This connection allows Diaz to remind his audience of the persistence of such regimes. It works against misconceptions that these problems are things of an ancient past. The Mongoose’s appearance to the De Leons directly connects their modern-day plight against their oppressors to the experience of victims of slavery before them. His call for their survival highlights the importance of continued resistance against these anti-black forces. The Mongoose is reminding the De Leons and readers of the text that the fight against these forces has not finished. These anti-black constructs continue to persecute and alienate black people, as seen when Oscar is treated with “inhuman cheeriness” (Diaz 49) because of his black skin and afro and when Beli is seen as a “sign” of a curse after she is born “black black” (Diaz 248). In a world where “people [take] their child's black complexion as an ill omen” (Diaz 248) and blackness is something to be “obscure[d]” (Diaz 148), it is important that Beli and Oscar, as black humans, not succumb to their beatings as they must survive to lead their predecessors. Similarly, it is important that readers not allow tactics wielded by anti-black regimes to beat them down and imprison them. Succumbing to their tactics, or worse, forgetting that such regimes continue to exist will allow for such
This connection allows Diaz to remind his audience of the persistence of such regimes. It works against misconceptions that these problems are things of an ancient past. The Mongoose’s appearance to the De Leons directly connects their modern-day plight against their oppressors to the experience of victims of slavery before them. His call for their survival highlights the importance of continued resistance against these anti-black forces. The Mongoose is reminding the De Leons and readers of the text that the fight against these forces has not finished. These anti-black constructs continue to persecute and alienate black people, as seen when Oscar is treated with “inhuman cheeriness” (Diaz 49) because of his black skin and afro and when Beli is seen as a “sign” of a curse after she is born “black black” (Diaz 248). In a world where “people [take] their child's black complexion as an ill omen” (Diaz 248) and blackness is something to be “obscure[d]” (Diaz 148), it is important that Beli and Oscar, as black humans, not succumb to their beatings as they must survive to lead their predecessors. Similarly, it is important that readers not allow tactics wielded by anti-black regimes to beat them down and imprison them. Succumbing to their tactics, or worse, forgetting that such regimes continue to exist will allow for such