As an African American male growing up in Detroit Michigan; racism, discrimination, privilege, prejudice, and the systems by which the American people live by does not surprise me anymore. As a matter of fact I find it quite puzzling how people can be surprised that such things still exist. In one article that we read this past week a student said “Racism, does that still exist?” and after reading that quote I thought to myself: Wow! People are only attentive to what is going on in their individual lives that they are oblivious to what is going on in society, however, can they be blamed? When you live in a social environment away from discrimination and away from prejudice because your community is so polarized, i.e. either massively white, massively rich, or massively ignorant, a person is not aware that other lifestyles exist; mainly due to the fact they never had to care about the other lifestyles. Throughout my life and my family’s life we have and encountered and endured all of such discrimination but depending on how life served us our lemons differentiated how we lived our lives.
In my family history paper I learned that certain members of my family was unable to continue their high school careers, begin a college expedition, as well as they were unable to receive high profiled careers because certain things in life prevented them from doing so. My family is not wealthy and like most other black families in my community we work day to day to make ends meet. While discussing the topic of racial privilege a lot of Caucasian in the articles we read felt that it is the black communities own fault for their continuous downfall and if they attempted to get a college education and tried harder in school than they too could have economic and social successes. What my white counterparts fail to realize, however, is the fact that they have three hundred plus years of privilege and the black community is trying to catch up. America declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776 but it wasn’t until 1954 that the black community was allowed to receive integrated education, i.e. the supposedly same education as the white community because the segregated schools was indeed insufficiently teaching the black students, but even with the integrated schools in today’s society an inner city black student is not nearly receiving as close to a good education as a suburban white student. Due to inner city schools lack of funding and poverty-stricken citizens the option of receiving top notch education is not affordable and therefore not existent. Majority of the black community lives in these impoverished areas and although school is important survival is most important and in order to eat, have shelter, and common necessities such as water and electricity, money is required, so instead of being able to go to school and get an education these inhabitants stay in their area to work a minimum wage job to ensure that these common necessities is acquired. I am aware and understand that people should try to get an education especially since more opportunities are available to us now than they were in the early 1900’s but due to the fact that the black community have been oppressed for hundreds of years and only been treated as equals by law for a little over forty years a lot of people in the black community cannot afford to take such opportunities because we have to settle a debt from hundreds of years of oppression.
It is so puzzling as to why people can’t see that they have privilege or that they
indirectly do racist things, even if they are not a racist. As an African American male I know that I have privileges that other people don’t have. I know that I can walk alone on a dark street at night without fear of someone sexually assaulting me as a woman does not have such privilege. Whether she is black or white, women as a whole do have to worry about such occurrences and take precautions to prevent sexual assaults from happening. I know that I have the privilege of receiving a free education until my college career as an American citizen yet the children of Argentina have to pay to receive good schooling and children of Uganda receive insufficient schooling if any at all. I am aware of my privilege as a heterosexual male, I know that I can show affection publicly or go to city hall in any state and get married while a homosexual couple may have fear to show public affection and are denied the rights in a lot of states to get married at all. Even with all of my disadvantages I am still aware that I have privileges and although I have not been appreciative of these privileges my whole life I know that if I have these privileges people opposite of me have the drawback. Although me acknowledging my privilege and their disadvantage does nothing to help the problem of social injustice in the world; allowing injustice to occur and do nothing about it is just as wrong as being a part of the social injustice. As people with privilege we have to stand up for the underprivileged and speak with them about the injustices, because it is more likely that privilege people listen to each other as they would listen to an underprivileged talk of how unfair they are being treated by the privilege.
All in all White America need to speak to each other and discuss how they do have privileges and ways to fix the injustice that occurs. They should discuss how they are able to go into a convenient store and not have to have the cashier hover over them to make sure they don’t steal anything, they should discuss how it is easier for them to get job opportunities and loan approvals, as they also should discuss why it is they are less likely to get arrested, convicted, or serve prison time regardless of the crime and its circumstance. I am proud of my race and the obstacles we have to overcome but I want to be seen as more than a professional basketball or football player as I want to be looked at upon as an equal. Law requires people to give me opportunity but I want opportunity because I deserve it and my fellow peers know that I deserve it. My race and age has caused me many obstacles in my life and even though society tend to say they are colorblind, in one some aspect of my life everybody tend to stereotype something about me because I am black as they don’t take me serious because I am young.
Being African American has its trials and tribulations as well as it has it glories and celebrations and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Unlike the obstacles my family had to go through there is a lot less blatant racial activities occurring as well as a lot more diversity accepting people in America today. For the stereotypes I do receive from people inadvertently prejudging me and the racist comment I may hear from those who are not ready to accept the changing path America is undergoing gives me ambition and drive to do better and go further. I want to make my family proud but more than ever I want to prove everybody who doubted that I would succeed wrong. My motto: In all life’s aspect I am great…expect NOTHING less.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
BLOG 4
For three hundred and ten years the black population that inhabited Africa was coerced to abandon their native land and aboard a ship to travel to a land that would grant them no freedom, no rights, and no individuality. A land that pronounces that their nation was founded on equality and opportunity was the same land that oppressed and discriminated millions of Africans for the profit of themselves. However, in 1865 the American dream seemed like a reality for these African American people. With the thirteenth amendment being ratified resulting in the abolishment of slavery: freedom, opportunity, equality and all else that was once an idiotic hope for the African Americans now seems like a possibility. That was not the case however. The inferiority was still constant as well as the segregation and the racism. You take one step forward to get knocked two back was a cliché that African Americans witnessed on a daily basis, although they were no longer slaves they was still not free.
Not ready to accept black people as equal citizens as them, white America physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, lynched, segregated, and dehumanized them. With the establishment of the Jim Crow laws, separate but equal wasn’t unlawful as it was unfair. Black people was required to use separate bathrooms, eat at separate lunch counters, sit in a separate area of the bus, go to a separate school, as well as address all their Caucasian counterparts by sir or ma’am. Although they were no longer slaves they were not treated as equals. Black women had to worry and be cautious of their area because they was fearful of being raped by white men and black men had to be cautious of civil rights activities they were involved in because they may become lynched, beaten, or bombed. During the civil rights era it was common to hear about the Rodney King’s in the world being nearly beaten to death, the multiple lynching of men and children, the massive riots that were conducted, and the large amounts of sexual assaults women had to endure. The pain that African Americans endure, not because they had the same rights as the “white men” but because they wanted these so called un-deniable birth rights is unimaginable. There is only so much persecution a group of people can undergo before they retaliate so they can stop such persecution. How is a person suppose to live when you have one person saying you are an American and Americans have a list of rights available to them and then you have another person telling you how ugly, stupid, and insufficient to society you are while at the same time not permitting you to have any of your rights. Due to such hypocrisy there was two different approaches established to gain the equal opportunities that the African Americans thirst for; the nonviolent approach as well the non-nonviolent approach.
When combating the civil rights issue activist such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks believed that violence should not be retaliated with violence as it should be handled in a more peaceful manner. Following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and the Christian faith “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you,” Martin Luther King Jr. and other fellow non-violence activist use tactics such as boycotting, sit ins, freedom rides, and marches to gain attention to their need and get society to pay attention to the problems going on in America. The Montgomery boycott is one of the most memorized and notarized things that the nonviolent activist led. Due to the fact a women did not want to give up her seat for a white man, even though she was not sitting in the designated “white” rows, she was arrested and placed in jail. Aggravated with the unfair treatment and segregated ways of the busing system Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organized the Montgomery bus boycott and for a little over a year the black community refused to use the busing system, instead they carpooled, walked, or drove in black owned taxis. It’s amazing how a large group of people can dedicate together and stand for something without using violence and brute force and still make a difference in the world.
Non Violent activist believe that adding violence to violence just cause more chaos to the situation and doesn’t help them reach their goal of civil rights. So instead of partaking on the more aggressive roles they instead decided to organize marches and sit ins because such events publicly announced message would not only spread but do so in a positive manner. The goal of the non violence approach was for integration to occur and have whites and blacks live amongst each other civilly. Just like most things in the United States, however, there are opposing views to the non-violent techniques for civil rights. Not everyone believes in the “do unto those as you want those to do onto you” message, so they took a different approach, a more aggressive approach.
Contrary to Martin Luther King Jr. beliefs Malcolm X believe that blacks should do whatever was necessary to protect their rights, and if that results in violence than that result in violence. The “non-nonviolence” approach didn’t condone random acts of violence amongst the black community onto the white community as they did expect black occupants to protect themselves against harm or danger if necessary. Malcolm X mocked MLK Jr. for his faith in integration as well as for his strategy of nonviolence. Non-nonviolent people believed integration did nothing more than affirm that white was better than black. They noted how it would be the black family to integrate into the white family school and neighborhoods because integration is a one way path. You integrate the African American student to white schools and white neighborhoods yet at the same time you would never see a Caucasian family make their way to the ghetto to integrate and start a new life there. Malcolm X brute force type of motto was by ballot or bullets and when he says that he is saying a statement, give me freedom or I’ll give you problems. Malcolm’s message exposed the failure of the civil rights movement to address the problems of joblessness and poverty as he pronounce that we (black people) suffered political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic oppression at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man. Now it was our turn as people to ensure that the white man hands were never to grasp anything else that belong to us without our permission.
It’s hard to put yourself in that situation on what to do and how to handle it because such hardships can cause people to do different things. Due to the fact that both approaches to achieving equality was taken I believe that it helped with the progress of the civil rights movement. With just intelligence, peace, patience, and non-violence alone I do not think our civil liberties would have been reached when they did as I also believe that only brute force and self-defense would not have accomplished much either. Since some black people placed fear for revolting in America’s eyes as well as show the people that we also have intelligence, the combination of both: violence and non-violence is the reason for the success in the civil rights movement. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is given a lot of credit for the progress of America I believe that Malcolm X deserves more credit than he is given. I believe his lack of just due occurs because Dr. King had a marvelous reputation and a good persona in the public eye versus Malcolm X who wasn’t a college graduate as he was an ex convict. Even with the fame or lack of fame both men contributed greatly to the civil rights movement and due to both of their views Martin Luther King dream was finally achieved. In 1964, a black person wasn’t allowed to eat in the same facility as a white; in 2004 some restaurants are owned by a black person that feed both black and white customers together.
Not ready to accept black people as equal citizens as them, white America physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, lynched, segregated, and dehumanized them. With the establishment of the Jim Crow laws, separate but equal wasn’t unlawful as it was unfair. Black people was required to use separate bathrooms, eat at separate lunch counters, sit in a separate area of the bus, go to a separate school, as well as address all their Caucasian counterparts by sir or ma’am. Although they were no longer slaves they were not treated as equals. Black women had to worry and be cautious of their area because they was fearful of being raped by white men and black men had to be cautious of civil rights activities they were involved in because they may become lynched, beaten, or bombed. During the civil rights era it was common to hear about the Rodney King’s in the world being nearly beaten to death, the multiple lynching of men and children, the massive riots that were conducted, and the large amounts of sexual assaults women had to endure. The pain that African Americans endure, not because they had the same rights as the “white men” but because they wanted these so called un-deniable birth rights is unimaginable. There is only so much persecution a group of people can undergo before they retaliate so they can stop such persecution. How is a person suppose to live when you have one person saying you are an American and Americans have a list of rights available to them and then you have another person telling you how ugly, stupid, and insufficient to society you are while at the same time not permitting you to have any of your rights. Due to such hypocrisy there was two different approaches established to gain the equal opportunities that the African Americans thirst for; the nonviolent approach as well the non-nonviolent approach.
When combating the civil rights issue activist such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks believed that violence should not be retaliated with violence as it should be handled in a more peaceful manner. Following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and the Christian faith “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you,” Martin Luther King Jr. and other fellow non-violence activist use tactics such as boycotting, sit ins, freedom rides, and marches to gain attention to their need and get society to pay attention to the problems going on in America. The Montgomery boycott is one of the most memorized and notarized things that the nonviolent activist led. Due to the fact a women did not want to give up her seat for a white man, even though she was not sitting in the designated “white” rows, she was arrested and placed in jail. Aggravated with the unfair treatment and segregated ways of the busing system Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organized the Montgomery bus boycott and for a little over a year the black community refused to use the busing system, instead they carpooled, walked, or drove in black owned taxis. It’s amazing how a large group of people can dedicate together and stand for something without using violence and brute force and still make a difference in the world.
Non Violent activist believe that adding violence to violence just cause more chaos to the situation and doesn’t help them reach their goal of civil rights. So instead of partaking on the more aggressive roles they instead decided to organize marches and sit ins because such events publicly announced message would not only spread but do so in a positive manner. The goal of the non violence approach was for integration to occur and have whites and blacks live amongst each other civilly. Just like most things in the United States, however, there are opposing views to the non-violent techniques for civil rights. Not everyone believes in the “do unto those as you want those to do onto you” message, so they took a different approach, a more aggressive approach.
Contrary to Martin Luther King Jr. beliefs Malcolm X believe that blacks should do whatever was necessary to protect their rights, and if that results in violence than that result in violence. The “non-nonviolence” approach didn’t condone random acts of violence amongst the black community onto the white community as they did expect black occupants to protect themselves against harm or danger if necessary. Malcolm X mocked MLK Jr. for his faith in integration as well as for his strategy of nonviolence. Non-nonviolent people believed integration did nothing more than affirm that white was better than black. They noted how it would be the black family to integrate into the white family school and neighborhoods because integration is a one way path. You integrate the African American student to white schools and white neighborhoods yet at the same time you would never see a Caucasian family make their way to the ghetto to integrate and start a new life there. Malcolm X brute force type of motto was by ballot or bullets and when he says that he is saying a statement, give me freedom or I’ll give you problems. Malcolm’s message exposed the failure of the civil rights movement to address the problems of joblessness and poverty as he pronounce that we (black people) suffered political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic oppression at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man. Now it was our turn as people to ensure that the white man hands were never to grasp anything else that belong to us without our permission.
It’s hard to put yourself in that situation on what to do and how to handle it because such hardships can cause people to do different things. Due to the fact that both approaches to achieving equality was taken I believe that it helped with the progress of the civil rights movement. With just intelligence, peace, patience, and non-violence alone I do not think our civil liberties would have been reached when they did as I also believe that only brute force and self-defense would not have accomplished much either. Since some black people placed fear for revolting in America’s eyes as well as show the people that we also have intelligence, the combination of both: violence and non-violence is the reason for the success in the civil rights movement. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is given a lot of credit for the progress of America I believe that Malcolm X deserves more credit than he is given. I believe his lack of just due occurs because Dr. King had a marvelous reputation and a good persona in the public eye versus Malcolm X who wasn’t a college graduate as he was an ex convict. Even with the fame or lack of fame both men contributed greatly to the civil rights movement and due to both of their views Martin Luther King dream was finally achieved. In 1964, a black person wasn’t allowed to eat in the same facility as a white; in 2004 some restaurants are owned by a black person that feed both black and white customers together.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Blog 3
With America being a prosperous country and place for opportunity there is no question to why so many different groups of people found themselves migrating over to this inequitable land. Having the reputation of being the land of the free and the place where opportunity is available for all types of people allowed America to expand agriculturally as well as industriously while still maintain its hypocritical reputation as the promise land. With different groups such as Africans, Jewish, Irish, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, and Japanese migrating to America, one would view this country as multicultural instead of what it really was, an avarice ridden land with profit as its primary focus. Although all of these ethnicities, as well as many more, were victims to America’s white supremacy politics and its “by any means necessary” way of living the two groups that I will be focusing on will be the Japanese and the Mexicans.
In present day America, the Japanese are some of the highest paid people employed in the United States so it is questionable to why this same group of people was discriminated against. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s thousands of Japanese found themselves deporting Japan and crossing the pacific ocean in search for a better life. Since agriculture production was low in Japan and the need for success was high amongst their people, farmers found themselves leaving their native land to attain riches in America, a country internationally publicized for its opportunity. With stories that workers would make a dollar a day in America it was stupid if Japanese workers didn’t decide to jump on the band wagon and migrate to America. By making a dollar a day Japanese laborers could save 1000 yen a year; an equivalence to the amount a Japanese governor makes. These figures attracted the foreigners to the infamous land with them unknowingly suspecting that in order to gain such riches one had to lose all their pride.
Japanese immigrants had it harsh. With them working from the early morning to the night as well as being limited to who can and cannot enter the country, many found America not to be the prosperous country that it had seemed to be, but more of an abusive one. In America if you are not a white American citizen than basically you are not a citizen at all. Due to the fact that Japanese occupants had color to their skin and different bodily features than the predominant white occupants, they were viewed as inferior to those white occupants as well as to other foreign occupants. In the workforce, Japanese were never given skilled jobs and were constantly watched as a white overseer watched them work. Aware of their unfair treatment and unfair wages, Japanese workers often went on strike. With women being underpaid than men and men being underpaid to their Portuguese counterpart workers, Japanese no longer could work without equal privileges. With time, these needs were met and all foreigners were making an equivalent amount of money, but that didn’t cease the racial discrimination they faced.
Like most parents, first generation Japanese wanted better for their children who, unlike their parents, where American citizens because they were born on the land. These second generation Japanese-American citizens were called Nesei and due to the fact that they were natural born American citizens their parents wanted them to achieve all the opportunity and education that was not presented to them. Since they were Japanese and American, many Nesei embraced both of their cultures and did things in the Japanese way as well as the American way, too bad America wasn’t ready to adjust to accepting them yet. With mass majority of the Japanese American population having some type of schooling, it was quite hard even for these American citizens to find employment. How can a person with a bachelor degree in physics and chemistry not be employable enough to get a job? It was not because the Japanese was inefficient to go job searching as it was employers’ racist ways in not wanting to employ any “Japs.” The Nesei, even though was very proud of their Japanese heritage, wanted to be accepted into American society but with common insults such as “go back to where you come from” or “do you speak English” and getting stones thrown at them, it was hard for Japanese-Americans to feel accepted in America.
Around the Same time that the Japanese was migrating to Hawaii Mexicans was crossing the Rio Grande getting access to the promise of American society. Since the Mexicans already bordered the United States it was easier for them to migrate to America other than all the other foreigners who had to cross oceans. Also like the Japanese the Mexican economy was low and many of their civilians saw America as their key to success as well as an escape from the revolution that Mexico was undergoing. In America Mexicans were viewed as the most promised workers. Since white men wouldn’t do the labor necessary that farmers needed, Filipinos had the reputation of being worthless, and American exclusion acts stop the access of Japanese and Chinese immigrants, the best workers for the job was the Mexicans. What really attracted American farmers to Mexican immigrants was the fact that they worked productively for cheap pay. Given that America is all about profits, hiring good work is a good way to make a profit, but hiring cheap work is an even better way to make a profit.
Like most other foreigners America wasn’t accepting of Mexicans either. Mexicans were permitted to shop in Anglo business section of the town only on Saturdays, could only go to cafes and eat at the counter or take their meal for carry out as well as having attending segregated schools. Mexicans, with their darker skin complexions, were treated as if they were African American by having to eat or go to the colored’s only area. Even at their segregated schools the students learned how to be obedient workers. American society didn’t want smart Mexican immigrants to work because than they would want higher wages and be less ignorant to expectations in their workforce. Mexicans typically didn’t receive anything higher than a seventh grade education and was training them to follow in their parents footsteps: once a farmer always a farmer.
Unlike their Japanese counterparts, Mexican workers weren’t trying to become Americanized. The Japanese Americans embraced both of their cultures but due to the racial discrimination that Mexicans received a lot of them didn’t even want to embrace American cultures. Some chose not to learn English as well as some chose not to speak it. A common perspective that Mexicans held was the fact that even if they were to become an American citizen they would still be considered Mexican. The Mexicans were attached to Mexico and hated the discrimination that America endured them at the same time they feared for another revolution in Mexico and appreciated the job opportunity in America.
When opportunity in America was publicized they did not indicate that these opportunities included discrimination, low wage, and unacceptance to American society. These foreigners left their homelands, their families, friends, and everything else near and dare to them to find opportunity in a place that would not accept them as people. The want for success outweighed the morals America should have held for these immigrants as well as the need for profit countered any humane acts not given to the immigrants. These immigrants wanted success and riches, that’s the reason they came to America, they also, however, wanted to be accepted.
In present day America, the Japanese are some of the highest paid people employed in the United States so it is questionable to why this same group of people was discriminated against. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s thousands of Japanese found themselves deporting Japan and crossing the pacific ocean in search for a better life. Since agriculture production was low in Japan and the need for success was high amongst their people, farmers found themselves leaving their native land to attain riches in America, a country internationally publicized for its opportunity. With stories that workers would make a dollar a day in America it was stupid if Japanese workers didn’t decide to jump on the band wagon and migrate to America. By making a dollar a day Japanese laborers could save 1000 yen a year; an equivalence to the amount a Japanese governor makes. These figures attracted the foreigners to the infamous land with them unknowingly suspecting that in order to gain such riches one had to lose all their pride.
Japanese immigrants had it harsh. With them working from the early morning to the night as well as being limited to who can and cannot enter the country, many found America not to be the prosperous country that it had seemed to be, but more of an abusive one. In America if you are not a white American citizen than basically you are not a citizen at all. Due to the fact that Japanese occupants had color to their skin and different bodily features than the predominant white occupants, they were viewed as inferior to those white occupants as well as to other foreign occupants. In the workforce, Japanese were never given skilled jobs and were constantly watched as a white overseer watched them work. Aware of their unfair treatment and unfair wages, Japanese workers often went on strike. With women being underpaid than men and men being underpaid to their Portuguese counterpart workers, Japanese no longer could work without equal privileges. With time, these needs were met and all foreigners were making an equivalent amount of money, but that didn’t cease the racial discrimination they faced.
Like most parents, first generation Japanese wanted better for their children who, unlike their parents, where American citizens because they were born on the land. These second generation Japanese-American citizens were called Nesei and due to the fact that they were natural born American citizens their parents wanted them to achieve all the opportunity and education that was not presented to them. Since they were Japanese and American, many Nesei embraced both of their cultures and did things in the Japanese way as well as the American way, too bad America wasn’t ready to adjust to accepting them yet. With mass majority of the Japanese American population having some type of schooling, it was quite hard even for these American citizens to find employment. How can a person with a bachelor degree in physics and chemistry not be employable enough to get a job? It was not because the Japanese was inefficient to go job searching as it was employers’ racist ways in not wanting to employ any “Japs.” The Nesei, even though was very proud of their Japanese heritage, wanted to be accepted into American society but with common insults such as “go back to where you come from” or “do you speak English” and getting stones thrown at them, it was hard for Japanese-Americans to feel accepted in America.
Around the Same time that the Japanese was migrating to Hawaii Mexicans was crossing the Rio Grande getting access to the promise of American society. Since the Mexicans already bordered the United States it was easier for them to migrate to America other than all the other foreigners who had to cross oceans. Also like the Japanese the Mexican economy was low and many of their civilians saw America as their key to success as well as an escape from the revolution that Mexico was undergoing. In America Mexicans were viewed as the most promised workers. Since white men wouldn’t do the labor necessary that farmers needed, Filipinos had the reputation of being worthless, and American exclusion acts stop the access of Japanese and Chinese immigrants, the best workers for the job was the Mexicans. What really attracted American farmers to Mexican immigrants was the fact that they worked productively for cheap pay. Given that America is all about profits, hiring good work is a good way to make a profit, but hiring cheap work is an even better way to make a profit.
Like most other foreigners America wasn’t accepting of Mexicans either. Mexicans were permitted to shop in Anglo business section of the town only on Saturdays, could only go to cafes and eat at the counter or take their meal for carry out as well as having attending segregated schools. Mexicans, with their darker skin complexions, were treated as if they were African American by having to eat or go to the colored’s only area. Even at their segregated schools the students learned how to be obedient workers. American society didn’t want smart Mexican immigrants to work because than they would want higher wages and be less ignorant to expectations in their workforce. Mexicans typically didn’t receive anything higher than a seventh grade education and was training them to follow in their parents footsteps: once a farmer always a farmer.
Unlike their Japanese counterparts, Mexican workers weren’t trying to become Americanized. The Japanese Americans embraced both of their cultures but due to the racial discrimination that Mexicans received a lot of them didn’t even want to embrace American cultures. Some chose not to learn English as well as some chose not to speak it. A common perspective that Mexicans held was the fact that even if they were to become an American citizen they would still be considered Mexican. The Mexicans were attached to Mexico and hated the discrimination that America endured them at the same time they feared for another revolution in Mexico and appreciated the job opportunity in America.
When opportunity in America was publicized they did not indicate that these opportunities included discrimination, low wage, and unacceptance to American society. These foreigners left their homelands, their families, friends, and everything else near and dare to them to find opportunity in a place that would not accept them as people. The want for success outweighed the morals America should have held for these immigrants as well as the need for profit countered any humane acts not given to the immigrants. These immigrants wanted success and riches, that’s the reason they came to America, they also, however, wanted to be accepted.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Blog 2
Throughout the history of America there has always been polarization in the country. Whether it is due to race, social class, power, prestige, sexuality, or gender, there has always been a feeling of superiority in a majority group resulting in the minority group to have a sense of inferiority. An example of this polarization is depicted in slavery, that is, involuntary subjection to others which emphasizes the idea of complete ownership and control by a master. The idea of slavery was to have servants and yard workers coerced into working freely for a wealthy white family in order to build the family a monetary profit as well as maintain a clean and organized household. The question is, however, how can a person be forced into this type of work as well as how can a person decipher who is fit to be the master and who is fit to be the slave? Nevertheless, before these questions are answered, one must first become aware of the evolution of slavery.
Contrary to popular belief society didn’t wake up one morning and realize that slavery was the proper path to travel; prior to the establishment of slavery America first experimented with indentured workers. Similar to slavery these indentured workers were bonded by a written contract to commit as a servant to their master or employer for a specific period of time. In the novel “A Different Mirror” Ronald Takaki tells how these indentured workers were the socially rejected citizens, that is; criminals, gangsters, prostitutes, and low class residents of Germany, Ireland, and England. Yes, these Caucasian immigrants were the main prospects used for indentured work, due to the fact that the inhabitants of America thought that blacks were savage and malicious people they didn’t want many of them to inhabit their land as well as the need for transportation of the socially rejected immigrants. Since the new world was found, citizens wanted to start a new beginning there, but getting there was an issue. So for exchange of transportation the social rejects were given a term length job to pay back for the transportation that was given to them. Most people are shocked to believe that most of the indentured workers were predominantly white but due to the fact that all Caucasians were allowed to bear arms making it easier for the white indentured workers to rebel against their masters, landowners became fearful of the threat and decided to get rid of the Caucasian indentured workers and replace them with African American slaves.
With African Americans as slaves they were not able to bear arms or become educated so the thought of them rebelling was a fearful one but not as fearful as a group of white armed rebels. Unlike indentured workers, slaves didn’t have a set amount of terms to work but were scheduled to work their whole lives as slaves for their master. Morals played no part in slavery. Morally it is wrong to view people as property and treat them as if they are inferior to you, but the idea of having an increase in profit blindsided the colonist morals and transformed their values from what should be morally correct to avarice. The saying money make the world goes around is an understatement. Slavery is the epitome of a greed ridden capitalist country that became overwhelmed with money resulting in the country taking measures so extreme to kidnap and force people to work under harsh conditions freely.
Since cotton and tobacco were leading industrious products in the country at that time, having free labor helped maintain a cheap cost of the products as well as a high profit for landowners. Slavery implicated a lot of people into the system both directly and indirectly. Due to the popular demand of tobacco and cotton, the consumer who purchased cotton bound products and or tobacco composed products both constituted to the continuous growth of slavery. With them purchasing these products the landowners are making more money and maintaining their slaves because they are selling more of these grown items. It’s a supply and demand cycle, since the supply for tobacco and cotton went up, the demand for slaves and free labor also increased. Those who were implicated by slavery directly however were the slave owners as well as the slaves. I find it ironic that the colonist who detached themselves from the British ruling due to Britain’s tyranny government would be the ones to induce a similar dictator ruling over other groups of people. How are we expected to grow as a country if we are just replicating mistakes that others have made?
In order for slavery to have ended it took more than slaves and other free black citizens to announce the importance of the abolishment of slavery. In order for slavery to have ended, those who have power and prestige of owning slaves had to speak of abolishing slavery, as well as those in congressional and presidential positions. Why would society abolish slavery if the only people who thought it needed to be abolished were slaves? People with power, wealth, and position had to step up to the plate and announce they felt slavery should be abolished. Even though it took a civil war and the threat of the southern states to separate from the rest of the nation to abolish slavery, overtime, slavery was eliminated and even though history can’t be undone we can do as much as possible to prevent it from reoccurring.
However, some mistakes reoccur but just in different forms. Even though slavery was abolished other systems of similar social control are still at work in our lives today. The fact that the government can legally murder convicts and permit pregnant women to legally kill unborn kids yet at the same time they find it morally incorrect for medically inflicted suicide as well as it to be wrong for people to murder other people for their own personal reason is hypocritical. To end a person’s life is wrong in its entirety but to make rules that govern when it is ok and not ok to commit such a crime is hypocritical as well as controlling. The government wants to have some type of power over who lives and who dies so it designs laws in order for them to do so. Just as the government established which person was important enough to oppress other people and establish which people were unimportant enough to be the oppressed slaves, the government in now subjecting and making rule to who is important enough to keep living as who is unimportant enough to die. The United States is wary to permitting gay marriage because under god marriage is a bond between men and wife, yet at the same god said thou shall not kill. The government picks and chooses when it wants to use the bible for its oppressive reasons. With America there is always going to be a reason to oppress one group of people over the next, whether it was African Americans, convicts, gays, or unborn babies, there is always going to be oppressed people and until we realize and live by us all being equal, oppression will not cease to exist.
Contrary to popular belief society didn’t wake up one morning and realize that slavery was the proper path to travel; prior to the establishment of slavery America first experimented with indentured workers. Similar to slavery these indentured workers were bonded by a written contract to commit as a servant to their master or employer for a specific period of time. In the novel “A Different Mirror” Ronald Takaki tells how these indentured workers were the socially rejected citizens, that is; criminals, gangsters, prostitutes, and low class residents of Germany, Ireland, and England. Yes, these Caucasian immigrants were the main prospects used for indentured work, due to the fact that the inhabitants of America thought that blacks were savage and malicious people they didn’t want many of them to inhabit their land as well as the need for transportation of the socially rejected immigrants. Since the new world was found, citizens wanted to start a new beginning there, but getting there was an issue. So for exchange of transportation the social rejects were given a term length job to pay back for the transportation that was given to them. Most people are shocked to believe that most of the indentured workers were predominantly white but due to the fact that all Caucasians were allowed to bear arms making it easier for the white indentured workers to rebel against their masters, landowners became fearful of the threat and decided to get rid of the Caucasian indentured workers and replace them with African American slaves.
With African Americans as slaves they were not able to bear arms or become educated so the thought of them rebelling was a fearful one but not as fearful as a group of white armed rebels. Unlike indentured workers, slaves didn’t have a set amount of terms to work but were scheduled to work their whole lives as slaves for their master. Morals played no part in slavery. Morally it is wrong to view people as property and treat them as if they are inferior to you, but the idea of having an increase in profit blindsided the colonist morals and transformed their values from what should be morally correct to avarice. The saying money make the world goes around is an understatement. Slavery is the epitome of a greed ridden capitalist country that became overwhelmed with money resulting in the country taking measures so extreme to kidnap and force people to work under harsh conditions freely.
Since cotton and tobacco were leading industrious products in the country at that time, having free labor helped maintain a cheap cost of the products as well as a high profit for landowners. Slavery implicated a lot of people into the system both directly and indirectly. Due to the popular demand of tobacco and cotton, the consumer who purchased cotton bound products and or tobacco composed products both constituted to the continuous growth of slavery. With them purchasing these products the landowners are making more money and maintaining their slaves because they are selling more of these grown items. It’s a supply and demand cycle, since the supply for tobacco and cotton went up, the demand for slaves and free labor also increased. Those who were implicated by slavery directly however were the slave owners as well as the slaves. I find it ironic that the colonist who detached themselves from the British ruling due to Britain’s tyranny government would be the ones to induce a similar dictator ruling over other groups of people. How are we expected to grow as a country if we are just replicating mistakes that others have made?
In order for slavery to have ended it took more than slaves and other free black citizens to announce the importance of the abolishment of slavery. In order for slavery to have ended, those who have power and prestige of owning slaves had to speak of abolishing slavery, as well as those in congressional and presidential positions. Why would society abolish slavery if the only people who thought it needed to be abolished were slaves? People with power, wealth, and position had to step up to the plate and announce they felt slavery should be abolished. Even though it took a civil war and the threat of the southern states to separate from the rest of the nation to abolish slavery, overtime, slavery was eliminated and even though history can’t be undone we can do as much as possible to prevent it from reoccurring.
However, some mistakes reoccur but just in different forms. Even though slavery was abolished other systems of similar social control are still at work in our lives today. The fact that the government can legally murder convicts and permit pregnant women to legally kill unborn kids yet at the same time they find it morally incorrect for medically inflicted suicide as well as it to be wrong for people to murder other people for their own personal reason is hypocritical. To end a person’s life is wrong in its entirety but to make rules that govern when it is ok and not ok to commit such a crime is hypocritical as well as controlling. The government wants to have some type of power over who lives and who dies so it designs laws in order for them to do so. Just as the government established which person was important enough to oppress other people and establish which people were unimportant enough to be the oppressed slaves, the government in now subjecting and making rule to who is important enough to keep living as who is unimportant enough to die. The United States is wary to permitting gay marriage because under god marriage is a bond between men and wife, yet at the same god said thou shall not kill. The government picks and chooses when it wants to use the bible for its oppressive reasons. With America there is always going to be a reason to oppress one group of people over the next, whether it was African Americans, convicts, gays, or unborn babies, there is always going to be oppressed people and until we realize and live by us all being equal, oppression will not cease to exist.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Derrick Cokers Ethn Studies 101 Blog Spot
In modern society certain groups are discriminated against due to the fact they dont meet the criteria that the majority of the population believe they should meet. Whether their skin is different, thier culture is different, or they're way of living is different, certain groups have more privellege than other groups which results in the less privelleged groups being discriminated against. This discrimination can be rooted back to the seventeenth century when the British discriminated against the Native Americans which can be rooted back to when the Native inhabitants of Ireland were discriminated and executed by Vikings.
In Ronald Takaki Novel "A Different Mirror" he discussed how the Native Americans were discriminated against due to thier way of living, all of which was discussed in Chapter two. In the Novel, Ronald Takaki opened the chapter with the story of how Natives of Ireland saw a ship coming and since they were ignorants to what ships were they had no idea they were viewing the fate of thier deaths. On the ship there were vikings and since they were infatuated with the land and how beautiful it wass, the fact that these people were so different to thier lifestyle, the vikings felt it was in thier best interest to just execute all of these natives.
Like the vikings did to the Ireland Natives in the early BC, the british did that unto the Indians in the seventeenth century. Thinking they found new land the british was unaware that the land already had inhabitants living on it. Since these two people were sperated by the Atlantic Ocean thier language, clothing, housing, and way of living differed from each other. Neither one of them understood the other's language so coming to a common agreement was never reached. The british had more man power and more modern day equipment resulting in the overpowering of the Native Americans and the ownership of the land. The british viewed the Indians as inferior savages and gave the impression that they are the more superior beings because they are more civilized.
Due to the fact that the Native Tribes built thier own shelter, had animal skin/fur as clothing, and was a darker complexion than the spaniards they were barbaric. The complexion of the skin was one of the many things that seperated the native Americans from the british. A "White" complexion was known to be pure, beautiful and innocent, while a darker complexion was seen as insufficient, dirty, and evil. Prior to knowing the Indians the seperation of white and black erupted resulting in the discrimination the indians receive and is still apart of the problem in the discrimination that goes on today. After all what is barbaric. Since a person perfer or knows how to build shelter using thier hands should they be considered uncivilized. Due to the fact that a tribe is wearing animal fur and skin as clothing and still showing a lot of skin rather than wearing cloth material they have the reputation of being beneath you? Just because something is different does not mean that it is wrong and that was the misinterpretation that America was founded on, and due to the fact that past leader set mold for that type of foundation, it is hard for our present and future leaders to re-mold that foundation and correct its flaws.
The aftermath of this discrimination led to the deaths of many Native Americans and the seizing of the Americas by the british. Since some Indians were held captive and taken back to Great Britain as "show animals" to other british people, many Indians died from the various diseases that Great Britain had because thier immune system didnt have a defense fot them as well as many died from the drastic temperature change. Also since the Native Americans were discriminated against thier land and home was siezed by the british and they were forced to live on reservations and away from the rest of society. Thomas Jefferson even said that he would prefer that the Indians and the new citizens can live together in peace but if violence ever over ran the indians body than they would have to be seperated and exterminated. Thomas Jefferson preferred if the Natives would civilized themself and became more like the new found people of the land and become farmers and live as the majority of the population lived.
Just as in the seventeenth century, discrimination still goes on today. The darker a person skin appears the uglier and less civilized they are presumed to be. In todays society alot of trends are being created or still in progress because that is what our history has made us become. History of america made america rationalized that the only proper way of living is by the white mans way of living and if you do not live as he would want you to live than you are living wrong. Instead of seeing America's as a crayon box, i.e. alot of different colors that if put together can create a beautful picture, it is seen as a one way only type of government, and if you are not living and doing things that the majority of the people are doing it, than you are doing it wrong. The fact that there is a certain way to speak while you are in a job interview, a certain hair lenght and type women are suppose to have, and a certain way a person should live all concludes the fact that America, even in the twenty first century, was founded on living with the majority and not as an individual.
In Ronald Takaki Novel "A Different Mirror" he discussed how the Native Americans were discriminated against due to thier way of living, all of which was discussed in Chapter two. In the Novel, Ronald Takaki opened the chapter with the story of how Natives of Ireland saw a ship coming and since they were ignorants to what ships were they had no idea they were viewing the fate of thier deaths. On the ship there were vikings and since they were infatuated with the land and how beautiful it wass, the fact that these people were so different to thier lifestyle, the vikings felt it was in thier best interest to just execute all of these natives.
Like the vikings did to the Ireland Natives in the early BC, the british did that unto the Indians in the seventeenth century. Thinking they found new land the british was unaware that the land already had inhabitants living on it. Since these two people were sperated by the Atlantic Ocean thier language, clothing, housing, and way of living differed from each other. Neither one of them understood the other's language so coming to a common agreement was never reached. The british had more man power and more modern day equipment resulting in the overpowering of the Native Americans and the ownership of the land. The british viewed the Indians as inferior savages and gave the impression that they are the more superior beings because they are more civilized.
Due to the fact that the Native Tribes built thier own shelter, had animal skin/fur as clothing, and was a darker complexion than the spaniards they were barbaric. The complexion of the skin was one of the many things that seperated the native Americans from the british. A "White" complexion was known to be pure, beautiful and innocent, while a darker complexion was seen as insufficient, dirty, and evil. Prior to knowing the Indians the seperation of white and black erupted resulting in the discrimination the indians receive and is still apart of the problem in the discrimination that goes on today. After all what is barbaric. Since a person perfer or knows how to build shelter using thier hands should they be considered uncivilized. Due to the fact that a tribe is wearing animal fur and skin as clothing and still showing a lot of skin rather than wearing cloth material they have the reputation of being beneath you? Just because something is different does not mean that it is wrong and that was the misinterpretation that America was founded on, and due to the fact that past leader set mold for that type of foundation, it is hard for our present and future leaders to re-mold that foundation and correct its flaws.
The aftermath of this discrimination led to the deaths of many Native Americans and the seizing of the Americas by the british. Since some Indians were held captive and taken back to Great Britain as "show animals" to other british people, many Indians died from the various diseases that Great Britain had because thier immune system didnt have a defense fot them as well as many died from the drastic temperature change. Also since the Native Americans were discriminated against thier land and home was siezed by the british and they were forced to live on reservations and away from the rest of society. Thomas Jefferson even said that he would prefer that the Indians and the new citizens can live together in peace but if violence ever over ran the indians body than they would have to be seperated and exterminated. Thomas Jefferson preferred if the Natives would civilized themself and became more like the new found people of the land and become farmers and live as the majority of the population lived.
Just as in the seventeenth century, discrimination still goes on today. The darker a person skin appears the uglier and less civilized they are presumed to be. In todays society alot of trends are being created or still in progress because that is what our history has made us become. History of america made america rationalized that the only proper way of living is by the white mans way of living and if you do not live as he would want you to live than you are living wrong. Instead of seeing America's as a crayon box, i.e. alot of different colors that if put together can create a beautful picture, it is seen as a one way only type of government, and if you are not living and doing things that the majority of the people are doing it, than you are doing it wrong. The fact that there is a certain way to speak while you are in a job interview, a certain hair lenght and type women are suppose to have, and a certain way a person should live all concludes the fact that America, even in the twenty first century, was founded on living with the majority and not as an individual.
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