“Shelter”: White Anxiety is Black Inheritance

by Christian Marsh

Throughout this course we have discussed the relevance of race relations in literary works from the early modern period to date. Shakespeare is one of the most formative writers in literature, and in-depth analyses reveal the racial implications of his writings in present day. Written and performed by three Black artists, “Shelter” is a song written about Black struggle in America in the wake of the 2020 Civil Rights movement. The music video follows VIC MENSA, Wyclef Jean, and Chance the Rapper as they perform in an urban neighborhood. As buildings burn and Black children bury their parents in the background, melodic RnB chords promise to provide shelter from the chaos. As this video suggests, the trauma that Black people endure presently is an accumulation of generational anguish from living in a highly racialized society. The erasure of black voices and absence of black bodies in literature throughout history speaks volumes about the extent to which racial injustice has prevailed, and the works of Shakespeare are no exception.

In “Shelter” there are several lyrics that parallel texts we have discussed this semester. One line of particular interest is: “They give us the Black Plague, then send us a white savior.” The white savior is a common literary trope in which a white character is portrayed heroically for selflessly providing help to people of color. Similarly, another trope found in literature is the embodiment of white anxieties. These characters manipulate and engage with non-white characters in attempt to maintain the racial hierarchy. This allows them to coax their own insecurities regarding people of color. Their behavior is typically portrayed as aggressive to reassert social dominance within a racialized society.

The Baron Doctor from Suzan-Lori Parks’s Venus is an example of a white savior. Initially he saves Venus from the circus in which she was assaulted regularly and whisks her away to France where they fall in love. However, in time, he too succumbs to white anxieties and uses Venus’s deceased Black body to further his medical career. In the case of Shakespeare, Iago from Othello is a prime example of a character fueled by white anxieties. Othello is a successful and well-respected Black man in a relationship with a beautiful white woman. Thus, borne out of jealousy, Iago sets out with the tools of deceit and malice to destroy Othello and restore power to violence through chaos. The insecurities he reveals are often physical, as Iago frequently speaks about sex and even goes so far as to request that Rodrigo cuckold Othello.

After disrupting Othello’s mental stability through immense psychological warfare, Iago suggests that Othello “Strangle her in bed, even the bed she hath contaminated” (4. 1. 228-229). This obsession with Othello’s physicality and even the physical aspects of his relationship with Desdemona is rooted in Iago’s insecurity. He struggles to accept that a Black man can live a happy life even while bound to the fetters of societal prejudice, when Iago himself only finds joy in the destruction of others. This rejection is ultimately what drives Iago’s pursuit. By manipulating Othello into strangling his wife in their marital bed he perverts the intimacy of their relationship from love to hate. Othello’s extreme reaction to the torment Iago put him through is a result of life in a racialized society. But it also causes Othello to fulfill the caricature of an angry and violent black man Iago has drawn of him, successfully reestablishing the racial order Iago craves.

In addition to the discussions of white saviors, the use of “black plague” in this context holds several meanings. Most evidently, there is the reference to the Bubonic plague that devastated Afro-Eurasia during the 14th century. The black plague in song could also refer to the plights that ail the Black community specifically. In this sense the symptoms of the metaphorical plague would be racial prejudice and discrimination. Fatal afflictions that have ravaged Black people for centuries resulting in a phenomenon referred to as generational trauma.

The generational trauma that Black people experience brings us back to “Shelter.” VIC MENSA asks, “Tell me why it ain’t no trauma units when everyone’s traumatized?.” Black people have experienced disproportionate violence and discrimination for centuries. The fear and anxiety that follow experiences with racism are passed down from Black parent to Black child as they attempt to prepare them for the dangers they will face in a white man’s society. Othello’s intense reaction to Iago’s manipulations is due in part to generational trauma. While Othello carries his own trauma, spawned from a lifetime of working without rest to ensure that people would see his skills and character through his skin color, he is also burdened with the trauma that Black people carried for generations before him. It takes immense strength to manage the collective weight, and Iago hammered at the cracks in Othello’s resolve until he broke.

Shakespeare’s portrayal of Othello indicates that he not only was familiar with the state of racial affairs, but was complicit in society’s racial structure and thus, his plays should be interpreted as such.