Dmitri Shostakovich Oppression

We have all sat through multiple history classes and learned about slavery, segregation, and the Civil War. We have all seen brutal movies and presentations based on racial injustices and the lack of equality. So often, we forget that these issues are still so present in our community. Slavery is illegal in the United States but other forms of racial profiling, insensitivity, and racism continue to be a recurring social barrier. Racism is still very much alive. The United States is “equal” yet somehow segregated. There isn’t quite a quick fix to this problem. Clearly, this has been an ongoing issue and requires major progression in our personal global

Dmitri Shostakovich and Aaron Copland are two major composers of the 20th century who were both influenced by politics in their time. While Shostakovich publicly opposed the communist regime in the Soviet Union, Copland quietly embraced communist ideologies while in America. Shostakovich’s political stance is demonstrated in his Symphony No.5, a bombastic and triumphant piece of music in which Shostakovich voices his distaste with Stalin’s rule. Copland’s “Into the Streets May First” was the product of a “brief yet decisive phase of left-wing culture that promoted modernist aesthetics as a challenge to the conventions of American industrial capitalism.” Living on opposite sides of the world and opposite sides of the political spectrum, both

Marianne Weber argued that marriage was the linchpin of patriarchal domination as women were being dominated by their husbands. According to Weber, once a woman married they were seen as property of their husband. Women being addressed or seen as “property” was supported by “legal codes…religion and the economy” (Inst. Comments), which I believe that it made it difficult to see any positive changes. Women were dependent on their husbands for economic support, which gave them more power over their partner’s and their overall household. Weber argued that “the wife is economic dependent of her husband… Even in cases where she works, full – or part-time, her income typically is only a fraction of his” (L&N 206).Even though women who work do not make as much money as their husbands, I agree with Weber, that those women who have an external money supply do become more independent, although they are not getting paid as much as their partner. Women’s employment opportunities outside the home have helped

Do you ever believe that you have been a victim to a microaggression and there was nothing ever done about it? A victim of institutional racism that made you feel doleful and surly? Institutional racism happens a lot, but not as much as microaggressions, but a lot of people wonder why they get this type of vibe from white supremacist. These are the same people in the same country, with the same daily schedule but somehow they judge people based on their skin color. Some reason you aren’t allowed to lead this country if you are any other skin than white. There's a lot of racism in America, and a lot of people really wonder will the microaggressions, microinsults, the institutional racism will ever stop. People look at our president Donald J. Trump with his campaign of “Make America Great Again” does he mean the bad times for the African Americans? The bad times, for the Asian Americans? Do white people in general categorize all cultures/ ethnicities other than white as minorities? There are two articles that come together, to grow on this idea, to answer the questions above and to explain in full detail. Both of these articles, compare on what and how plenty of “minorities” feel in America. The speech essay “Analyzing Some Thoughts On Mercy” and the argumentative essay “6 Reasons We Need to Dismantle the Model Minority Myth of Those ‘Hard-Working ‘ Asians” by Ross Gay and Rachel Kuo deal with the problem with racism shown by white supremacy. Through these texts the

Perhaps one of the most disgusting accusations one can receive today is “You’re racist!” However as disturbing as racism is, it is just one of the many mediums in which people use to control others. Whether the motive is race, religion, nationality, financial standing, or even gender, in every society, certain groups of people have always been oppressed. The culprit of seemingly unnecessary and ignorant oppression is human nature itself. Humans will always experience the need to feel superior, and for that reason, similar connections can be made among those people living under oppression thousands of miles and centuries apart from each other. “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright, “Sweat” by Zora Neale

There is no reason for people of color to believe that social institutions and power

Although racism in the United States is perceived as a “white people” versus “black people” construct, these two texts have helped me understand that racism occurs and has occurred in a multitude of different contexts. This is because the foundation of racism has nothing to do with a person’s physical features, but more to do with the systematic grouping of people in a tower of class. Chinese immigration was initially encouraged in the mid-1800s to help build the transcontinental railroad. However, along with the finishing of the railroad, a huge financial crisis hit, which eliminated jobs across the country. This caused for hardworking Chinese people, receiving low wages, to become a threat to “white” people. Multiple ordinances, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, was put in place. City authorities reported that “long as it is inhabited by people of the Mongolian race” (Shah, 42), Chinatown is dangerous due to its threat of disease and sanitation. It was never an issue of safety, but an issue of race and economic benefits favored to meet the needs and wants of the “white” population: for example, the Chinese medical practices and laundromats. Multiple laws were made and a bad reputation was placed on Chinese businesses and people to ensure that competition was not taken away and that economical opportunities stayed within the “white” population. Here, we see the

I have family members from this particular culture that endured slavery. My family members were slaves and had babies by the white man. The last name of my family is the McCoys and the Hatfields, which were rivalries. These slaves’ owners are my family. My grandpa told me that the McCoys and the Hatfields disowned us because we were black, but just recently they acknowledged us as family. I viewed their struggle as heartbreaking and strong. It’s heartbreaking because us mistreated and disowned by our own family, but they kept moving forward. Due to my grandpa’s grandmother and mother enduring slavery, I’ve seen how it has made my grandpa. My grandpa and his siblings look like they’re white, but whenever someone calls them that, they get highly upset and say “they are not white, they are elite”. Also, they were strong individuals because they endured things that I couldn’t imagine going through. If I was back in the time of slavery, I would’ve went crazy. My mission would have been to kill the white people or kill myself. No individual should have to be mistreat and degraded. I give prompts for those who experienced that

In the raw and graphical important events told to us in the novel Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez, the events show us the way systematic oppression affects the life’s of minorities, but especially those of the community of the main character Chin. Chin is living through systematic oppression and feeling the effects of systematic oppression on his everyday life and to that of his community. Chin, experiences the oppression that the government created in order to oppress communities of certain appearances. We also get to understand his feelings of hatred towards the United States legal system because of how unfair it was towards minorities. His hatred comes from the abusive actions police committed by using their power of the law to make

I am a white woman living in the United States of America. Without any intent on my part I have automatically been given certain advantages based on the randomness of the color of my skin. Yes, I am aware that being a woman includes dealing with lower pay wages, body objectification, pressures to be beautiful, sexual harassment and so on and so forth. However, I will never be able to comprehend the struggle or challenges that face people of other races and ethnicities. I do not know what it is like to be watched in a store for fear I am going to shoplift. Or to be questioned about my loyalty to the country I was born and raised in because of the religion I grew up practicing. Unfortunately, those are just two of the many examples that

　　Despite everything we do, injustice can be found everywhere. It could be through a form of discrimation against race, gender, age or religion preference. In 1955, a woman named Rosa Parks descided enough was enough. “No.” this one word uttered by an African American who changed the public transportation and American society. Her refusal to give up her seat in the coloured section to a white passenger because the white section was full, her courage to stand up for herself and her race for not being treated equally and with respect and dignity brought hope to African Americans all over the world then and it still brings hope to people in my generation as a reminder telling us that we all have an opinoun and should not be afraid to express

Throughout my life, I have been plagued by racial injustices. These injustices introduced themselves at an early stage in my childhood and have continued to be prevailing issues as my adult life has progressed – racial injustice has never ceased to be something that I have had to concern myself with. It is no secret that racial injustice is prominent in more ways than one, which consequently has had huge impacts on individual people and communities. Although racial injustice has been a problem that has improved in some respects over the years, it still continues to significantly worsen in others. Nevertheless, the fundamental concern amid all of this, is the fact that racial injustice is still a prominent issue in society today. Because of

One of the most prominent influences of art throughout history has been politics. The 50s through 70s in America are a great example of this, for so many of this era’s songs were arguments against America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and criticisms of American politics at the time. However, this phenomenon was prominent long before the Vietnam War and was not just an American trend; in fact, two of the most influential and famous pieces of the early 20th century were products of political oppression on the other side of the world. Both Paul Hindemith, under the Nazi Regime, and Dmitri Shostakovich, under the communist reign of Stalin, managed to fight political oppression through their music. The two composers had very different ways of doing so. Hindemith wrote two separate pieces, one that directly opposed the Nazi regime, and another that was so nationalistic he was forgiven for his previous ‘mistakes’, whereas Shostakovich wrote a single piece which seemed just as nationalistic as Hindemith’s symphony yet it had a deeper, much more rebellious underlying message. Even though their methods’ differed, both Hindemith and Shostakovich were able to express their true feelings about the totalitarian governments that were repressing their artistic ability.

Unfortunately, historically human society has always developed classes of varying superiority, leading to the subsequent oppression of minority groups. Even though marginalization transcends time, culture, and geography, there are only a few possible responses to subjugation, but the most desirable outcome is the minority group fights off the oppression and achieves equality. In America, the institution of slavery imbedded an existing structural bias against African-Americans, which has been reduced but still remains prevalent. While Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Pecola in The Bluest Eye all are labeled as de facto inferior beings by white America, they each represent the three different respective responses to societal persecution:

If the 20th century is indeed the age of experimentation, then Shostakovich is no ideal. Perhaps, if the Soviet government had been more tolerant, his