Resist Oppression Values

A story is most powerful when it inspires the reader to believe that reading the story is “necessary”. In our textbook, there are three stories that hold true to this idea and follow the “Between Worlds” theme. These stories are, “A Cab Drivers Daughter” by Waheeda Samady, “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression” by Martin Luther King Jr., and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. In “A Cab Drivers Daughter” a Pediatrician examines her life and the life of her father; she notes all the stereotypes and negativity that surrounds an immigrant driving a cab. This story shines light on the generation gap and cultural beliefs. Secondly, “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression” is the explanation behind the ideology of the

Anti-oppressive groupwork theory remains focused on ending socioeconomic oppression while valuing empowerment, diversity and accountability for the powerful (Adams, Dominelli & Payne 2002). Anti-oppressive practice involves reflecting on power, listening to the oppressed, and challenging oppression while connecting and collaborating with the people experiencing oppression (Rogers 2012). It includes identifying issues as well as joining with people to challenge and instigate change (Rogers 2012). Anti-oppressive principles will become the foundation for my practice to minimise power differences and become agents of change and promote social justice.

Oppression exists at varying levels and the way in which we choose to view it can have a significant impact on our ability to break down the barriers that continue to oppress disenfranchised groups. Much like the analogy of a caged bird facing both individual cage wires as well as the confining cage as a whole, examining the microscopic and macroscopic levels of oppression is essential in furthering our understanding of social justice. Long-term and persisting injustices towards subordinate social groups can also lead to internalized oppression, creating a complex system of disempowerment and self-loathing. As members of society committed to social change, it is important that we continue to educate ourselves on the issues of oppression and oppressed groups while ensuring we act at allies and advocates in our efforts to tackle these barriers.

When making a stand with non-violent resistance you make people aware of the problem at hand. In Warriors Don’t Cry newspapers and the NAACP are always making people aware of the violence in Central High, a newspaper article headers says, “JUDGE ORDERS INTEGRATION - Arkansas Gazette , Tuesday,

Oppression has change in history in the following ways: lower class people are treated different than higher class, people are discriminated by their race, and minorities knows how each class behave. People should not be obligated to change their lifestyle only because they are oppressing them to change for good. Each one of us should have freedom of what they want to do and enjoy life by not being forced to or feeling less than others

What is it that Vonnegut wants the readers to realize? That equality in general is unnatural, because Adaption to the average might mean bringing everyone down to the lowest level and therefore confirm prejudices of stupid, fat and lazy people and lead to a loss of potential, excellence and talent. The immense state control can lead to oppression and torture of citizens if people are too busy with their personal life instead of caring for the greater good. Furthermore that our modern lives can lead to a desensitization if people spend their time in front of a TV lamenting about the chances in the world rather than standing up from the couch and do something about it. That an uncontrolled medium bears the potential of misdirected utilization

In our Society, we deal with many form of oppression in our daily lives. Unfortunately, different groups of people are more oppressed than others. Oppression is the unjust treatment of a group of people. I believe, our government is a major culprit as they are responsible for oppressing most of society. This involves many groups, such as single mothers, the working class, African Americans, gays and lesbians. In my paper, my personal views will be addressed incorporating ideas from several readings pertaining to different forms of oppression. A summarization of each article will be provided as well.

In the modern era, many people are shown the freedom that the world has to offer them. This facade of reality blinds those who are facing modern day oppression. It is no longer the straightforward unjust treatment demonstrated in the past, but it is subtle things that happen in people’s lives. What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression”, can not only be applicable to racial oppression, but also to common problems. Many common problems and issues are forms of oppression that people do not even realize it is. In the face of oppression, the natural responses that people would have are stated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. : violence, acquiescence, and nonviolent resistance . Although there are countless ways in which people can respond in a situation, for the loss of a job, there is an order of effectiveness.

When faced with injustices on an almost insurmountable scale, how do we fight back? It is this psychological, sociological, and philosophical question that has endured and resurged throughout the modern history of mankind: do we pursue nonviolent or violent resistance? Particularly prevalent within the Civil Rights Movement, this debate is unique in that it forces us to look deep within ourselves and outward simultaneously as the realities of each option are both personal and macroscopic. How do I fight back? And, what effect does this have on society at large? In this paper, I’ll endeavor to put forth arguments for and against each ideology through the viewpoints of the two most distinctive, eloquent men of the African-American struggle for equality.

Sadly, oppression is a common feature of power structures. It can be identified as a situation where an individual, group, society, culture or state, have power, be it economic, military or political, and exercise that power to disadvantage, and or overpower those who do not. Oppression means control and dominance and is observed in the form of discrimination practices based on gender, class, race, and culture that systematically produce inequalities. Today, oppression is present in the social, institutionalized, and economic domains throughout the world and is usually seen in conjunction with borders, both real and imagined, creating the lines that separate and distinguish between the oppressor and the oppressed.

We’ve all encountered oppression in our lifetime at least once. From rights to fights, oppression does not come unknown especially in today's time. Is oppression worth fighting for ? Violence against oppression is not only humane but also understandable.

Therefore, an individualistic approach to resistance is not enough to change it either. Doing so results in an “exaggeration of resistance in social life and an underestimation of the power of oppressive structures to limit agency” (Pyke 560). The structural patterns of oppression and power are, again, ignored and instead, are shaped into a personal issue that is supposed to be handled by individual people, as though for each, it is their own separate problem. It does not consider “the cracks in systems of oppression that afford discrete opportunities for upward mobility that can be realized without concerted resistance” (Pyke 561). The accountability for resistance rest on the single person and their ability to do so, meaning that those in power no longer have to have to work to assist as the responsibility shifts to the oppressed to help themselves.

Peaceful resistance, though controversial, is a positive force in our free society, battling this lingering injustice. It is a way in which we can make our voices heard without risking injury to any part of our country.

Oppression has always been a concept that humanity has turned its head too. Whether that means a country is being governed by a dictatorship, an individual race being discriminated against, or immigrants in a country not being able to find adequate working environment. Even today, big businesses and individual supervisors are oppressing many people, specifically immigrants in the lowest jobs available. Books like Fast Food Nation and documentaries like Food Inc. have brought light to the situation of the grotesque, dangerous, and immoral environment in which many people are forced to work within the American food system. Situations like the ones discussed in Fast Food Nation also brings to attention the ethical principles of the labor

Martin Luther King Jr.’s The Ways of Meeting Oppression is a division and classification essay in which King explains people being oppressed and people meeting oppression. “Historically, oppressed people have responded to their oppression in negative ways and resulting in either death or prolonging their oppression,” states King (465). MLK challenges the oppressed to meet oppression positively and effectively. In his own essay, he examines and discusses the three characteristics of meeting oppression. He divides and classifies them ranging from ineffective to the most effective way.