In the article Entering Darkness by Robin Mitchell, the author focuses on the vague and stereotypical inclusion of black women in french art and culture, as a representation of forbiddenness as well as a tool of the French monarchy to keep black people subjugated in a time of great political upheaval The author first does this by introducing a painting called Les Galeries du Palais-Royal where the inclusion of a black woman in a debauched scene is the actual thing that pushes it too far, so much so that she isn’t even included in the writing that the painting is based upon, as her inclusion would’ve been “too shocking for the public of 1790” to witness (Pg. 4). As such, the arrival of Sarah Baartman, as described by the author, was seen as “a convenient distraction from political upheaval and social change” that was occuring in 1814 (Pg. 6). Thus, she was not viewed as a person so much as a caricature they could exaggerate and point to as someone who was lesser than them. The author goes about illustrating the issue at hand by taking a wider lens to the issue, and backs it out to the point of demonstrating why the French would want to make such a mimicry of her being in the first place, as she was simply used as a distraction for everyone to point at and say they were superior than. The reason why looking at the point that the author makes here is important is to truly view in how many ways racism can be employed as a destructive, degrading tool to improve the standing in some way of the user while putting down the oppressed, such as the perspective that the author illustrates that these purely racist images fabricated by France were thus used by them to say to the people that though France was struggling, it could therefore be “worse” and that they, the people are better than “them”.

The analysis put forward by Robin Mitchell is a truly fascinating and informative one in my opinion. Not only does it provide a very interesting perspective on the piece, it truly provides the “why” of why the “Venus Hottentot” was created in the first place: as a racist manifestation of inward concern and turmoil in France at the time, and was used a political tool to distract and appease the people in a way that had no bearing on the real issues of the time. I find this piece particularly distressing as they treated a human life as nothing more than a curiosity to gawk at and prodded, just so that the people could be entertained in some manner. In a way, I believe this is the most powerful piece we have look at yet in this class, as it shows just the lengths people will go to absolutely tear down a person just so that they can continue to live well without solving the real problems that are underlying. My only real criticism would be to show more examples of mistreatment as displayed in culture like Sarah Baartman, and how are they used throughout the ages as misdirection from the real issues at hand.