skin than a white man in everyday life without noticing. Which has resulted in African Americans feeling not only oppressed but forgotten 

This article aids the reader in being able to feel what Widemen and millions of African Americans are feeling in America, forgotten and oppressed. There are hundreds of years of evidence to support their claims that this is happening but the American people and the government push the issue under the rug like it is not happening. Widemen states “I am an heir to centuries of legal apartheid and must negotiate daily, with just about every step I take, the foul muck of unfulfilled promises, the apparent and not so apparent effects of racism that continue to plague America” (Widemen 538). The struggle of feeling the need to defend every one of his actions comes from the fact that less than a hundred years ago his race was barred from going into places, going to the same schools and using the same water fountains as white people and before that barred from all human rights. Black people have always been made to feel that they are less than white people, therefore Widemen feels he must justify himself to society as a whole. The feelings that African Americans have of being less than those around them stems from the slavery their race endured in America which is discussed in “The Ugly Side of America: Institutional Oppression and Race.” Slavery directly put white people above black people. During early America African Americans were owned by white people, they were just objects that could be thrown away when they needed to be. Seabrook states that “Africans were kidnapped, held in bondage in perpetuity, and physically and emotionally abused while living in substandard conditions” they were dehumanized and made to be nothing but objects (Seabrook 3). Privileged white people who owned slaves had no sympathy for what they were doing to these human beings because they were benefiting from them. This idea is supported when Seabrook quotes James Madison “could make $257 on every Negro in a year, and spend on $12 or $13 on his keep” (Seabrook 3). They were spending just barely 13 dollars on these people every single year. That is not enough for a human to survive but all that mattered was the fact that they were making money off of the work they were completing. This idea enables the reader to feel the sadness that African Americans feel when they look back on history and realize that white people did not care about what happened to them or their families. The article also focuses on the idea that there were laws in place to make slavery and the objectification of African American slaves legal. The article does this by highlighting the supreme court case “Scott v. Sanford decision in 1857 which held that Dredd Scott did not have standing to sue because slaves are not citizens” they were in fact property (Seabrook 5). The importance this has to the short story is the it supports the idea that there is a history of oppressing African American people in America. They were ruled to be objects by the Supreme Court and the three fifths article in the constitution “counted each slave as three-fifths a person” when it came to representation in the house (Seabrook 5). Wideman highlights that the level of oppression African Americans are currently facing may not be as blatant as what their ancestors faced mentioning that he is “an heir to centuries of legal apartheid” but it does not make it any less valid (Wideman 558). The American people choose to ignore African American people’s claims as they are more focused on fighting a war overseas to free the people in the Middle East who are facing a more obvious oppression. 

The oppression of the people in the middle east that we are fighting a war to help is highlighted in the article “Challenges for progressive Education in Afghanistan: A History of Oppression” by Michael Adkins. Throughout the short story “Whose War: The Color on Terror” Widemen refers to the war that we are fighting in the Middle East as “A phony war that the press, in shameless collusion with the military, exploits daily as newsy entertainment” (Widemen 538). The government doesn’t give many solid reasons as to why we are fighting the war other than to eradicate terrorism which “serves to mask unstated, alarmingly open ended goals a kind of fishing expedition that provides an opportunity for America to display its intimidating arsenal” (Wideman 538).  Widemen sees the war from the perspective of an American who believes more of this effort and attention should be focused closer to home and the problems that reside there. 

This article “Challenges for progressive Education in Afghanistan: A History of Oppression” legitimizes the war being fought overseas by highlighting the issues and the oppression that those in the Middle East are facing. Though the war does not seem to have a focus to Americans, such as Wideman, to those in the Middle East the war is something that is needed to help them. The article discusses how the United States is aiding the efforts of the Afghan people with agencies such as, the United States Agency for International Development. “The USAID is responsible for distributing funding and providing resources for educational advancement within Afghanistan” (Adkins106). This is important because without U.S governmental aid such as this thousands of people, especially women, would not be able to access education. African Americans are surely facing oppression but when you compare it the oppression that those in the Middle East are facing it seems less urgent to address. When Widemen refers to the war overseas as being phony he says “a phony war because its being pitched to the world as righteous retaliation as a self-defense after a wicked unwarranted sucker punch… a long standing battle for oil and geopolitical leverage in the Middle East” (Wideman 538). To Americans, especially those battling to be noticed, all the war seems to be is a way to gain more leverage and further dominate the world of oil and petrol but it is so much more than that. After reading the article you are able to see how much more this war means to those living in the Middle East. They are frightened for their lives and while Al Queda holds power woman are not able to access education noting that “one of the Taliban’s first rulings prohibited girls and women from attending school” (Adkins 105). The U.S has managed to take down Al Queda and aid the Middle East in getting back to the progressive state that occurred during the 60’s and 70’s. This knowledge aids you in being able to feel sympathy for those in the Middle East. When Wideman calls the war a “phony war” a little bit of sadness washes over it (Wideman 538). Widemen is too concerned about the oppression of his race here in America that he loses sight that there is oppression- that is comparable to what his race once faced- occurring right now in other parts of the world. There is less anger towards the U.S government and the fact that they might be waging a war that has no purpose, since you can now see the purpose and who it is aiding. The war is relieving an entire gender of educational and other types of oppression. 

 The war overseas is primarily able to hide the oppression that people in America are facing due to the amount of trust people place in the United States government. The endowed trust from American citizens results in greater power for the government thus giving them the ability to distract Americans from the realties that surround them in their own home as shown in “Whose War: The Color of Terror”. As American citizens, we are inclined to believe that the president and the government are handling it, so thus we can relax. If the government retained no trust with the American people, they would not be able to do anything because of the lack of power and respect. No one would abide by the rules or listen to anything the president had to say. This trust is referred to throughout the story but specifically when Widmean states “even if he tells me all good Americans have nothing to fear but fear itself and promises he’s gonna ride over there and kick fear’s ass real good… Don’t expect too much too soon. These things take time. Their own good time. You know. The sweet by-and-by. Trust me” (Widemen 80). 

This lack of trust that African American citizens have in government is discussed in the article “Explaining African American Political Trust: Examining Psychological Involvement, Policy Satisfaction and Reference Group Effects” by Maruice Mangum. The article uses the model of psychological involvement which “captures the effects of individual efficacy, group efficacy, political ideology, and party identification” (Mangum 4). This model relates the lack of trust African Americans have in the government to their shortage of participation in politics. If a group of people or an individual does not feel as though the government is not responding to their needs, they will refuse to participate as they feel they will not be able to make a change. This refusal to participate is a direct result of the distrust circulating the African American community. Whenever Widemen quotes the president saying “trust me,” it is clear the president is specifically asking those who are weary of doing so to believe that him and the government have everyone’s best interests thus changing the direction from the general population to just African Americans. When he asks the people to trust him it no longer feels sincere, it feels forced. Trust is usually earned and not immediately given to someone. Over the past few centuries both the American government and the American people in general have given African American people reason after reason to not trust the government as they do not have their best interests. This article helps to explain the distrust and unrest that millions of African Americans are feeling and why it is different than the views and opinions of a Caucasian person. Having this knowledge ensures that the reader can feel why they are fighting for change and why nothing seems to be moving towards this change. African Americans don’t trust the government and hope they can make a change by removing the power that the trust of the people gives the government.

The short story by Wideman is centered around the idea that trust empowers the government and that without trust the government will not function properly. The African American people believe that the government is centered around trust and using it as a way of gaining power. Without trust they wouldn’t be able to enforce laws or create new ones as they would not have the willingness of the people to do so. But the article “Trust and Distrust in the Achievement of Popular Control” by Yann Allard- Tremblay explains how trust may be preferred but is not necessary to maintain popular control. 

Democracy is not built solely upon trust “the relationship between trust and democracy is more ambiguous than we are often led to believe” (Tremblay 376). The government would obviously prefer if the country was willing to participate in what they are doing and allow them to be governed in such a way that keeps everyone safe but they do not need the entire countries trust to do so. They only need a majority of people to trust them. African Americans are a minority and therefore have little power compared to the majority. The majority does not want change and therefore change will not occur. This idea is highlighted when Wideman states “when power confronts the inevitability of change. By promising to keep things as they are, promising to freeze out or squeeze out those not already secure within the safety net of privilege” (Wideman 82). The majority are privileged and right now the government works in their best interests therefore, they do not want it to be changed. Since the majority are the ones that are privileged they cannot see the need for change nor do they believe it needs to occur, so it won’t. African Americans recognize that the current government will never work in their favor which Wideman highlights by stating “such a government of the few is fabricating new versions of freedom. Freedom to exploit race, class, and gender inequities without guilt or accountability; freedom to drown in ignorance while flooded by information” (Wideman 539). The American people are choosing to ignore the problems that are surrounding them because the current government has the interests of the privileged. The privileged being white people who are able to do what they please and exploit those who are different than them. Everything is working in their favor therefore they are not willing to help those who this type of government is hurting. African Americans can’t make the changes they so desperately want and need without the help of the privileged. 

African Americans feel oppressed and believe that not putting their trust in the government will result in actual change, where the government actively fixes the surrounding issues. The truth is a majority of people trust the government, so it does not matter to them that a minority group is feeling this way. By simply hoping the government will care African Americans do not trust what they are doing, their goals will never be able to be achieved. This leaves the reader with a sense of hopelessness. All African American people are asking for is to be considered equal, but the majority of Americans refuse to admit that they are currently treated less than that. Due to this refusal the majority who controls what kind of legislature is passed and discussed will not pursue changes that such as ending racism and the practice of institutional oppression. 

Wideman uses the concepts of oppression and trust to highlight how the government uses the trust of the majority to shift the focus of oppression in America to oppression in the middle east through the use of a phony war. The use of these two concepts allows the reader to understand and feel the anger that African Americans have toward both the government and general public and their lack of attention to the racism in this country. 
