1. This article talked about how many European ethnicities were at one point discriminated against in the United States. But after World War II, most of the different European ethnicities in the United States have been grouped together as white and had moved up to the middle class. The main reason that they were able to do this was because of the GI Bill of Rights.
2. Karen Brodkin begins her article by explaining how odd it was that at one point in our nation’s history, European workers were thought of as biologically different and not really “white”. She says that she would like to believe that Jews became successful wholly because of their hard work and intelligence. But she says that their rise in America’s class ladder was also because social barriers were removed by the affirmative action program that our country enacted after the Second World War She began the main part of her article by explaining that there were four major European races in America and that the Nordic race was thought of as more superior than all of the others such as the Alpines, Mediterraneans, and the Jews. On page forty she says, “race and class were interwoven: the upper class was racially pure Nordic; the lower class came from the lower races. They were clearly discriminated against as the elite whites thought of Jews as unwashed, uncouth, unrefined, loud, and pushy. She explained this as she told us that her father almost failed a speech test because his speech wasn’t the “standard” non-accented English. But times changed as she stated that in 1940 the census all the ethnicities were not singled out and that the whole white population was listed as white. She says on page forty-three that this took place because, “the economic mobility of Jews and other Euro-ethnics derived ultimately from America’s postwar economic prosperity and its enormously expanded need for professional, technical, and managerial labor, as well as on government assistance in providing it.” The GI Bill of Rights was aimed at and disproportionately helped male, Euro-origin GI’s. She explained how this bill helped nicely on page forty-four, “The almost 8 million GIs who took advantage of their educational benefits under the GI Bill cause ‘the greatest wave of college building in American history.’ White male GIs were able to take advantage of their educational benefits for college and technical training, so they were particularly well positioned to seize the opportunities provided by the new demands for professional, managerial, and technical labor.” After that she explained that unfortunately African Americans and women could not make these same gains. The progress that was made during the war was lost when the soldiers came back. Black students were not allowed in white colleges and all of the black colleges were filled to capacity, so many of them were not able to attend college. Also, housing companies refused to sell houses in suburbs to African Americans and they were not able to make improvements to their current houses.
3. I think that the author’s argument is an extremely valid one in this article. She clearly provided the reader with history of all of the major steps that allowed Jews and other European ethnicities to make the jump to the middle class. She also clearly explains why African Americans were unable to make that same jump. I’m glad that she could see the facts that this bill did help Jews out and that their rise wasn’t only because of hard work. Although they did work extremely hard, so did the African Americans. But the bill didn’t reward them for their service during the war like it did the Europeans.
4. I don’t think that this bill affected any of my ancestors. My father and uncles were born after this timeframe and my grandfather did not fight in the war. Therefore he stayed in the working class as a farmer. I think it is so sad that even this late in our countries history, blacks were being segregated against in brutal ways. It had to have been horrible fighting for the country and then not being rewarded for your service the way others were and in fact, they were almost punished for serving the country.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Zinn Chapter 9
1. I feel that Zinn’s thesis in chapter 9 is that life was not much better for the slaves in the south even after the Civil War. Similarly many people think that blacks in the north had life much better than the slaves in south, but for the most part this wasn’t true. Life didn’t get much better for the blacks after the Civil War and maybe for some it got worse.
2. Zinn begins chapter nine by listing a stunning fact that between 1790 and 1860 the slave population in the United States increased by three and a half million and with that cotton production ballooned from thousands to millions. This occurred even though slave importation became illegal in 1808 and he estimated that 250,000 slaves were imported after that date. He states that slave families were torn apart just so the plantation owners could make some extra cash that they didn’t need. Even with these terrible tactics slave rebellion was rare, but the slave owners were still always worried about it. One slave that rebelled and escaped to the north was Harriet Tubman. Zinn listed two interesting quotes from her. First she would tell slaves that she was assisting to escape, “You’ll be free or die.” Amazingly she was not afraid of death as she said, “There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive.” He also tells us that some poor whites would help with slaves escaping just because they hated the rich plantation owners. But slave-owners didn’t like this so they paid poor whites to be overseers. But through slavery, the blacks formed a community with one another as Zinn states on page 133, “The slave community acted like a generalized kinship system in which all adults looked after all children and there was little division between ‘my children for whom I’m responsible’ and ‘your children for whom you’re responsible’… It was part and parcel, as we shall see, of the social process out of which came black pride, black identity, black culture, the black community, and black rebellion in America.” England was not in favor of slavery in the U.S. and the U.S. thought about war. But the slaves would not have fought as was quoted from page 137, “If war be declared… Will we fight in defense of a government which denies us the most precious right of citizenship?” Some white abolitionists in the north did help out the anti-slavery movement, but blacks still had to deal with racism in the north. Therefore the free blacks took it upon themselves to lead the anti-slavery movement. John Brown tried to start a rebellion, but it was squashed before it began. Still even with the anti-slavery movement in the north, clearly there was still racism as the Supreme Court ruled in 1857 on page 139 that slave Dred Scott could not sue for freedom because “he was not a person, but property.” Many people view Lincoln as a person who didn’t have any prejudices, but even he didn’t see blacks as equal to whites. He said on page 142, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.” After the Emancipation Proclamation many former slaves fought for the Union even though they were pretty much still slaves for the army. Without their help the war would have went on for much longer. Even though Lincoln freed the slaves, they didn’t think much of him as he didn’t allow them a chance to succeed in their lives after slavery. After the war several laws were passed that made it a crime to discriminate against blacks, but a few years later none of the laws were enforced. An African American Supreme Court justice was forced to say, “Our constitution is color-blind.” The lack of enforcement made it easy for hate groups to terrorize the blacks. So even after the Civil War, life was not much better for African Americans.
3. I thought the author backed his thesis well throughout the chapter. He used several amazing quotes to validate his argument. Many people think that life for the slave instantly got better after the Civil War, but Zinn does an excellent job of proving that this was not the case in this chapter.
4. In studying Lincoln in history classes throughout my previous education, I always thought that he viewed African Americans as equals. By some of his quotes in this chapter, you can see that this was not the case. How sad it is that we only hear about the good things that our early presidents did. It is clear to me that at a young age our nation wants us to view these men as some of the greatest men in our country’s history so they skew much of their backgrounds so we only see the positive side of them.
2. Zinn begins chapter nine by listing a stunning fact that between 1790 and 1860 the slave population in the United States increased by three and a half million and with that cotton production ballooned from thousands to millions. This occurred even though slave importation became illegal in 1808 and he estimated that 250,000 slaves were imported after that date. He states that slave families were torn apart just so the plantation owners could make some extra cash that they didn’t need. Even with these terrible tactics slave rebellion was rare, but the slave owners were still always worried about it. One slave that rebelled and escaped to the north was Harriet Tubman. Zinn listed two interesting quotes from her. First she would tell slaves that she was assisting to escape, “You’ll be free or die.” Amazingly she was not afraid of death as she said, “There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive.” He also tells us that some poor whites would help with slaves escaping just because they hated the rich plantation owners. But slave-owners didn’t like this so they paid poor whites to be overseers. But through slavery, the blacks formed a community with one another as Zinn states on page 133, “The slave community acted like a generalized kinship system in which all adults looked after all children and there was little division between ‘my children for whom I’m responsible’ and ‘your children for whom you’re responsible’… It was part and parcel, as we shall see, of the social process out of which came black pride, black identity, black culture, the black community, and black rebellion in America.” England was not in favor of slavery in the U.S. and the U.S. thought about war. But the slaves would not have fought as was quoted from page 137, “If war be declared… Will we fight in defense of a government which denies us the most precious right of citizenship?” Some white abolitionists in the north did help out the anti-slavery movement, but blacks still had to deal with racism in the north. Therefore the free blacks took it upon themselves to lead the anti-slavery movement. John Brown tried to start a rebellion, but it was squashed before it began. Still even with the anti-slavery movement in the north, clearly there was still racism as the Supreme Court ruled in 1857 on page 139 that slave Dred Scott could not sue for freedom because “he was not a person, but property.” Many people view Lincoln as a person who didn’t have any prejudices, but even he didn’t see blacks as equal to whites. He said on page 142, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.” After the Emancipation Proclamation many former slaves fought for the Union even though they were pretty much still slaves for the army. Without their help the war would have went on for much longer. Even though Lincoln freed the slaves, they didn’t think much of him as he didn’t allow them a chance to succeed in their lives after slavery. After the war several laws were passed that made it a crime to discriminate against blacks, but a few years later none of the laws were enforced. An African American Supreme Court justice was forced to say, “Our constitution is color-blind.” The lack of enforcement made it easy for hate groups to terrorize the blacks. So even after the Civil War, life was not much better for African Americans.
3. I thought the author backed his thesis well throughout the chapter. He used several amazing quotes to validate his argument. Many people think that life for the slave instantly got better after the Civil War, but Zinn does an excellent job of proving that this was not the case in this chapter.
4. In studying Lincoln in history classes throughout my previous education, I always thought that he viewed African Americans as equals. By some of his quotes in this chapter, you can see that this was not the case. How sad it is that we only hear about the good things that our early presidents did. It is clear to me that at a young age our nation wants us to view these men as some of the greatest men in our country’s history so they skew much of their backgrounds so we only see the positive side of them.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Kindred Summary
1. I think the main point that the author was trying to make in this novel is that so many people think they have it bad off now in the present. After reading this book, the author is showing us how terribly bad the conditions really were for the slaves thirty years before the Civil War.
2. The author begins the book with the account on how Dana, a black woman, saves a little white boy named Rufus from drowning. She is brought back to real life however when Mr. Wyeling, the boy’s father, points a gun at her intending to shoot her. After that Octavia Butler gives us a little bit of Dana’s background in her real world. She is moving in to a new house with her white husband, Kevin. They are both “wannabe” writers who haven’t had success with their writing. But when Kevin gets his first book published, he asks Dana to marry him. They are just starting their new lives together when as summarized earlier, when Dana is taken to Maryland during the year 1815. Each time that she is transported back in time, she is almost killed. When that happens she is transported back to her real life back in California. Similarly whenever Rufus is in danger, she is transported back to Maryland to help him survive sure death. The book continues in these cycles until the end of Rufus’s life. The second time she is transported back in time, she is called to save Rufus from burning his house down. After she does this she tries to escape the Wyelin plantation. As she is wandering through the woods, she comes upon an old house in which a black family was living. She witnesses the black man being taken away from his wife, because he didn’t have any free papers. In the process she is found by a patrolman, who beats her with a stick and probably would have done worse things if she had not caused him to lose consciousness with her own blow to his face. She then blacks out and is taken back to California. The next time she is taken back to Maryland, Rufus has just fallen from a tree and has broken his leg. This time Kevin is taken with her though. They help get Rufus back to his house. Kevin says he is going south and that Dana is his free slave. This helps Dana from being treated like the other slaves on the plantation. She teaches Rufus how to read and makes the mistake of trying to teach a slave boy, Nigel, how to read. Mr Wyelin catches her and takes her out to wip her. She is then taken back to reality, but without Kevin, who is left in Maryland. Before her next visit eight days go by. She is taken back to get help for Rufus after he is almost killed in a fight with Isaac. Dana helps Alice, who needs to live in order to keep Dana’s birth line intact, to get a head start with her husband. She then takes Rufus back to get him help. When she goes back to see Kevin, she finds that five years have past and that Kevin left to go north. Dana stays hoping for Kevin’s return. After almost a year, Kevin does return and they try to escape to the north together. But they are met on the road by Wyelin and Rufus, who threaten to shoot them if they do not stay. This is how they are taken back to reality. She is then taken back to find Rufus as a full grown drunk man about to die as his face is face-down in a puddle. She is then taken back as Rufus beats her, because he thinks she is going to have sexual relations with one of his slaves, Sam. Finally the last time that she is taken back she is brought back to save Rufus from killing himself when he finds out that his wife and Dana’s ancestor has committed suicide. But eventually she is forced to kill Rufus and that ends her fantasy as she will never again be transported back to Maryland after Rufus’s death.
3. I don’t know how much actual documentation she had from the slave time period that she used to validate her writing, but this seemed to be a fairly good description of what the life of a slave was like. She mentioned several hardships that they faced back in that time period. Some hardships she mentioned from the book were the tough labor in the fields, the whippings, the loss of family members through trading slaves, the disrespect, and mindset that they would have to deal with these hardships throughout their entire lives. I think Butler did an excellent job of getting all these negative aspects of slavery mentioned in one story.
4. The reading definitely showed how brutal slavery was. The author did marvelous job of displaying this in her book. I personally thought it was a superior novel and enjoyed reading it. For a person who hates to read, that is saying a lot. But reading this book definitely makes us realize how good we have it in this present age compared to how awful it must have been to live as a slave back in those times.
2. The author begins the book with the account on how Dana, a black woman, saves a little white boy named Rufus from drowning. She is brought back to real life however when Mr. Wyeling, the boy’s father, points a gun at her intending to shoot her. After that Octavia Butler gives us a little bit of Dana’s background in her real world. She is moving in to a new house with her white husband, Kevin. They are both “wannabe” writers who haven’t had success with their writing. But when Kevin gets his first book published, he asks Dana to marry him. They are just starting their new lives together when as summarized earlier, when Dana is taken to Maryland during the year 1815. Each time that she is transported back in time, she is almost killed. When that happens she is transported back to her real life back in California. Similarly whenever Rufus is in danger, she is transported back to Maryland to help him survive sure death. The book continues in these cycles until the end of Rufus’s life. The second time she is transported back in time, she is called to save Rufus from burning his house down. After she does this she tries to escape the Wyelin plantation. As she is wandering through the woods, she comes upon an old house in which a black family was living. She witnesses the black man being taken away from his wife, because he didn’t have any free papers. In the process she is found by a patrolman, who beats her with a stick and probably would have done worse things if she had not caused him to lose consciousness with her own blow to his face. She then blacks out and is taken back to California. The next time she is taken back to Maryland, Rufus has just fallen from a tree and has broken his leg. This time Kevin is taken with her though. They help get Rufus back to his house. Kevin says he is going south and that Dana is his free slave. This helps Dana from being treated like the other slaves on the plantation. She teaches Rufus how to read and makes the mistake of trying to teach a slave boy, Nigel, how to read. Mr Wyelin catches her and takes her out to wip her. She is then taken back to reality, but without Kevin, who is left in Maryland. Before her next visit eight days go by. She is taken back to get help for Rufus after he is almost killed in a fight with Isaac. Dana helps Alice, who needs to live in order to keep Dana’s birth line intact, to get a head start with her husband. She then takes Rufus back to get him help. When she goes back to see Kevin, she finds that five years have past and that Kevin left to go north. Dana stays hoping for Kevin’s return. After almost a year, Kevin does return and they try to escape to the north together. But they are met on the road by Wyelin and Rufus, who threaten to shoot them if they do not stay. This is how they are taken back to reality. She is then taken back to find Rufus as a full grown drunk man about to die as his face is face-down in a puddle. She is then taken back as Rufus beats her, because he thinks she is going to have sexual relations with one of his slaves, Sam. Finally the last time that she is taken back she is brought back to save Rufus from killing himself when he finds out that his wife and Dana’s ancestor has committed suicide. But eventually she is forced to kill Rufus and that ends her fantasy as she will never again be transported back to Maryland after Rufus’s death.
3. I don’t know how much actual documentation she had from the slave time period that she used to validate her writing, but this seemed to be a fairly good description of what the life of a slave was like. She mentioned several hardships that they faced back in that time period. Some hardships she mentioned from the book were the tough labor in the fields, the whippings, the loss of family members through trading slaves, the disrespect, and mindset that they would have to deal with these hardships throughout their entire lives. I think Butler did an excellent job of getting all these negative aspects of slavery mentioned in one story.
4. The reading definitely showed how brutal slavery was. The author did marvelous job of displaying this in her book. I personally thought it was a superior novel and enjoyed reading it. For a person who hates to read, that is saying a lot. But reading this book definitely makes us realize how good we have it in this present age compared to how awful it must have been to live as a slave back in those times.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Takaki Chapter 3
1. The third chapter in Takaki’s book was that the slavery in the American colonies evolved over a longer period of time than most people think. A lot of people probably think that the American colonies were filled with slaves shortly after the English arrived. But the slave process took much longer than that to develop. At first the main workers on the plantations were white indentured servants, but over time African American’s were used more and more often as slaves.
2. The beginning of the chapter highlights how little English people thought of African Americans. The English referred to them as: deeply stained with dirt, foul, dark or deadly, malignant, sinister, wicked, a people of beastly living, without a God, law, and religion all on pages fifty-one and fifty-two. Shakespeare noted the importance of the slaves to the plantation owners when in his play the white man Prospero says this about his slave Caliban on page fifty-two, “We cannot miss him… He does make our fire, fetch our wood, and serves in offices that profit us.” Olaudah Equiano, a slave onboard a trading ship, recalled this when he was nervous about being eaten by the English, “They told us we were not to be eaten, but to work…” The chapter then explains how in the early days of the English colonies most of the workers were white indentured servants and similar to the African slaves they also came involuntarily. But both groups, white or black they shared the same class exploitation and abuse as unfree laborers. The Virginia legislature then had problems with whites and blacks running away together. As time went on, black slaves were separated from white servants and the blacks were given longer times to serve as slaves for running away. As time went on, the Africans were being made to serve for life and were viewed as their master’s property. Over time it was found that twenty black slaves could be kept cheaper than one white indentured servant. In 1667 Virginia passed a law that said a baptized slave had to remain a slave to their owner and a few years later a law was passed that no slave even if baptized and free could buy a white person. In 1705, a law was passed that said, “all servants imported and brought into this country, by sea or land, who were not Christians in their native country…shall be…slaves, and as such be here bought and sold notwithstanding a conversion to Christianity afterwards.” But even late into the 1600’s land owners still favored white servants over Africans. But as less white servants came, the number of Africans imported continued to rise. Part of this was because the lifespan was longer and the Africans were cheaper as they were slaves for their entire lives. The white servants continued to grow more disgusted with their bondage to their owners and wanted land of their own, so after some rebellions, the owners became more afraid of a huge rebellion of all the servants. The plantation owners saw that the Africans would be easier to control because they could be denied rights because of their skin color. As the Africans became increasingly prevalent states denied them the right to vote, hold office, and testify in court. Thomas Jefferson wanted to avoid the class conflict by letting all white men own a farm. A slave named Benjamin Banneker thought that since the British colonies were overthrown in the Revolutionary War, slavery should be abolished and all blacks should be free. But unfortunately this would not happen for a long time.
3. This was a very informative chapter as it explained the whole process that led up to slavery in the colonies. I think a crucial point is that slavery did not happen over night. Since it was a slow process, I think that was why it was harder for the whites to let it go after the Civil War. The fact that most white plantation owner depended on slavery so much and that it had become an accepted norm made it much harder for them to let it go and move on without slavery and why white privilege is still a problem today.
4. I guess I had always thought that slavery was in effect the minute that the English landed in the Americas rather than it actually taking about a hundred years to come into effect. I also never heard that Thomas Jefferson was a huge slave owner. He knew it was wrong, but just couldn’t let it go. This was a good read as Takaki organized his writing very well.
2. The beginning of the chapter highlights how little English people thought of African Americans. The English referred to them as: deeply stained with dirt, foul, dark or deadly, malignant, sinister, wicked, a people of beastly living, without a God, law, and religion all on pages fifty-one and fifty-two. Shakespeare noted the importance of the slaves to the plantation owners when in his play the white man Prospero says this about his slave Caliban on page fifty-two, “We cannot miss him… He does make our fire, fetch our wood, and serves in offices that profit us.” Olaudah Equiano, a slave onboard a trading ship, recalled this when he was nervous about being eaten by the English, “They told us we were not to be eaten, but to work…” The chapter then explains how in the early days of the English colonies most of the workers were white indentured servants and similar to the African slaves they also came involuntarily. But both groups, white or black they shared the same class exploitation and abuse as unfree laborers. The Virginia legislature then had problems with whites and blacks running away together. As time went on, black slaves were separated from white servants and the blacks were given longer times to serve as slaves for running away. As time went on, the Africans were being made to serve for life and were viewed as their master’s property. Over time it was found that twenty black slaves could be kept cheaper than one white indentured servant. In 1667 Virginia passed a law that said a baptized slave had to remain a slave to their owner and a few years later a law was passed that no slave even if baptized and free could buy a white person. In 1705, a law was passed that said, “all servants imported and brought into this country, by sea or land, who were not Christians in their native country…shall be…slaves, and as such be here bought and sold notwithstanding a conversion to Christianity afterwards.” But even late into the 1600’s land owners still favored white servants over Africans. But as less white servants came, the number of Africans imported continued to rise. Part of this was because the lifespan was longer and the Africans were cheaper as they were slaves for their entire lives. The white servants continued to grow more disgusted with their bondage to their owners and wanted land of their own, so after some rebellions, the owners became more afraid of a huge rebellion of all the servants. The plantation owners saw that the Africans would be easier to control because they could be denied rights because of their skin color. As the Africans became increasingly prevalent states denied them the right to vote, hold office, and testify in court. Thomas Jefferson wanted to avoid the class conflict by letting all white men own a farm. A slave named Benjamin Banneker thought that since the British colonies were overthrown in the Revolutionary War, slavery should be abolished and all blacks should be free. But unfortunately this would not happen for a long time.
3. This was a very informative chapter as it explained the whole process that led up to slavery in the colonies. I think a crucial point is that slavery did not happen over night. Since it was a slow process, I think that was why it was harder for the whites to let it go after the Civil War. The fact that most white plantation owner depended on slavery so much and that it had become an accepted norm made it much harder for them to let it go and move on without slavery and why white privilege is still a problem today.
4. I guess I had always thought that slavery was in effect the minute that the English landed in the Americas rather than it actually taking about a hundred years to come into effect. I also never heard that Thomas Jefferson was a huge slave owner. He knew it was wrong, but just couldn’t let it go. This was a good read as Takaki organized his writing very well.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Johnson Chapter 8 post
1. For chapter eight I think Johnson’s thesis is his very last sentence It reads, “Sooner or later, the dominant groups must embrace this hook they’re on, not as some terrible affliction or occasion for guilt and shame but as a challenge and an opportunity. It’s where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going.”
2. Johnson begins his eighth chapter by stating that subordinate groups are on the hook everyday and that so are the dominant groups. But the dominant groups are more likely not to notice it because they have a multitude of ways to through privilege to get away with not noticing it. He says one way people get off the hook is denying that there is a hook in the first place. But he says that they are in a poor position because of that because they rarely know what they’re talking about. People of dominant groups define the experience for the other groups without even experiencing it. Another way of denial is by people of dominant groups seeing people of subordinate groups as better off than they are even though this is clearly not the case. Therefore oppression is blamed on the people who suffer most from it while the people of privilege remain invisible and untouched. Another claim that Johnson points out is that people think that everyone prefers things the way they are right now. For example, a white person may say that an African American would rather live with other African Americans rather than in an integrated neighborhood. Another problem is that people hate to take the blame for the problem. Johnson says on page 117, “Since I can make a good case that I’m not a bad person, then the trouble wouldn’t have anything to do with me.” But he later falsifies this claim on page 118 when he says, “But the truth is that my silence, my inaction and especially my passive acceptance of the everyday privilege that goes along with group membership are all it take to make me just as much a part of the problem as any member of the Klan.“ We would rather people see us as individuals than part of a social category. But at the same time when it is to our advantage we would like people to treat as if we were in that privileged category. Whites being treated well is not a problem, rather other people not being treated the same way is the problem. The problem is that people of the privileged category are unaware of the fact that they get treated better than people not of that category. Many people of the privileged class feel they are not treated any better, but in reality there is no neutral ground on which to stand. The privileged often say they are bombarded with the claims that they are treated better all of the time and they are insulted by it. But Johnson then offers this quote, “In reality, ‘all the time’ come down to ‘enough to make me look at what I don’t want to look a, enough to make me uncomfortable.’ And usually that doesn’t take much.” Johnson ends the chapter stating that this will never end until the privileged embrace the hook that they are on.
3. I believe the author makes some very valid claims in this chapter. People of the privileged class hate hearing that they are treated better than others and don’t have as many problems. They never want to accept the fact that they are treated better and have advantages in all aspects of life. In order for the power and privilege to end people of the privileged class will have to accept this and give up some of their advantages to change the situation.
4. I thought this chapter was excellent and explained a lot of the reasons why people in privileged places don’t like to talk about the subject and why nothing ever gets done to fix the situation. But even if every single person in the privileged class read this chapter, I honestly don’t even think that would help either.
2. Johnson begins his eighth chapter by stating that subordinate groups are on the hook everyday and that so are the dominant groups. But the dominant groups are more likely not to notice it because they have a multitude of ways to through privilege to get away with not noticing it. He says one way people get off the hook is denying that there is a hook in the first place. But he says that they are in a poor position because of that because they rarely know what they’re talking about. People of dominant groups define the experience for the other groups without even experiencing it. Another way of denial is by people of dominant groups seeing people of subordinate groups as better off than they are even though this is clearly not the case. Therefore oppression is blamed on the people who suffer most from it while the people of privilege remain invisible and untouched. Another claim that Johnson points out is that people think that everyone prefers things the way they are right now. For example, a white person may say that an African American would rather live with other African Americans rather than in an integrated neighborhood. Another problem is that people hate to take the blame for the problem. Johnson says on page 117, “Since I can make a good case that I’m not a bad person, then the trouble wouldn’t have anything to do with me.” But he later falsifies this claim on page 118 when he says, “But the truth is that my silence, my inaction and especially my passive acceptance of the everyday privilege that goes along with group membership are all it take to make me just as much a part of the problem as any member of the Klan.“ We would rather people see us as individuals than part of a social category. But at the same time when it is to our advantage we would like people to treat as if we were in that privileged category. Whites being treated well is not a problem, rather other people not being treated the same way is the problem. The problem is that people of the privileged category are unaware of the fact that they get treated better than people not of that category. Many people of the privileged class feel they are not treated any better, but in reality there is no neutral ground on which to stand. The privileged often say they are bombarded with the claims that they are treated better all of the time and they are insulted by it. But Johnson then offers this quote, “In reality, ‘all the time’ come down to ‘enough to make me look at what I don’t want to look a, enough to make me uncomfortable.’ And usually that doesn’t take much.” Johnson ends the chapter stating that this will never end until the privileged embrace the hook that they are on.
3. I believe the author makes some very valid claims in this chapter. People of the privileged class hate hearing that they are treated better than others and don’t have as many problems. They never want to accept the fact that they are treated better and have advantages in all aspects of life. In order for the power and privilege to end people of the privileged class will have to accept this and give up some of their advantages to change the situation.
4. I thought this chapter was excellent and explained a lot of the reasons why people in privileged places don’t like to talk about the subject and why nothing ever gets done to fix the situation. But even if every single person in the privileged class read this chapter, I honestly don’t even think that would help either.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Summary of Johnson's chapter 6
1. Johnson’s theme in chapter six is that instead of blaming the problem of privilege and power on individuals, it should rather be blamed on the social groups, whether they be at school, in a job, or in our entire country. He says that the problem cannot be corrected unless groups of people take a stand against the minority or against the path of least resistance. In order to do that, groups of people need to give up their privileges that they have in order to make a statement to the rest of our nation.
2. Johnson begins the chapter explaining that the reason no one discusses power and privilege is because they are too afraid that they will be judged unfairly because of it. He explains the reason for this on page 77 when he says, “everything bad in the world is seen as somebody’s fault, which is why talk about privilege so often turns into a game of hot potato. Individualistic thinking keeps us stuck in the trouble by making it so hard to talk about it.” He then says that power and privilege have nothing to do with individuals it has to do with the social categories we wind up in. Johnson explains that the place to start is realizing that individualistic thinking is wrong and that the social world consists of a lot more than individuals. He explains that we learn our identity in this country through social groups such as families, schools, religion, and the mass media through examples set by family, school, religion, teachers and public figures. Johnson says that another reason why this is a problem is because people follow the paths of least resistance. He explains this to mean that people often take the easy way of helping people of the same social status as them rather then the more uncomfortable option of helping someone who has a different social status. He states, “Managers of this profile [white, straight, male and nondisabled] probably won’t realize they’re following a path of least resistance that shapes their choice until they’re asked to mentor an African American woman or someone else they don’t resemble.” He says people stick to this path because they are afraid of what will happen if they don’t. He then concludes that social life works through the relationships between individuals and social systems. In order to fix the problem Johnson also suggests that we need to see how systems are organized in ways that encourage people to follow paths of least resistance, because power and privilege are rooted in systems that we all participate in and make happen. He says on page 85, “If we have a visions of what we want social life to look like, we have to create paths that lead in that direction.” He says it is important to raise awareness, because most people don’t even know that they’re following paths of least resistance. The problem is that the vast majority of good people are silent on these issues and that it is the “good” people’s responsibility to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
3. I think his idea of paths of least resistance is definitely true. Most people look to get out of sticky situations the easy way rather then stand up for what is right. I agree that it will take a large group to make concessions and stand up for the people of lesser social status in order to do something about the problem. This chapter is well written and easily understandable and he makes many valid points about why nothing is being done about power and privilege.
4. In my opinion, a group of people in the dominant social group will not be formed anytime soon. Our society is a capitalistic society, this means that the people at the top of the food chain are greedy and always want more. So they would never in their wildest dream want to stand up for the people who are in lesser social groups, because if they do that they will lose their power and privilege.
2. Johnson begins the chapter explaining that the reason no one discusses power and privilege is because they are too afraid that they will be judged unfairly because of it. He explains the reason for this on page 77 when he says, “everything bad in the world is seen as somebody’s fault, which is why talk about privilege so often turns into a game of hot potato. Individualistic thinking keeps us stuck in the trouble by making it so hard to talk about it.” He then says that power and privilege have nothing to do with individuals it has to do with the social categories we wind up in. Johnson explains that the place to start is realizing that individualistic thinking is wrong and that the social world consists of a lot more than individuals. He explains that we learn our identity in this country through social groups such as families, schools, religion, and the mass media through examples set by family, school, religion, teachers and public figures. Johnson says that another reason why this is a problem is because people follow the paths of least resistance. He explains this to mean that people often take the easy way of helping people of the same social status as them rather then the more uncomfortable option of helping someone who has a different social status. He states, “Managers of this profile [white, straight, male and nondisabled] probably won’t realize they’re following a path of least resistance that shapes their choice until they’re asked to mentor an African American woman or someone else they don’t resemble.” He says people stick to this path because they are afraid of what will happen if they don’t. He then concludes that social life works through the relationships between individuals and social systems. In order to fix the problem Johnson also suggests that we need to see how systems are organized in ways that encourage people to follow paths of least resistance, because power and privilege are rooted in systems that we all participate in and make happen. He says on page 85, “If we have a visions of what we want social life to look like, we have to create paths that lead in that direction.” He says it is important to raise awareness, because most people don’t even know that they’re following paths of least resistance. The problem is that the vast majority of good people are silent on these issues and that it is the “good” people’s responsibility to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
3. I think his idea of paths of least resistance is definitely true. Most people look to get out of sticky situations the easy way rather then stand up for what is right. I agree that it will take a large group to make concessions and stand up for the people of lesser social status in order to do something about the problem. This chapter is well written and easily understandable and he makes many valid points about why nothing is being done about power and privilege.
4. In my opinion, a group of people in the dominant social group will not be formed anytime soon. Our society is a capitalistic society, this means that the people at the top of the food chain are greedy and always want more. So they would never in their wildest dream want to stand up for the people who are in lesser social groups, because if they do that they will lose their power and privilege.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Summary of Reading #6
1. Patterns of inequality result from and perpetuate a class system based on widening gaps in income, wealth, and power, between those on top and everyone below them. It is a system that produces oppressive consequences. p. 44
2. The author begins by stating that people think racism is silly and can’t understand why it is still present. He says that two reasons why there is racism are because it hasn’t been around very long and because it occurred at the same time that capitalism became the dominant economic system. The reason there are still privileges in the workforce is that social life is determined by where you fall in the workforce. During the early years of our country, other races besides the dominant “white” race settled for a low social life because of slavery and after slavery extremely low paying jobs. He said his first reason as to why there is still racism is because it hasn’t been around very long. The unfair privileges in the workforce are getting better, but are still extremely present. He then goes on to say that the top twenty percent of the richest households control fifty-six percent of all income. While at the same time the bottom twenty-five percent of the nation’s income is distributed to the bottom sixty percent of the population. He then says that it is extremely hard for a person to improve their place in the American class system. He summarizes this on page forty-five by saying, “Such dynamics of capitalism have played a key role in the trouble surrounding privilege, especially in relation to race and gender.” Johnson then says that unequal rights in the workplace began with the slavery of one million Africans so capitalists could make a gigantic profit on cheap labor. After the Civil War along with the African Americans, Chinese and Japanese immigrants were also used for cheap labor. He then says on page forty-six, “To justify such direct forms of imperialism and oppression, whites developed the idea of whiteness to define a privileged social category elevated above everyone who wasn’t included in it. He says one reason that there is a huge gap between the class levels is because when low or middle class white workers wanted better wages, the capitalists would threaten to fire them for cheaper “nonwhite” labor. This created anger among white people against people of other races rather than the wealthy who are the people who are actually to blame. He says on page forty-nine, “Class dynamics that arise from capitalism interact with that trouble [privilege] in powerful ways that both protect capitalism and class privilege and perpetuate privilege and oppression based on difference. He then writes that most people belong to a privileged class and an oppressed class at the same time. He says the only way to fix the privilege situation is to see that we can’t belong to a privileged class and an oppressed class at the same time. He summarizes this in his last sentence of the chapter in which he writes, “We won’t get rid of racism, in other words, without doing something about sexism and classism, because the system that produces the one also produces the others and connects them.
3. I think that the evidence supports his conclusion. The reason why so many minorities are still in the lower class in our country is because at the beginning of the capitalism movement they were at the bottom. Even though we may not think so in this present time, that still has a lingering effect, even though it was 150 years ago. Back then the whites were privileged far above all other races. While it is not nearly as bad now as it was back then, it definitely still has an effect. I would take a guess that a large percentage of the nation’s upper class is white. While there are people of other races that have advanced themselves to that level because of hard work, it is still monumentally difficult in this age for anyone of any race to advance to that upper class.
4. I agree with what he is saying. But I think that it is hard for anyone to advance to the upper class now. Even with a college degree, a person is still going to end up with a middle class or even lower class job most of the time. It takes a lot of luck for a person even with hard work to get to that level. But I do agree that certain people do have privileges over others in the workplace and I feel it will be like that for awhile.
2. The author begins by stating that people think racism is silly and can’t understand why it is still present. He says that two reasons why there is racism are because it hasn’t been around very long and because it occurred at the same time that capitalism became the dominant economic system. The reason there are still privileges in the workforce is that social life is determined by where you fall in the workforce. During the early years of our country, other races besides the dominant “white” race settled for a low social life because of slavery and after slavery extremely low paying jobs. He said his first reason as to why there is still racism is because it hasn’t been around very long. The unfair privileges in the workforce are getting better, but are still extremely present. He then goes on to say that the top twenty percent of the richest households control fifty-six percent of all income. While at the same time the bottom twenty-five percent of the nation’s income is distributed to the bottom sixty percent of the population. He then says that it is extremely hard for a person to improve their place in the American class system. He summarizes this on page forty-five by saying, “Such dynamics of capitalism have played a key role in the trouble surrounding privilege, especially in relation to race and gender.” Johnson then says that unequal rights in the workplace began with the slavery of one million Africans so capitalists could make a gigantic profit on cheap labor. After the Civil War along with the African Americans, Chinese and Japanese immigrants were also used for cheap labor. He then says on page forty-six, “To justify such direct forms of imperialism and oppression, whites developed the idea of whiteness to define a privileged social category elevated above everyone who wasn’t included in it. He says one reason that there is a huge gap between the class levels is because when low or middle class white workers wanted better wages, the capitalists would threaten to fire them for cheaper “nonwhite” labor. This created anger among white people against people of other races rather than the wealthy who are the people who are actually to blame. He says on page forty-nine, “Class dynamics that arise from capitalism interact with that trouble [privilege] in powerful ways that both protect capitalism and class privilege and perpetuate privilege and oppression based on difference. He then writes that most people belong to a privileged class and an oppressed class at the same time. He says the only way to fix the privilege situation is to see that we can’t belong to a privileged class and an oppressed class at the same time. He summarizes this in his last sentence of the chapter in which he writes, “We won’t get rid of racism, in other words, without doing something about sexism and classism, because the system that produces the one also produces the others and connects them.
3. I think that the evidence supports his conclusion. The reason why so many minorities are still in the lower class in our country is because at the beginning of the capitalism movement they were at the bottom. Even though we may not think so in this present time, that still has a lingering effect, even though it was 150 years ago. Back then the whites were privileged far above all other races. While it is not nearly as bad now as it was back then, it definitely still has an effect. I would take a guess that a large percentage of the nation’s upper class is white. While there are people of other races that have advanced themselves to that level because of hard work, it is still monumentally difficult in this age for anyone of any race to advance to that upper class.
4. I agree with what he is saying. But I think that it is hard for anyone to advance to the upper class now. Even with a college degree, a person is still going to end up with a middle class or even lower class job most of the time. It takes a lot of luck for a person even with hard work to get to that level. But I do agree that certain people do have privileges over others in the workplace and I feel it will be like that for awhile.
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