For the group projects, my group was in charge of the history section. When I first figured this out I was kind of excited to start on learning about everything that I didn’t already know about race in history. This is partially because I am a history person, so I enjoy learning about the past and not only what happened but also the motivations of the people in certain instances. Once I had read some of the articles, I came to find that much of the racial history in the United States was focused on the slavery issue. To be honest, it was a little disappointing. We are a nation of many different kinds of people and to see that our nation still talks about race specifically lined up with that horrible, racist way of life is frustrating. I feel like race isn’t often brought up without the stigma of racism right along with it. Why? And not only that, but there are so many other eras in history that race was crucial that do not ever seem to be brought up, the Irish coming to America and the passionate hatred that they fought against, or during World War II when some of the Japanese Americans were put into concentration-like camps because of the intense fear that was traveling around the country. Why don’t these times get talked about as often? Is it just that the White American vs. the Black American is the stereotypical fight that was fought? If so, isn’t that a bit hypocritical of us? Aren’t we fighting against the stereotypes? I just hope that people are listening to the other arguments out there besides the most common story. Not that this fight for freedom is any less significant than the others, because it obviously was a major milestone in not only U.S. history, but also world history. I just think that it is important that people know that racism is not limited to African American history and it looks different than slavery during the Antebellum Period and the Klu Klux Klan. We need to be aware.
I agree! I noticed the same things when we were working on this. Slavery seems to be the first thing that is often discussed when the idea of racism is brought up. The U.S. South seems to be the racist capital of the world from reading these articles. I, too, am guilty of associating racism with only slavery, but I think that this is because I have been taught much more about this aspect of racism than any other. Yes, it is a big part of our country's history, but if we truly want to teach "multiculturally" we should talk about all different kinds of racism. Racism began with the Jews being mistreated, not Blacks. I think that all racism is terrible and that it all deserves equal discussion in class.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your idea about people's tendencies to overlook other examples of racism throughout history. However, I think our nation is primarily centered around the conflicts between "black v. white" as a result of the heightened conflicts we have had.
ReplyDeleteFor example, there was an entire war centered around the concept of slavery in our nation during the 1800's. Given, many argue that the Civil War was not caused by slavery, but it is a fact that slavery was a primary factor. Afterward, our nation has been feeling the repercussions of that major conflict (former slaves fighting for their rights and freedoms).. So, my point being, although other forms of racism DO exist and are just as wrong, I believe there is a reason why African American issues are more prevalent in our society.
I feel that while the black and white issue is a prominent one, we should be focusing on other cases of discrimination as well. Any minority in our history has been treated badly in some way, and we need to learn about these occurrences so they will not be repeated.
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