The Other is a term that is appointed by people to those with different ideas of race, sexual orientation, social class, origin, and other classifications. There are numerous amounts of people who could be characterized as the Other with American history having much relation to cruel forlorn phenomenon. The Other’s in history are those who are also considered the outsiders, and the ones who were left without a voice in society. A few examples of the Other that can be discovered throughout this week’s literature would be individuals who have obtained contrasting views on women, Native Americans, and different political ideologies. The Other is one of the common figures that are prevalent throughout all of American literature, and may be defined as a whole part of society, a community within a society, or even an individual group or class within a clique or gang. …show more content…
In “An Indian’s Looking-Glass For the White Man,” the author ponders “if [white individuals] would like to be disenfranchised from all [their] rights, merely because [their] skin is white, and for no other crime” (Apess 761). The white men brought these slaves into society as individuals who must spend their days withering away in disgrace, due to the complexion of their skin. Since slaves were viewed as inferior to caucasian males during this time, they were seen as the others. Individuals of color in history were discriminated against, and singled out in society, which made the USA a country that was defeated by an imperial
In “Notes on the State of Virginia”, Thomas Jefferson decrees a few noteworthy notions. Jefferson writes that setting the enslaved people free will be problematic. He suggests that the slaves will never forget the torture, inhuman, and malicious treatment from the white colonizers, and they will seek revenge. This type of ideology is one of the reasons America tends to shy away from making black injustices headliners, or why America relentlessly searches for reasons to discredit a blatant act of violence against black people. It is the fear of Black people’s internalizing the “Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained;” that America (particularly white
In the film, Africans in America: “The Terrible Transformation”, the narrator discussed the influence of certain criteria in which slaves had to meet in order to work for land owners in America. These criteria included: being African American, non- European, and non- Christian. The government created this criteria system to build a barrier between the land owners and the slaves. The individuals that owned property treated their slaves as if they were foreign/strange. The white Americans did not want African American people to have the same equality as they did; Therefore, America was ruled by the whites while the blacks were merely just servants to them.
Once they have stopped you from thinking and asking questions, and once they have made your life bitter, then American slavery has done its perfect work.” This shows how African Americans weren’t equal to the white because even after being brought to America as slaves, the white treat them even poorly such as whipping them and hurting them so much that they can not even speak for themselves anymore. At this point, the slave can’t even fight for themselves. Furthermore, another document that shows this is document three.
Even if slavery is not the presiding rule of the land on this planet any longer, segregation based on appearance still exists, just as the "social construction of ‘whiteness’ historically has implied the racial superiority of whites", and prompted the "separate but equal" doctrines of the late nineteenth century (Rundblad & Kivisto xxxi).
White privilege has been continuously normalized, throughout history, within society. The common cliche "history is written by the victors,” illustrates perfectly the development of a systemic structure that allots benefits to white people while excluding others from similar advantages. On account of white people maintaining power over a majority of racial groups for so long, they have determined what is valuable or interesting in terms of laws, education, and various other components of society. Racism is maintained through this system because it continues to be deeply imbedded in our institutions. As a consequence, this system only serves the white community and upholds the inequality of racial groups.
“Race as Civic Felony” by Loic Wacquant: In this reading, the US conception of “race” is a direct outcome of the unique status of the United States as a slave holding republic (page 127). While slavery itself has long been abolished, its dynamics were replicated in Jim Crow segregation and later in the urban ghetto. In page 127, The Jim Crow regime reworked the racial boundary between slaves and free into some segregated societies. Despite the he abolition of “statues segregation”, it seems that new ways have been thought to hold minorities from the mainstream society. Another ‘peculiar institution’, born of the adjoining of the hyperghetto with the cerebral system, is reorganizing the social meaning and significance of ‘race’ in agreement with the dictates of the deregulated economy and the post-Keynesian state. In page 128, white people fear and mistrust people of color. They think of black people’s
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new na-tion, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” a quote by America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, directly recalling how equality was the catalyst for the conception of America. It’s a universal right that should be known by all, but it was barely an option in our country for the African American faction almost a century ago. Chained, chastised and condemned, the African American had to surpass through radical odds to get to a mediocre amount of respect. When World War I first began, many citizens of America saw it as a seemingly distant European conflict that they couldn’t be bothered with.
In the PBS documentary, we learned that that race and freedom were developed together. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley points out a problem our founding fathers faced: “how can we promote liberty, freedom, democracy on the one hand, and a system of slavery and exploitation of peoples who are non-white on the other?” (1:04:43). Our past presidents rationalized this contradiction by declaring that blacks and other races had a natural inferiority to whites. Such reasons were used to justify America’s political goals for power and money that benefit the white society at the expense of others. Omi and Winant claim that “the introduction of slavery… presupposed a worldview which distinguished [whites] from ‘others’.. . to explain why some should be ‘free’ and others enslaved, why some had rights to land and property while others did not” (1). The enslavement of Africans led to the ideology of white supremacy which builds up a political system that privileges white people over “others”. Granting opportunities only to whites widens the social difference along racial lines. This historical attitude toward racial difference has determined the way most of us currently view the world.
In the United States, there has been many cases of Racial injustice. From the beginning of the start of the United States of America it was the injustice to the Native Americans being captured and used for slave labor while their bison be slaughtered for sportsmanship. But this paper is on the specific race of the African Americans. There are many races that have been racially profiled and ostracized by the English people. But the treatment that African Americans have endured even till this day is disheartening. African Americans have gone through enslavement during the early 1600’s to the mid 1800’s. Then the African Americans were obstructed by the Jim Crow laws creating the ‘Separate but Equal” propaganda during the late 1800’s into the 1960’s. After the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws, people were considered equal until the recent actions of many police officers using deadly force on African American youths in the early 2000’s.
In America’s history, each race has been portrayed as inferior or inferior, because of one’s skin color, or the beliefs of a culture. Oppression In early America varied in some ethnicities. Some races didn’t even have any civil liberties at all, they were not allowed to vote, not even allowed to become professionals. This was to keep everyone that was not of the superior race below them. Even though they are classified as U.S citizens. In most areas, the ruling race is the upper white class that runs the system, and have a disproportionate amount of power. In other areas, it may not be the white race, but it is still the race that makes up the majority. The majority, who makes the laws, and/or has money, are keys to dominate over the weaker minorities that don’t have the
Throughout history, African Americans both free and enslaved were not treated equally nor permitted with the same rights as white men. African Americans were enslaved and not allowed to vote or hold public office. Since the 15th century, African Americans have been treated less than human, some even experienced brutal punished for justifiable mistakes. The use of African American slave labor was an enormous contribution to agriculture and labor. It became a part of southern state’s economy within America. Additionally, African Americans were forced or born into slavery where they endured harsh working conditions with zero pay and often times were punished by their masters. Even slaves that became emancipated or paid for their freedom were also treated differently than whites. Notably, blacks did not have the same privileges as whites and were forced to carry a “freedom card” wherever they went. Failing to do so would lead to severe consequences, such as being forced back into slavery. Once African Americans were considered free, they faced additional discriminations such as not being able to vote or serve as a figure in public office. Due to this and additional factors, African Americans were almost entirely incapable of defending themselves against whites. Since the start of the 17th century, African Americans, free and enslaved were punished for their skin color and were considered the lowest scale by not being allowed to the same opportunities and rights and white men.
The life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination… the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land (qtd. in W.T.L. 235).
In the short story “Coyote and the Enemy Alien” by Thomas King, there is a common theme of othering that is demonstarted in the story. Othering is defined as to “view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself” (idk how to cite this). The idea of othering is expressed through the Coyote’s words and actions. Othering has been a significant part of the Canadian society with the inauguration of the Indian Act and unethical treatment of the Indigenous people of Canada due to the introduction of the new legislation.
The American declaration of independence stated, that: “All men are created equal”. But in the 19th century only whites were born with equal opportunities. Africans were imported as slaves and had to work on the fields of the whites. Until 1865 the Negroes were treated and looked at as something lower than human. They were compared to apes, and therefore just owned the same rights as animals. They were raised believing that whites were superior. It took them years to realize that they have to stand up for their rights. The uprising turned into a brutal civil war.
The whites complained that the slaves were trying to be equal with the whites socially,