September 30, 2016 - 16:20
Kate Weiler
Everyone slips and falls every once in a while. While making mistakes can often be seen as embarrassing, they are important to acknowledge, especially in the light that Anne Dalke analyzes the concept in her chapter ‘Slipping.’ The notion of slipping has proven itself to be a rather complex idea. Slipping can often be seen in the form of microagressions, instances where someone returns to comfortable traditions or stereotypes, and voices them; these slips are usually things one is not supposed to say, but are not exactly explicit. These slips are not always done with an intent to hurt others; they can be nothing more than mistakes. Slipping can transcend verbal mistakes to become missteps in action, if the ideas seen in slips become engrained enough to be represented in people’s actions. This can be seen in Octavia Butler’s short story ‘Bloodchild,’ as well as in current events with the pressing issue of gun violence in the United States. Slipping shows its face in phrases or actions that uncover prejudice long ingrained in society, as well as in oneself as a member of that society.
Dalke’s definition of slipping as “an act of associative mis-speaking” is intensely evident in ‘Bloodchild’’s dialogue, but one aspect of the short story hints that slipping can be evident in actions as well (Anne Dalke, 254). ‘Bloodchild’ illustrates a less obvious form of slipping than described by Dalke, one seen through regulations and subsequent actions. In the graphic, dystopian short story, Gan, a young man, lives in the “Preserve,” a community where humans (called Terrans) live in supposed harmony with an alien race, the Tlic (Octavia Butler). In this world, Terran men host their alien caretaker’s young, while most women are allowed to bear their own children and continue the human race. Because of this custom, a strange, intensely strained relationship between Gan and his caretaker, T'Gatoi, emerges over time, ultimately bringing to light the fact that while firearms are banned in the Preserve, they play an overwhelmingly large role in the story. When Gan goes to shoot an animal, an achti, for T’Gatoi with one of the family’s guns, he observes afterwards that “T'Gatoi would probably confiscate it” (Butler). He then explains why guns had been banned, due to “incidents right after the Preserve was established - Terrans shooting Tlic, shooting N'Tlic. This was before the joining of families began, before everyone had a personal stake in keeping the peace. No one had shot a Tlic in my lifetime or my mother's, but the law still stood - for our protection, we were told” (Butler). This implies that after humans moved onto the alien planet of the Tlic, the immigrating race attempted to use firepower to assert dominance over the natives, an idea related to that of imperialism and colonization, By doing this, they slipped back to violent tenancies and traditions in attempt to gain the underlying advantage. After this explanation, which recounts the life-or-death stakes riding on firearms in the Preserve, readers would most likely assume that this is the last time a gun would be seen in the story. What is important to note here, though, is that the inverse occurs. While guns have long been banned in the Preserve, they become increasingly prevalent as ‘Bloodchild’ goes on.
The fact that Gan’s family has a host of guns in their house after the ban makes it clear that their firearms are kept illegally. Gan decides to use the “most accessible” gun to kill an achti for T’Gatoi as per her request; while she expected him to use a legal weapon to do it, he ultimately decides to use the gun because he is afraid to kill a large animal, and it make the process far easier (Butler). This thought process is an example of a slip back to traditional ways of reasoning, and results in a subsequent corresponding action. Gan is uneasy, and thus returns to the comfortable tradition of using a powerful weapon to reinforce the species hierarchy that has been held as fact by highly-regarded thinkers as far into the past as Aristotle (de Waal). Because Gan feels insecure and uneasy when tasked with killing a large, imposing animal, he resorts back to the way humans use unjustified violence against other creatures who lacked the power and sophistication of firearms, which today is generally looked down upon. He subconsciously prioritizes the ease of asserting his dominance and getting his task done as easily and painlessly as possible over the possibility of having the firearm confiscated afterward (a more permanent consequence of such course of action), mimicking the slips that Dalke discusses, in which people trade off confronting underlying issues of prejudice and bias for slipping back into them.
As ‘Bloodchild’ progresses, Gan’s family gun becomes a key character in the story. T’Gatoi confronts Gan, demanding to know if he used the gun to shoot the achti. Gan, gun in hand, affirms this, and remains defensive when T’Gatoi asks if he plans to shoot her with it. In defiance, asserting that he does not want to be her host, Gan positions the gun under his own chin. Even after T’Gatoi talks him out of killing himself in order to avoid being a host, Gan fights passionately for his right to keep the gun. Although “she grasped the rifle barrel, [he] wouldn't let go… pulled into a standing position over her” (Butler). He tells her to accept the risk of his having a gun, asserting that “we’re not your animals…there is risk…in dealing with a partner” (Butler). Again, Gan slips back into the long held human tradition of defending one’s right to use deadly violence. His words call up the second amendment of United States Constitution, guaranteeing citizens “a well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms" (U.S. Constitution).In this way, the prevalence of guns in a supposed utopian society can be viewed as an allegory for gun regulation.
There is a prevalent human ‘slip’ of glorifying violence and utilizing it, without much thought, as it has long been seen as a quick fix to one’s problems, but it does not repair anything in the long-term. This idea, deeply ingrained in society, often spirals and builds up so that the result is actual lethal violence. In the society portrayed in ‘Bloodchild,’ the gun laws are so harsh that the amount of illegal, dangerous gun activity skyrockets, as seen in Gan’s actions throughout the story. Although, in this utopian society, guns were to be absent altogether, in the microcosm of Gan’s house, such weaponry is utilized to a great degree. The idea of harsh regulations having an inverse affect can be applied to the current state of firearms regulation as a warning against harsh gun laws within societies. Those who want firearms banned altogether, through ‘Bloodchild,’ can see that this is not realistic and would not lead to the desired result of less violence; rather, it would only lead to an increase in the activity the majority of society demonizes. Proponents of affirmative actions such as background checks, in order to ensure that those who own a gun are trained to use it correctly, will be encouraged by the extreme portrayed in ‘Bloodchild.’ This more realistic solution would lessen irrational violence, a common result of more subtle slips in society today, such as racial bias and defending one’s right to use deadly force, as seen in the high-profile cases of Trayvon Martin and Tyre King.
On September 15, 2016, Tyre King, 13 years of age, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Columbus, Ohio, because he had in his possession a BB gun which resembled a real firearm. The morning after King’s death, Mayor Andrew Ginther appeared to choke up as he questioned why an eighth-grader would be carrying a replica of a police firearm, commenting that “there is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing is epidemic to our city streets…a 13-year-old is dead in the city of Columbus because of our obsession with guns and violence” (Franko). By releasing this statement, Ginther placed the blame not solely on the white police officer who slipped back to racial bias against black youth, but the prevalent slip of society to glorify lethal weapons, leading to an ongoing spiral of unnecessary violence and death. This shows firsthand how slips can build up and lead to extreme actions.
Like in ‘Bloodchild,’ slips towards defending social hierarchies leads to romanticizing and unnecessarily utilizing violence in our far from utopian society. This presents a dire need for both gun reform and a shift in weapon and violence culture, especially between police and minority civilians. Like Gan tasked with shooting the achti, the police officer in this case was uneasy, and resorted to the comfort of firearms in accumulation of smaller societal slips such as racial profiling and police superiority. King, like Gan, a human on the planet of another species, grew up in a similar situation: he identified as a minority that has many stereotypes associated with it, in an area consisting mostly of the majority. As a young black boy, all King knew was a society that labeled and oppressed those who looked like him, and in order to protect himself, he carried around a very realistic BB gun. The fact that police violence against minorities led to a 13-year-old fearing for the value of his life to this degree demonstrates that there is a real problem with gun culture today. The need he felt to protect himself was a result of societal slips that led to a prevalence of police violence against black Americans, combined with the gradual slip of society of glorifying weaponry in movies, television, and in video games, and escalating to kids carrying around mock firearms. This endless cycle of slips, both societal and individual, must be stopped. We, as a society, cannot stomach another black American stripped of their future due to those in authority, as well as society as a whole, reverting back to comfortable traditions and underlying racial prejudice.
In ‘Slipping,’ Anne Dalke quotes an essay penned by a former student of hers, Emily Elstad. In her paper, Elstad observed that “’sometimes only by slipping and falling to the floor do we notice that there is something down there that needs to be cleaned up’” (Dalke). This is applicable to the issue of unnecessary violence, both in ‘Bloodchild’ and in the current police violence epidemic in the U.S. In ‘Bloodchild,’ the prevalence of violence and general unrest makes it obvious that something is wrong with the laws that govern that society. In the United States, the number of black Americans who have been buried, both physically and in the criminal justice system, due to senseless violence rooted in slippages, is growing exponentially by the day. We, as a society, have had more than our share of wake-up calls that something is wrong with this pattern. How did society come to this? How have we, as Americans, become numb to these killings? How many more teenagers do we have to bury before we take action? Individual slips, on top of major societal slips, have gotten us to this point, and only we, as a society, as a human family, thus, can make a change in the future. As the son of Alton Sterling, one of the many black Americans killed by police violence, said after losing his father in the public eye, "what I want, what I ask if you truly love my father, I truly just want everyone to protest the right way -- protesting in peace. Not in violence. Not beating the police, not police beating the people. That makes no sense. That make things worse. You have to make things better by making peace. I feel that people in general, no matter what their race is, should come together as one united family. There should be no more arguments, disagreements, violence, crimes. Everyone should come together as one united family” (CBS News). Only by coming together as this family can a change be made.
Sources cited:
Butler, O. E. (2005). ‘Bloodchild and other stories.’ New York: Seven Stories Press.
CBS News. “Son of Alton Sterling: ‘Protest the right way’.” 13 July, 2016. Web.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alton-sterling-son-cameron-father-police-shooting-death-dallas-ambush/
Cohen, J., & Dalke, A. (n.d.) Slipping. Steal This Classroom: Teaching and Learning Unbound. Bryn Mawr: Punctum Books.
de Waal, F. “What I Learned from Tickling Apes.” New York Times. 10 April, 2016. Print.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/opinion/sunday/what-i-learned-from-tickling-apes.html?_r=1
Franko, K., and Sanner, A. Associated Press. “13-Year-Old with BB Gun Killed by Police in Columbus, Ohio.” ABC News. 15 September, 2016. Web.
(http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/boy-13-fatally-shot-police-pulling-bb-gun-42104580)
U.S. Constitution Art./Amend. II.