Bob Marley's "War" and Six Degrees of Seperation

Bob Marley's "War" and Six Degrees of Separation

In Bob Marley's song "War" and the play Six Degrees of Seperation by John Guare, race relations are a common theme. In the song "War" Bob Marley talks about how, "Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned- everywhere is war." When Bob Marley talks about  "the philosophy" he is referring to the fact that in society racism is very prevalent. He believes that until "the philosophy" is destroyed there will always be violence between races, particularly between whites and blacks. Bob Marley wrote the song "War" in 1976 in Jamaica yet it is reflective of what was going on between races around the world. During 1976 Jamaica declared a state of emergency and Bob Marley performed at the Smile Jamaica Concert in order to give the Jamaican people hope in the midst of crisis. The first song that he performed at the concert ironically was "War". The song was primarily written however, to reflect the fact that wars in Africa were due to race problems between white people and black people.

Also in the song "War" Bob Marley says, "That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race-dis a war." In these lyrics Bob Marley is talking about how until black people are given the equal opportunities as white people and equal treatment there will always be a constant struggle between them. Although the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, there was still lots of racism in the U.S. and black people still were not given the complete equality that they would have liked. This inequality between races led to things like the riots in Miami. Bob Marley also says, "That until there no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes-me say war." In these lyrics, Bob Marley talks about how a the color of someones skin should not affect how they are treated or perceived by the world. Bob Marley seems to believe that if the color of a persons skin became irrelevant the problems of racism would fade away, but until that time, there will always be tension between people of different skin color.

In the play Six Degrees of Seperation race relations between white people and black people play a significant role, similar to Bob Marley's song "War". Paul is a young black man that, throughout the play, tries to integrate himself into white society. He continually creates stories about his past in order to try to be accepted into different white families. At the end of the play Ouisa and Paul discuss the issue of him turning himself in to the police saying on page 110,

Paul

I'll be treated with care if you take me to the police. If they don't know you're special, they kill you.

Ouisa

I don't think they kill you.

Paul

Mrs. Louisa Kittredge, I am black.

Even though "War" was written in 1976, and  Six Degrees of Sepration was written in 1990 Bob Marley's ideas are still significant today. Paul emphasizes the fact that he is black in order to show that racism still exists. The "philosophy" that Bob Marley talks about is expressed in the play. Paul is automatically inferior to white people because of his skin color. This is obvious when he talks about his fear of the police killing him because he is black.

In, Six Degrees of Separation, Paul tries to create a new identity for himself because he knows that by just being black he will not be able to advance in society. Paul fabricates things in order to make people throughout the play perceive him as a more successful person than he really is, in order to find happiness. At one point in the play, Paul takes advantage of Dr. Fine and get's into Dr. Fine's house. When Dr. Fine comes back to discover Paul in his house he says, "This fucking black kid crack addict came into my office lying," then Dr. Fine says to a policeman after Paul tries to explain, "I want you to arrest this fraud." (pg. 66) Crack is often associated with people of a lower class so, when Dr. Fine refers to Paul as a "crack addict" it has implications of Paul being very low class. Dr. Fine also uses black in a derogatory way and stereotypes black people as crack addicts. This relates to "War" when Bob Marley talks about how the color of a persons skin should not reflect on who they are as an individual. In the case of Dr. Fine, he is doing exactly what Bob Marley describes and says will create problems among different races.