Tara McPherson the author of, “I’ll Take My Stand in Dixie-Net” has discovered a different form of racism. Upon the search of her name Tara she came across a few web-sites that advocate Southern separatism, nationalism, and sometimes via secession. McPherson is trying to enlighten us on the details about these websites that the untrained eye might miss such as: covert and overt racism.
“Certainly race is one of the nodal points around which public discourse on the South has turned throughout the twentieth century, but in the post-Civil Rights era representations of race and racism proceeded via different logics….” McPherson pg. 119. McPherson explains the different logics in more detail. She discusses overt racism as sketching the contours of whiteness in contrast to blackness as a racial difference. She also goes on to explain the other form of racism; the kind of racism that is unspoken of but can be derived from the pictures and the contents of these websites such as: www.dixienet.org, or www.conferderate.net as covert racism. These websites are designed and updated weekly by mainly White men between the ages of 18-50. The main purpose is to show the “reconstruction” that the South is undergoing. These men talk about maintaining their past and Southern ways, but something interesting they show is the “anti-Klan logo”. These men aren’t being racist in an overt way but in a cover way. The pages of the website also express dismay the perceptions that protecting Southern heritage means one must be racist.
These pages display one must be racist, but they also display “anti-Klan logos”? This is a complete contradiction in itself. Or is it? This is where Tara comes into play explaining to the reader the use of the covert racism. She goes on to explain it beautifully saying,
“If overt racial representation brings together black and white in order to privilege whiteness, and covert strategies repress difference to the same end, what seems necessary is an overt representation or racial difference without privileging either term. We cannot understand or learn from the South’s racial history by representing it any more than we can champion the identity-shifting potential of cyberspace without studying its racial contours.”
I have read this article with some new found knowledge but not much surprise. U can never fathom all the strange occurrences going on all over the world especially on the internet, but u can expect anything and everything is happening. People are still living the past even today and they are trying to speak out and get themselves heard in every way possible. The new form is through cyberspace as McPherson points out. I think it is kind of funny the things people try to do to get noticed without trying to bring in racial tension; this article is a prime example of what I’m talking about.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
El Norte
Takaki’s chapter 12 El Norte is basically the Mexican version of chapter 10. Chapter 10 showed how Japanese men and woman came to Hawaii and the United States in hopes for a new and improved life. In chapter 12 Takaki enlightens us on the hardships and struggles of the Chicano people.
2.) The significance of this chapter can be summed up in one quote of Takaki. He says, “To the Jewish exiles, America was the Promised Land, and to the immigrants from Mexico, it was El Norte. A land across the river, this country became the stuff of boundless dreams for Mexican migrants.”
1.) Mexicans came to this land on foot, but once the Mexican Railroad was built they came in car loads to the states. Much of this was not by choice, most Mexicans wanted to go to America to wait for their civil war to end and others went because of the poverty and horror of war aka an economic depression. Many relatives that were in the States and came back to Mexico told their families of the money, shoes, and good clothes they could possibly obtain. For some Mexicans this was a sense of motive to find work in the States.
3.) “Like Caliban, they were isolated by the borders of racial segregation.” Many Mexicans were thought to know their place. They were not aloud in public buildings and could not eat amongst the Anglo Americans. In one instance they were told to go eat with the colored people and this was a major demeaning remark to their race. Social construction also came into affect when their kids tried to advance beyond their so-called required education level.
4.) The Mexicans tried many tactics to resist this discrimination. They held a Mexican Revolution. They also tried moving eastward to other jobs were they could find better accommodations. They also held strikes in 1933 and the women set up picket lines. The last but not most affective resistance was the Barrio. A small town set up by the many Mexicans already in the U.S.A. to get away from the American torture and still maintain their homeland culturist views.
5.) Race- “Clearly, race was being used as a weapon by the American Federation of Labor: Mexicans not only constituted “cheap labor” but were regarded as incapable of becoming fully American.” Takaki pg. 331
Ethnicity- “The religion of the Chicanos was a uniquely Mexican version of Catholicism, a blending of a faith brought from the Old World and beliefs that had been in the New World for thousands of years before Columbus.” Takaki pg 335
I believe that the Mexicans endured nearly the same of amount of discrimination as the Japanese people. There was on advantage to being Mexican though, the fact that their homeland bordered the United States and they could easily go back to their birth homes. At one time there were actually too many Mexican workers in the United States and they were encouraged to take the Railroad back to their homes in Mexico with a little persuasion and punishment if they didn’t.
2.) The significance of this chapter can be summed up in one quote of Takaki. He says, “To the Jewish exiles, America was the Promised Land, and to the immigrants from Mexico, it was El Norte. A land across the river, this country became the stuff of boundless dreams for Mexican migrants.”
1.) Mexicans came to this land on foot, but once the Mexican Railroad was built they came in car loads to the states. Much of this was not by choice, most Mexicans wanted to go to America to wait for their civil war to end and others went because of the poverty and horror of war aka an economic depression. Many relatives that were in the States and came back to Mexico told their families of the money, shoes, and good clothes they could possibly obtain. For some Mexicans this was a sense of motive to find work in the States.
3.) “Like Caliban, they were isolated by the borders of racial segregation.” Many Mexicans were thought to know their place. They were not aloud in public buildings and could not eat amongst the Anglo Americans. In one instance they were told to go eat with the colored people and this was a major demeaning remark to their race. Social construction also came into affect when their kids tried to advance beyond their so-called required education level.
4.) The Mexicans tried many tactics to resist this discrimination. They held a Mexican Revolution. They also tried moving eastward to other jobs were they could find better accommodations. They also held strikes in 1933 and the women set up picket lines. The last but not most affective resistance was the Barrio. A small town set up by the many Mexicans already in the U.S.A. to get away from the American torture and still maintain their homeland culturist views.
5.) Race- “Clearly, race was being used as a weapon by the American Federation of Labor: Mexicans not only constituted “cheap labor” but were regarded as incapable of becoming fully American.” Takaki pg. 331
Ethnicity- “The religion of the Chicanos was a uniquely Mexican version of Catholicism, a blending of a faith brought from the Old World and beliefs that had been in the New World for thousands of years before Columbus.” Takaki pg 335
I believe that the Mexicans endured nearly the same of amount of discrimination as the Japanese people. There was on advantage to being Mexican though, the fact that their homeland bordered the United States and they could easily go back to their birth homes. At one time there were actually too many Mexican workers in the United States and they were encouraged to take the Railroad back to their homes in Mexico with a little persuasion and punishment if they didn’t.
Monday, October 29, 2007
He is saying how throughout his life his being of "yellow" color has influenced the way he has been percieved as. He is not being noticed as a man or a woman, white or black, but as nothing or in his words vanishing. People, mainly whites, have seen him as transparent or as i would say don't even see him at all. There is no place in history for him to fit in. He give the example of the bus. consisting of whites in the front and blacks in the back. Where does yellow fit in? no where in he believes.
There are many cases that you could use this in. They don't all necessarily have to do with race, maybe they deal with popularity/social outlook. Maybe a kid in class gets made fun of or has no "group" to fit hisself into because he/she is out of the social norm. Kids can be discriminated against because of how they dress or what music they listen to. Discrimination doesn't always deal with race.
There are many cases that you could use this in. They don't all necessarily have to do with race, maybe they deal with popularity/social outlook. Maybe a kid in class gets made fun of or has no "group" to fit hisself into because he/she is out of the social norm. Kids can be discriminated against because of how they dress or what music they listen to. Discrimination doesn't always deal with race.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
How Jews Became White Folks
Karen Brodkin is the author of How Jews Became White Folks. She writes from a different point of view which is very confusing. She tries to portray that Jews “became” white through a series of events.
Karen says how anti-Semitism was at the peak when her parents were growing up and that they got through this tough struggle by “pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.” Karen goes on later to describe that there were many Europeans already in America but the ones who came after 1880 came in too big of a group and drew a focus to themselves in a negative way. The real Americans started to close the immigrations doors on anyone who was not of Northern European decent. Since Karen’s parents came to America after this time they had to struggle for work, jobs, education, and for the “right” to be an American/white. Since, they made it through this hardship of discrimination not in a black racist way, but a less harsh down-graded white version than they were successful. She states that Whites discriminated against the Jews in a less demeaning fashion, but still it happened for reasons she described that were ended by affirmative actions programs. These programs brought about a new view to American society. A view that all European decent people whether they were Jewish, Italian, or whatever were more “white” and helpful middle-class workers, than African Americans, Native Americans, or Asians.
Was there an extreme segregation of Whites versus Jews? When people think of segregations they think of black and white; they don’t think about whites and Jews. Maybe some Americans said some hateful things or fought occasionally with Jewish people. Those small instances compare nothing to the pure hatred the Whites had towards blacks. There are many more instances where blacks were beaten and treated unfairly because of their skin color than Jews. Jews don’t really have a skin tone difference.
What I got through the reading she says that the Jews were seen as White before they were discriminated against. So, the riots that occurred because a Jew went were he wasn’t supposed to or sat where he wasn’t suppose to almost has no relevance when we are talking about segregation in history. Jews can’t become “White” if they already were seen as that. They can be viewed as different maybe because of their heritage or accent, but not because of their skin color. That’s why I think this article is coming at this situation all wrong.
Karen says how anti-Semitism was at the peak when her parents were growing up and that they got through this tough struggle by “pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.” Karen goes on later to describe that there were many Europeans already in America but the ones who came after 1880 came in too big of a group and drew a focus to themselves in a negative way. The real Americans started to close the immigrations doors on anyone who was not of Northern European decent. Since Karen’s parents came to America after this time they had to struggle for work, jobs, education, and for the “right” to be an American/white. Since, they made it through this hardship of discrimination not in a black racist way, but a less harsh down-graded white version than they were successful. She states that Whites discriminated against the Jews in a less demeaning fashion, but still it happened for reasons she described that were ended by affirmative actions programs. These programs brought about a new view to American society. A view that all European decent people whether they were Jewish, Italian, or whatever were more “white” and helpful middle-class workers, than African Americans, Native Americans, or Asians.
Was there an extreme segregation of Whites versus Jews? When people think of segregations they think of black and white; they don’t think about whites and Jews. Maybe some Americans said some hateful things or fought occasionally with Jewish people. Those small instances compare nothing to the pure hatred the Whites had towards blacks. There are many more instances where blacks were beaten and treated unfairly because of their skin color than Jews. Jews don’t really have a skin tone difference.
What I got through the reading she says that the Jews were seen as White before they were discriminated against. So, the riots that occurred because a Jew went were he wasn’t supposed to or sat where he wasn’t suppose to almost has no relevance when we are talking about segregation in history. Jews can’t become “White” if they already were seen as that. They can be viewed as different maybe because of their heritage or accent, but not because of their skin color. That’s why I think this article is coming at this situation all wrong.
The Ethics of Living Jim Crow- Extra Credit
In this chapter Richard Wright discusses the many lessons young Negro boys learned as they grow up in the times of slavery and racism.
This chapter hints towards the fact that young Negro boys and/or girls need to respect white people and their privileges. In the first example the boy gets in a fight with a white gang because he fought back instead of running and hiding his moms attitude him is much harsher. Her attitude is much like a white person. She is angered to the point where she beats and punishes him for his actions, but she has different reasons for beating her soon. She is fearful of losing her job working at the white people’s house because of her son’s actions. If it was a white woman beating this Negro boy the reason she would have would be lack of respect towards the superior white people. She would also beat the boy more because she has the privilege to and she wants to teach him a harsh lesson. There are many more examples throughout this chapter of a black boy either disobeying the white mans law or being punished for not even doing anything. Another example would be when the boy’s tire popped and some white youngsters try to give a ride back to town. The boys ask the Negro if he wants a drink of alcohol and he simply says, “Oh, no!” This one mistake, this one slip without adding the word sir to the end of the quote, gives the Negro boy a very harsh time. The boy gets the empty bottle thrown at his face and as he falls scraps his legs and elbows all up. The young boys decide this is enough punishment, but they do say that the Negro boy is lucky they didn’t kill him for his mistake.
All-in-all these examples prove the harsh life a Negro man had to endure from youth to death. Any slight slip proves to be a life threatening and unaffordable to the Negro man. Can these slips be avoided? The answer to this is absolutely not. Even if a Negro boy or girl learns from family members and watching others getting beat they could never get away without being punished sometime. As the example stated in the book the boy never said, “Pease” without saying Mr. in front of it but this did not matter. The white men used this as an excuse to beat the Negro people they did not like. If the boy would’ve said that he always said Mr. Pease than he would be calling one white man a liar. If he admitted to this “crime” he would be punished for not respecting the white man. This situation proves that no matter how hard the black people tried to stay away from danger they could not avoid these situations of punishment.
After reading this chapter I have not learned much. I knew about these hard times already from history class. I wish this never happened, I wish that we could have all lived in peace from the beginning, but there is nothing I can do about the past. There is however something I can do about the future.
This chapter hints towards the fact that young Negro boys and/or girls need to respect white people and their privileges. In the first example the boy gets in a fight with a white gang because he fought back instead of running and hiding his moms attitude him is much harsher. Her attitude is much like a white person. She is angered to the point where she beats and punishes him for his actions, but she has different reasons for beating her soon. She is fearful of losing her job working at the white people’s house because of her son’s actions. If it was a white woman beating this Negro boy the reason she would have would be lack of respect towards the superior white people. She would also beat the boy more because she has the privilege to and she wants to teach him a harsh lesson. There are many more examples throughout this chapter of a black boy either disobeying the white mans law or being punished for not even doing anything. Another example would be when the boy’s tire popped and some white youngsters try to give a ride back to town. The boys ask the Negro if he wants a drink of alcohol and he simply says, “Oh, no!” This one mistake, this one slip without adding the word sir to the end of the quote, gives the Negro boy a very harsh time. The boy gets the empty bottle thrown at his face and as he falls scraps his legs and elbows all up. The young boys decide this is enough punishment, but they do say that the Negro boy is lucky they didn’t kill him for his mistake.
All-in-all these examples prove the harsh life a Negro man had to endure from youth to death. Any slight slip proves to be a life threatening and unaffordable to the Negro man. Can these slips be avoided? The answer to this is absolutely not. Even if a Negro boy or girl learns from family members and watching others getting beat they could never get away without being punished sometime. As the example stated in the book the boy never said, “Pease” without saying Mr. in front of it but this did not matter. The white men used this as an excuse to beat the Negro people they did not like. If the boy would’ve said that he always said Mr. Pease than he would be calling one white man a liar. If he admitted to this “crime” he would be punished for not respecting the white man. This situation proves that no matter how hard the black people tried to stay away from danger they could not avoid these situations of punishment.
After reading this chapter I have not learned much. I knew about these hard times already from history class. I wish this never happened, I wish that we could have all lived in peace from the beginning, but there is nothing I can do about the past. There is however something I can do about the future.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Kindred
Octavia butler has written a masterpiece. She has written a book that portrays black life through the early 1800s. The irony and ties that the boy, Rufus, and Dana, the black woman, had is ingenious. The woman keeps going back into history saving this boy she has no idea who is. Until one day she learns that he is related to her. She never knew that a white boy was her distant relative. This shock made me and her curious and determined to find out her history. As she tackled this task she endured the hardships of being black back in the days when owning slaves was an every day event.
Is this story an accurate representation of the past and the future? Or is this a special case where a young boy, soon to be plantation owner, who starts out being fond of black people turns out to be just another mean and bitter slave owner. Are all plantations this harsh to slaves? Or is this a case where slaves are treated pretty well compared to other plantations? No one will actually know for sure unless you lived back then or have relatives who lived in those times that are still alive to tell you stories. Or if you have Octavia Butler write a brilliant story with both those circumstances.
I’m going to start off saying Octavia Butler is an amazing young writer. I have never been able to sit down and read any book because I get bored or tired, but for once I enjoyed this reading experience. She kept me intrigued with the back and forth reality checks that Dana had with and without her husband. I began to understand the hardships and realize the everyday occurrences that went on, on the plantations, in the early 1800s. The way the slaves were: treated, forced, tortured, beaten, raped, and sold for the pure satisfaction of the white plantation owners is mind boggling. Even when the slave owner Rufus grew up his entire life cherishing and helping the black slaves he began to grow mean and bitter toward them. He was especially grim towards the ones he cared for the most, a.k.a Alice, his soon to be wife. One thing that came to my attention was that Butler continued to bring Dana back to modern times, which in her eyes meant freedom. She presented the idea that over the years things have become really great for black people, giving them endless amounts of freedom compared to the olden days. But is that the case? Around where I was born and raised it was semi true but in other parts of America this is not exactly the truth.
Is this story an accurate representation of the past and the future? Or is this a special case where a young boy, soon to be plantation owner, who starts out being fond of black people turns out to be just another mean and bitter slave owner. Are all plantations this harsh to slaves? Or is this a case where slaves are treated pretty well compared to other plantations? No one will actually know for sure unless you lived back then or have relatives who lived in those times that are still alive to tell you stories. Or if you have Octavia Butler write a brilliant story with both those circumstances.
I’m going to start off saying Octavia Butler is an amazing young writer. I have never been able to sit down and read any book because I get bored or tired, but for once I enjoyed this reading experience. She kept me intrigued with the back and forth reality checks that Dana had with and without her husband. I began to understand the hardships and realize the everyday occurrences that went on, on the plantations, in the early 1800s. The way the slaves were: treated, forced, tortured, beaten, raped, and sold for the pure satisfaction of the white plantation owners is mind boggling. Even when the slave owner Rufus grew up his entire life cherishing and helping the black slaves he began to grow mean and bitter toward them. He was especially grim towards the ones he cared for the most, a.k.a Alice, his soon to be wife. One thing that came to my attention was that Butler continued to bring Dana back to modern times, which in her eyes meant freedom. She presented the idea that over the years things have become really great for black people, giving them endless amounts of freedom compared to the olden days. But is that the case? Around where I was born and raised it was semi true but in other parts of America this is not exactly the truth.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Giddy Multitude
The author Takaki takes us on another adventure as we discover the basis of slavery and the many fears of “The Giddy Multitude.”
First, I’ll explain what Giddy Multitude is and then I will guide you to how it started through Takaki’s eyes. “GM is a discontented class of indentured servants, slaves, and landless freemen, both white and black, the Stehpanos and Trinculos as well as the Calibans of Virginia” (pg. 63). Basically all the white landowning men were scared of the growing population of the GM. So they classified them in a category that if spoken of would bring fear to other landowners.
As we all know Americans brought slaves over from Africa and other regions. Some blacks and some indentured servants captured in their sleep and brought against their will. At first, these black and white people didn’t know much about each other, therefore, led to minimal or no racism. But, soon that would all change. Black and White slaves sometimes escaped together. The landowners did not like this congregation. They eventually split up the workers so this wouldn’t happen again. They did this by separating their break times so they would have less contact. They also did so by punishing the black slaves more harshly than whites for the same crime. This led to some segregation. Black slaves would serve life time enslavement for the same crime whereas whites would only serve a few extra years of labor. This in-turn led to the desire to have mostly or all black slaves because they could stay on the plantation for a longer period of time. Whites saw this as an opportunity. They would come to America hoping to serve their few years of labor than they would start their own plantations. Unfortunately that’s not how things turned out. Whites already in America did not like this idea because that would bring down their sales, so they made a law to extend white punishment to serve a much longer sentence. To no surprise this angered the whites coming to America and they started a huge rebellion. Their motto, “either be free or die for it” (pg. 63). With Nathaniel Bacon as their leader the GM grew to a large number of 500 men as they raided threw the towns and streets. This rebellion not only struck fear to many social classes it brought racism more into the seen. The option society chose was to let the free, landless, white men have more powers. In-turn the segregation of blacks now was apparent that they were only here for one purpose, slavery.
This is a very logical explanation of how slavery began and spread in a very short amount of time. Spread to a number that was not wanted, a number that caused panic and fear in white landowner’s hearts. Was the use of slaves a wise decision? Was the segregation of whites and black indentured slaves good in the long-run? The answer seems obvious, NO! This not only caused more problems than to begin with, it started an endless battle of freedom, racism, and segregation.
I believe that the panicked white, landowning, men took action before thought. I’m sure other alternatives could have been provided or seen given time, but waiting for those answers was not an option as the overwhelming increase of the population of slaves was at hand.
First, I’ll explain what Giddy Multitude is and then I will guide you to how it started through Takaki’s eyes. “GM is a discontented class of indentured servants, slaves, and landless freemen, both white and black, the Stehpanos and Trinculos as well as the Calibans of Virginia” (pg. 63). Basically all the white landowning men were scared of the growing population of the GM. So they classified them in a category that if spoken of would bring fear to other landowners.
As we all know Americans brought slaves over from Africa and other regions. Some blacks and some indentured servants captured in their sleep and brought against their will. At first, these black and white people didn’t know much about each other, therefore, led to minimal or no racism. But, soon that would all change. Black and White slaves sometimes escaped together. The landowners did not like this congregation. They eventually split up the workers so this wouldn’t happen again. They did this by separating their break times so they would have less contact. They also did so by punishing the black slaves more harshly than whites for the same crime. This led to some segregation. Black slaves would serve life time enslavement for the same crime whereas whites would only serve a few extra years of labor. This in-turn led to the desire to have mostly or all black slaves because they could stay on the plantation for a longer period of time. Whites saw this as an opportunity. They would come to America hoping to serve their few years of labor than they would start their own plantations. Unfortunately that’s not how things turned out. Whites already in America did not like this idea because that would bring down their sales, so they made a law to extend white punishment to serve a much longer sentence. To no surprise this angered the whites coming to America and they started a huge rebellion. Their motto, “either be free or die for it” (pg. 63). With Nathaniel Bacon as their leader the GM grew to a large number of 500 men as they raided threw the towns and streets. This rebellion not only struck fear to many social classes it brought racism more into the seen. The option society chose was to let the free, landless, white men have more powers. In-turn the segregation of blacks now was apparent that they were only here for one purpose, slavery.
This is a very logical explanation of how slavery began and spread in a very short amount of time. Spread to a number that was not wanted, a number that caused panic and fear in white landowner’s hearts. Was the use of slaves a wise decision? Was the segregation of whites and black indentured slaves good in the long-run? The answer seems obvious, NO! This not only caused more problems than to begin with, it started an endless battle of freedom, racism, and segregation.
I believe that the panicked white, landowning, men took action before thought. I’m sure other alternatives could have been provided or seen given time, but waiting for those answers was not an option as the overwhelming increase of the population of slaves was at hand.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance
“You barely just got off the hook!” Does this sound familiar? Some may hear it quite often some only occasionally. The theme of this chapter suggests that even though you may or may not have heard this sometime in your life you have done something that led to this conclusion.
This chapter primarily connects “getting off the hook” in a privileged way. You can get off the hook because you are more privileged than someone else or you merely can get off the hook by a comment or illusion that makes you seem innocent in a situation where you might not be. Denial is a key trait in a person who has done this. “There are no people with disabilities where I work, so that isn’t an issue here.” This quote along with others suggests that people are in denial with their surroundings to try to fit in with the norm. Of course someone is not going to say disability is an issue if they are confronted by it on a daily basis, this may not be the truth but this is the denial we are trying to prove. There are many acts of denial that people do intern to explain situations. Like in this quote a parent says to their kid, “Now, now, stop crying, it doesn’t hurt that much,” when in fact the adult doesn’t know just how much it hurts. Or like in this situation people but the blame on other people, “If blacks were smarter or worked harder or got an education, they’d be okay.” Both of these situations show how privileged people deny other people because of their incapability do something just so they could get off the hook and look better.
Why? Why all this resistance to the truth? You can’t ask everyone their opinion; you would have to interview everyone in the world, because everyone tries to get off the hook. If you did record most people in the act they might say the words, “I didn’t mean it.” This statement helps anyone get out of a sticky situation. Even if you mean it or not you’re already off the hook because the opposing person doesn’t question you any further, they just assume you’re telling the truth and are completely innocent.
I can’t lie I’ve found myself using this statement numerous times. Whether I meant it or not no one will ever actually know and that’s the beauty of it. No one likes to take the blame for a bad situation. No one likes to be out of the “social norm”. Everyone wants to fit in somehow in life. That’s why I think there will never be an end to “getting off the hook,” so just go with it and accept it!
This chapter primarily connects “getting off the hook” in a privileged way. You can get off the hook because you are more privileged than someone else or you merely can get off the hook by a comment or illusion that makes you seem innocent in a situation where you might not be. Denial is a key trait in a person who has done this. “There are no people with disabilities where I work, so that isn’t an issue here.” This quote along with others suggests that people are in denial with their surroundings to try to fit in with the norm. Of course someone is not going to say disability is an issue if they are confronted by it on a daily basis, this may not be the truth but this is the denial we are trying to prove. There are many acts of denial that people do intern to explain situations. Like in this quote a parent says to their kid, “Now, now, stop crying, it doesn’t hurt that much,” when in fact the adult doesn’t know just how much it hurts. Or like in this situation people but the blame on other people, “If blacks were smarter or worked harder or got an education, they’d be okay.” Both of these situations show how privileged people deny other people because of their incapability do something just so they could get off the hook and look better.
Why? Why all this resistance to the truth? You can’t ask everyone their opinion; you would have to interview everyone in the world, because everyone tries to get off the hook. If you did record most people in the act they might say the words, “I didn’t mean it.” This statement helps anyone get out of a sticky situation. Even if you mean it or not you’re already off the hook because the opposing person doesn’t question you any further, they just assume you’re telling the truth and are completely innocent.
I can’t lie I’ve found myself using this statement numerous times. Whether I meant it or not no one will ever actually know and that’s the beauty of it. No one likes to take the blame for a bad situation. No one likes to be out of the “social norm”. Everyone wants to fit in somehow in life. That’s why I think there will never be an end to “getting off the hook,” so just go with it and accept it!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
What It All Has To Do With Us
What it all has to do with us is a great title to this next chapter. The author discusses the “trouble” surrounding privilege, power, and difference for individuals. People fell awkward and discomforted to talk about these topics because they commonly mistake individuals as to having set privileges. They don’t want to offend others and put others down because they feel more privileged in a certain topic. That is where this all goes wrong.
People aren’t individually privileged or better than others. Groups are viewed as having privileges and groups contain the vast of the population. “Individualistic thinking, however, assumes that everything has only to do with individuals and nothing to do with social categories, leaving no room to see, much less consider, the role of privilege.” Everyone is on an individual judging basis. They don’t realize these social categories are way larger. The actual name for this is a social system. An example of a social system would be a university and the author states, “the people aren’t the university, and the university isn’t the people.”
This quote sums up what this all has to do with us. A university is nothing without faculty and students. And the students and teachers will get no where without a university. They both need each other and that’s how it has to be. The university can’t function with just and individual teacher or an individual student. Universities need groups and groups need universities. If only individuals can understand this. If they could realize this concept that privilege and power is assigned to groups than the world would be a better place. But they don’t they take the “path of least resistance” as Allan states. This is the option to judge people or act in a certain way that is accepted by most. When all males are talking about women in a sexist fashion an individual male in that group is not going to speak up for women because he would get too much “resistance” from the other guys. This all sums up the hardship people have talking about privileges amongst individuals or groups.
This chapter helped me to realize what everyone does. We judge people as if they have the upper-hand in things or the lower-hand. No one person has these individualistic powers or privileges or lack there of. People try to get by, by taking the “path of least resistance.” I am personally guilty of this charge. The path of least resistance gets us out of awkward situations and helps us to fit in the “norm”. Who knows if one day this will change and society will be less judgmental towards particular individuals.
People aren’t individually privileged or better than others. Groups are viewed as having privileges and groups contain the vast of the population. “Individualistic thinking, however, assumes that everything has only to do with individuals and nothing to do with social categories, leaving no room to see, much less consider, the role of privilege.” Everyone is on an individual judging basis. They don’t realize these social categories are way larger. The actual name for this is a social system. An example of a social system would be a university and the author states, “the people aren’t the university, and the university isn’t the people.”
This quote sums up what this all has to do with us. A university is nothing without faculty and students. And the students and teachers will get no where without a university. They both need each other and that’s how it has to be. The university can’t function with just and individual teacher or an individual student. Universities need groups and groups need universities. If only individuals can understand this. If they could realize this concept that privilege and power is assigned to groups than the world would be a better place. But they don’t they take the “path of least resistance” as Allan states. This is the option to judge people or act in a certain way that is accepted by most. When all males are talking about women in a sexist fashion an individual male in that group is not going to speak up for women because he would get too much “resistance” from the other guys. This all sums up the hardship people have talking about privileges amongst individuals or groups.
This chapter helped me to realize what everyone does. We judge people as if they have the upper-hand in things or the lower-hand. No one person has these individualistic powers or privileges or lack there of. People try to get by, by taking the “path of least resistance.” I am personally guilty of this charge. The path of least resistance gets us out of awkward situations and helps us to fit in the “norm”. Who knows if one day this will change and society will be less judgmental towards particular individuals.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination
“If race is socially constructed and doesn’t exist otherwise, and if human beings don’t have to be afraid of one another, then where does racism come from?...Why would people make it up this way in the first place?” The author poses a very mind boggling question. The history of racism is somewhat of a mystery. We have an understanding of how it became but why it did we are still determining.
Racism appeared with the expansion of capitalism. Capitalism is basically all about money and profit. This money hunger leads to small percentages of individuals that are extremely wealthier than the rest of the population. This, in turn developed different wealth classes. With wealth in some classes comes discrimination amongst the high and low classes. The higher classes mainly consisted of white people and the lower classes were blacks and other immigrant workers, therefore, Whites would discriminate against the other “races”. “Capitalism’s direct connection to white racism has also operated in the acquisition of land and raw materials, which, like cheap labor, play a key role in the rapid growth of industry and wealth.” It was cheaper to make slaves do all the labor because the land owner wouldn’t have to pay them as much or any at all compared to a low paid white person. Even though, they had the same jobs as some immigrants white people always could look in the mirror and say, “hey I’m white, that’s better than any other “race’”. This went on until we had a civil war and slavery in the south was being banned.
Has capitalism taken racism to far into our hearts to the point where there is no ending it? Will wealth prevent the peace the long yearned peace amongst races? Only time will tell. The civil war was the beginning of the end of racism, but like everything there has been people have different views certain topics and there is no changing there mind. You can’t win everyone’s side.
This chapter has given me some insight on how racism started. I knew that wealth had a certain power, but the power to completely start “racism” is beyond belief. Without racism the constitution would be correct in saying that all people are equal, but as long as racism is around there can’t be total equality. Jobs will be given to white males over anyone else. Salaries will be higher for white males. Right now that’s the way life is but maybe in the future incomes will be equal amongst all men, women, and all “races”.
Racism appeared with the expansion of capitalism. Capitalism is basically all about money and profit. This money hunger leads to small percentages of individuals that are extremely wealthier than the rest of the population. This, in turn developed different wealth classes. With wealth in some classes comes discrimination amongst the high and low classes. The higher classes mainly consisted of white people and the lower classes were blacks and other immigrant workers, therefore, Whites would discriminate against the other “races”. “Capitalism’s direct connection to white racism has also operated in the acquisition of land and raw materials, which, like cheap labor, play a key role in the rapid growth of industry and wealth.” It was cheaper to make slaves do all the labor because the land owner wouldn’t have to pay them as much or any at all compared to a low paid white person. Even though, they had the same jobs as some immigrants white people always could look in the mirror and say, “hey I’m white, that’s better than any other “race’”. This went on until we had a civil war and slavery in the south was being banned.
Has capitalism taken racism to far into our hearts to the point where there is no ending it? Will wealth prevent the peace the long yearned peace amongst races? Only time will tell. The civil war was the beginning of the end of racism, but like everything there has been people have different views certain topics and there is no changing there mind. You can’t win everyone’s side.
This chapter has given me some insight on how racism started. I knew that wealth had a certain power, but the power to completely start “racism” is beyond belief. Without racism the constitution would be correct in saying that all people are equal, but as long as racism is around there can’t be total equality. Jobs will be given to white males over anyone else. Salaries will be higher for white males. Right now that’s the way life is but maybe in the future incomes will be equal amongst all men, women, and all “races”.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Race: The Power of Illusions
During this short episode the director tries to show that race is not biological and that it is only a myth. There is a belief that there are certain scientific reasons behind races. There have been numerous studies trying and multiple recordings trying to prove this. But all studies led to one output; there is absolutely no difference between an American and an African American. As a matter-of-fact there is more genetic difference amongst races than amongst different ones.
Most human beings believe that there is a genetic marker that defines race. People believe that certain humans are automatically born with different genes that separate them into different races. For example there is a myth that African Americans have an extra muscle in their leg. This is not true, but what is true is the fact that there is not one physical difference between people besides their skin color. From this movie you can find that people only have different skin color because of the amount of light needed to take in to produce vitamin d. People in Africa have darker skin to reflect the sun because they get too much of it. Americans have a paler skin tone because they need more sun.
People have been born and raised to quickly distinguish people into groups by their physical features. This is a quick and easy process and you don’t even have to know the persons name and you could place them into a distinguished race. That is why it is hard for many people to believe that there is no biological difference between races. There is no person that could say they haven’t looked at someone and said/thought are you Irish or aren’t you African American. Can this stereotype be changed in the future? I think that the population has been too used to grouping people by race in a biological sense. Even though, there is probably not a likely chance this vision will change the only thing we can do in this case is recognize that there is more that meets the eye.
I found some of this episode quite shocking. I have heard all the extra muscle rumors and thought they were true. I had no idea that there was more of a genetic difference between me and my roommate than say me and someone from an Asian society. It is natural for me to categorize people by different races and to place them in different social groups. It will always be that way, but now I have a better understanding of people in general and won’t jump to conclusions about their ethnicity right away.
Most human beings believe that there is a genetic marker that defines race. People believe that certain humans are automatically born with different genes that separate them into different races. For example there is a myth that African Americans have an extra muscle in their leg. This is not true, but what is true is the fact that there is not one physical difference between people besides their skin color. From this movie you can find that people only have different skin color because of the amount of light needed to take in to produce vitamin d. People in Africa have darker skin to reflect the sun because they get too much of it. Americans have a paler skin tone because they need more sun.
People have been born and raised to quickly distinguish people into groups by their physical features. This is a quick and easy process and you don’t even have to know the persons name and you could place them into a distinguished race. That is why it is hard for many people to believe that there is no biological difference between races. There is no person that could say they haven’t looked at someone and said/thought are you Irish or aren’t you African American. Can this stereotype be changed in the future? I think that the population has been too used to grouping people by race in a biological sense. Even though, there is probably not a likely chance this vision will change the only thing we can do in this case is recognize that there is more that meets the eye.
I found some of this episode quite shocking. I have heard all the extra muscle rumors and thought they were true. I had no idea that there was more of a genetic difference between me and my roommate than say me and someone from an Asian society. It is natural for me to categorize people by different races and to place them in different social groups. It will always be that way, but now I have a better understanding of people in general and won’t jump to conclusions about their ethnicity right away.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Chapter 2- Drawing the Colorline
Zinn the author of this story is trying to ask a question. He wants to know after all the skepticism that has been going on for hundreds of years between the different races, mainly whites and blacks; will there ever be a means of peace in America “the land of the free”?
Throughout this chapter Zinn shows how and where the racism began and how it has continued and progress over the years. The racism started because the Englishmen could not take the Indians as slaves because they Indians were on their home land and took extreme measures to escape all means of slavery by the white man. The Indians also outnumbered the whites and while whites had the superior fire power killing the Indians would only put them in a worse position because of how valuable the Indians knowledge was on the land and maintaining a stable way of life. On the other hand, African Americans that were brought over did not out number the whites and also were not on homeland, so therefore they did not have the strength and numbers to fight back against the whites. Slavery had already been accepted as a normal practice by the Europeans in the early 1600’s, so continuing to use African Americans as slaves in America was only tradition. One way to look at things is that some poor African Americans that were lower on the economy scale were already being used as slaves by their own people. Although, African Americans were already being used and captured as slaves they still didn’t give up hope the ran away and took other measures to avoid the tortures of being a slave.
The question I would raise would be did this image of slavery forever set the way we judge and look at people, especially different races. The answer that some people would have would be yes there is no change and there is never going to be. But, other Americans fought for the change of this historical vision. That is why we had a revolutionary war between the north and the south. All because of slavery and how the African Americans were being treated with inequality. In the world we live in today no one person could get away with having African Americans as slave labor. The world is changing ever so slowly and it’s moving in a better direction.
This reading was nothing new to me. I knew all about the slave trade and slave labor that went on in the early American History. We’ve heard numerous stories and were given multiple examples on the daily routines that went on the 1600s and so on. I believe that it should have been different with more equality but I already got my wish when the Civil War happened and the abolishment of slaves began.
Throughout this chapter Zinn shows how and where the racism began and how it has continued and progress over the years. The racism started because the Englishmen could not take the Indians as slaves because they Indians were on their home land and took extreme measures to escape all means of slavery by the white man. The Indians also outnumbered the whites and while whites had the superior fire power killing the Indians would only put them in a worse position because of how valuable the Indians knowledge was on the land and maintaining a stable way of life. On the other hand, African Americans that were brought over did not out number the whites and also were not on homeland, so therefore they did not have the strength and numbers to fight back against the whites. Slavery had already been accepted as a normal practice by the Europeans in the early 1600’s, so continuing to use African Americans as slaves in America was only tradition. One way to look at things is that some poor African Americans that were lower on the economy scale were already being used as slaves by their own people. Although, African Americans were already being used and captured as slaves they still didn’t give up hope the ran away and took other measures to avoid the tortures of being a slave.
The question I would raise would be did this image of slavery forever set the way we judge and look at people, especially different races. The answer that some people would have would be yes there is no change and there is never going to be. But, other Americans fought for the change of this historical vision. That is why we had a revolutionary war between the north and the south. All because of slavery and how the African Americans were being treated with inequality. In the world we live in today no one person could get away with having African Americans as slave labor. The world is changing ever so slowly and it’s moving in a better direction.
This reading was nothing new to me. I knew all about the slave trade and slave labor that went on in the early American History. We’ve heard numerous stories and were given multiple examples on the daily routines that went on the 1600s and so on. I believe that it should have been different with more equality but I already got my wish when the Civil War happened and the abolishment of slaves began.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Chapter 2- The “TEMPEST” in the Wilderness
In the second chapter of Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror he contrasts and compares Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” with the real life of the American Indian as the Englishmen continue to raid and dominate these body flaunting, lazy, sinful, devil driven Caliban. He shows how Indians were stained forever in history’s text as godless, lost, inhuman, savages!
In Shakespear’s play “Tempest” he refers to the Indian race as Caliban, just cannibal switched around, and he casts them as a similar race to the Irish. The impression that Englishmen had on Irishmen were all negative and civil less. Another main comparison the Irish and the Indians had was that they were described as lacking “the knowledge of God or good manners” because they were both said to be driven by the devil and could not control their actions. All of this ridiculous behavior as described by the Englishmen forced them to conquer a majority of Indians and train the Indian infants to be civilized actual human beings. They went about this manner by destroying and killing all Indians in their path and as they did so the captured and tried to teach the children of the “great American way”. They learned from all the Indians who to rotate and manage crops. After they acquired this information there was no need for the “savages” so they slaughtered all in the way. The English were on a path to make this new world an industrialized and marketing continent. But in this vision they also brought plagues. They didn’t have to kill all the Indians because the diseases and sicknesses that they carried and were mainly immune to spread over the unprotected Indian population, therefore, wiping out over half of them. Most would think this was a major tragedy but not the Englishmen they thought this was an act of god himself. They believed that the Indians suffered and died off because they were demonized savages and that it pleased god to see them perish.
All the Indians did was try to make peace with the world and all the creatures that god put on it along with doing what it takes to survive in nature. The Englishmen that swept America took their land, crops, homes, and dignity couldn’t even justify these people as human. After thinking about that who do you think is the backward race?
After reading this chapter I believe that the Indians even though they were a little inhumane in their actions and the way the dress but all in all they still had the right motive to accept all as equal and treat everyone with the same respect. All in all this became the American tradition but the way we go about life is about the complete opposite as the Indians. The Indians didn’t want to expand and build new things they only want to create what would be necessary for them to survive.
In Shakespear’s play “Tempest” he refers to the Indian race as Caliban, just cannibal switched around, and he casts them as a similar race to the Irish. The impression that Englishmen had on Irishmen were all negative and civil less. Another main comparison the Irish and the Indians had was that they were described as lacking “the knowledge of God or good manners” because they were both said to be driven by the devil and could not control their actions. All of this ridiculous behavior as described by the Englishmen forced them to conquer a majority of Indians and train the Indian infants to be civilized actual human beings. They went about this manner by destroying and killing all Indians in their path and as they did so the captured and tried to teach the children of the “great American way”. They learned from all the Indians who to rotate and manage crops. After they acquired this information there was no need for the “savages” so they slaughtered all in the way. The English were on a path to make this new world an industrialized and marketing continent. But in this vision they also brought plagues. They didn’t have to kill all the Indians because the diseases and sicknesses that they carried and were mainly immune to spread over the unprotected Indian population, therefore, wiping out over half of them. Most would think this was a major tragedy but not the Englishmen they thought this was an act of god himself. They believed that the Indians suffered and died off because they were demonized savages and that it pleased god to see them perish.
All the Indians did was try to make peace with the world and all the creatures that god put on it along with doing what it takes to survive in nature. The Englishmen that swept America took their land, crops, homes, and dignity couldn’t even justify these people as human. After thinking about that who do you think is the backward race?
After reading this chapter I believe that the Indians even though they were a little inhumane in their actions and the way the dress but all in all they still had the right motive to accept all as equal and treat everyone with the same respect. All in all this became the American tradition but the way we go about life is about the complete opposite as the Indians. The Indians didn’t want to expand and build new things they only want to create what would be necessary for them to survive.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
about me
My name is Andrew Mueller. I am a sophomore. I am majoring in Health Care Administration. I'm from Centerville, OH. I have two brothers, Eric and Zach. I also have two sisters, Taylor and Danielle. I am the oldest of all my siblings. I love to stay active and play sports: baseball, soccer, football, tennis, golf, I'm actually on a frisbee team here and probably will be doing alot more intermural sports.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Chapter 1 "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress"
Andrew Mueller
Melissa Altman
Ethn 101 4:30-5:45
August 22, 2007
Chapter 1- Indians and Human Progress
The author’s main point in this chapter about the Indian and Human progress express’s the insecurity that Columbus had for the Indians and their graceful race once he found the gold.
The Indians treated him with extreme generosity and swamped him with many a gifts, but as soon as Columbus found that the Indians had many sources of items of gold he began to act irrationally and inhumanly. He took many prisoners, made many slave, and killed many Indians in the search for a small amount of gold for his king, queen, and self. Even Columbus’s own countrymen were against his practices. In the story A People’s History of the United States a man reported that “naked as the day they were born they were no more embarrassment than animals”. As a come back to his statement Columbus said, “Let us in the name of the holy trinity go on sending all slaves that can be sold”. By this statement we can recognize that despite what is fellow men thought he continued on his mad rampage for gold.
Is one man’s greed worth a whole nation of peace and humanity? The answer to everyone except that man who thought this himself would be no. Hundreds of thousands of Indian began mass suicides of themselves and their families so they would not be captured and sold as slaves. This horrible thought would convince me that maybe above all my greed for gold is it really worth it to kill and sell hundreds of people that were so peaceful and kind when I met them? Could there be another way that I could go about this situation without the mass selling and suicide of harmless caring people? Maybe a trade of some sort could be compromised or a buying of information where to find the gold myself. All these alternate solutions probably never even ran through Christopher Columbus’s mind but how much different would the world be now if they would have.
This was an intense reading from the perspective of the conquering Columbus and his crew. The on slaughter that went on on his behalf of finding gold is one of the most shocking and terrifying stories that America can share about its past. I personally cannot believe some of the things that were done. Sure they may seem like a good idea at the time, but the aftermath of the situation was one that could not be redone.
Melissa Altman
Ethn 101 4:30-5:45
August 22, 2007
Chapter 1- Indians and Human Progress
The author’s main point in this chapter about the Indian and Human progress express’s the insecurity that Columbus had for the Indians and their graceful race once he found the gold.
The Indians treated him with extreme generosity and swamped him with many a gifts, but as soon as Columbus found that the Indians had many sources of items of gold he began to act irrationally and inhumanly. He took many prisoners, made many slave, and killed many Indians in the search for a small amount of gold for his king, queen, and self. Even Columbus’s own countrymen were against his practices. In the story A People’s History of the United States a man reported that “naked as the day they were born they were no more embarrassment than animals”. As a come back to his statement Columbus said, “Let us in the name of the holy trinity go on sending all slaves that can be sold”. By this statement we can recognize that despite what is fellow men thought he continued on his mad rampage for gold.
Is one man’s greed worth a whole nation of peace and humanity? The answer to everyone except that man who thought this himself would be no. Hundreds of thousands of Indian began mass suicides of themselves and their families so they would not be captured and sold as slaves. This horrible thought would convince me that maybe above all my greed for gold is it really worth it to kill and sell hundreds of people that were so peaceful and kind when I met them? Could there be another way that I could go about this situation without the mass selling and suicide of harmless caring people? Maybe a trade of some sort could be compromised or a buying of information where to find the gold myself. All these alternate solutions probably never even ran through Christopher Columbus’s mind but how much different would the world be now if they would have.
This was an intense reading from the perspective of the conquering Columbus and his crew. The on slaughter that went on on his behalf of finding gold is one of the most shocking and terrifying stories that America can share about its past. I personally cannot believe some of the things that were done. Sure they may seem like a good idea at the time, but the aftermath of the situation was one that could not be redone.
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