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.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
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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