“Wild Woman”

{ February 13, 2007 @ 4:16 pm } · { Film Diary }
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Sarah Baartman was a young African woman that was taken into hostage at the age of 25. Although it has been said that she went willingly, she has described herself as a “very unhappy Sarah, who does not deserve her fate.” Baartman was known as a “Hottentot Venus,” due to her large buttocks, hips and genitalia. It was for this reason that she was transported to
London, England and put on display at the local circus. She was told to stand, sit and walk around. All the while, spectators would walk by and poke at her to see if her butt and hips were really that big and to make sure they were real.

            From London, England, Baartman was then transferred to
Paris, France, where she was put in display once again. They would make her perform various tribal danced and bang drums and sing. She was encouraged to do so by sweets and such. These performances were displayed to prove that she was a “wild woman,” something unlike that of European women. It was here in
France, that her care takers became more interested in the science, the make up of her body, rather than for entertainment purposes and values. She was forced to be scientifically observed, where they measured the sizes of her buttocks, hips and genitalia. The scientists then compared her with animals such as the monkey, the chimpanzee, and the orangatang.

            At age 28, Sarah Baartman died of what was thought to be small pox, mixed with alcohol poisoning. Her body was then dissected and observed in a well known French museum and it was not until the year 2002, when her body was returned back to her home land in
South Africa.

            After listening and reading Sarah Baartman’s story, one has to ask the question about rights as a human being… Baartman was black and a woman, making her a severe minority in the eyes of those who captured her. But even if she was considered a minority, does she not have the right to be treated like a “normal human being” instead of some object or wild animal that needs to be tamed and studied? In the era that Baartman was captured, scientists were highly interested in the sex organs of females. The Hottentot Venus’ sex organs were not like anything they had ever seen before. This stroke an interest and a felt need to observe her genitalia. But where should the line be drawn of scientific reasoning, and violation of human rights?

Affirmative Action

{ February 13, 2007 @ 4:57 am } · { Reading/ In Class Response }
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            Throughout history, the government has struggled with the argument of affirmative action and race. What do we base the regulations of affirmative action on? Do we base it on race, class, or need? Who are we to decide who should receive help over another person? It has to be done unfortunately and not everyone can be helped, however what do people base their decisions on? This is a difficult question that is touched in the article, “How Jews Became White,” by Karen Sacks.

            While the US was in World War II the economy was not the best, however afterwards the
US “emerged with the strongest economy in the world” (Sacks 123). In order to reward those male, Euro- origin veterans that served under the
United States the government the GI Bill of Rights. This act was known as “the most massive affirmative action program in
U.S. history” (Sacks 123) and strived to proved the veterans with a way of living that mirrored the economy. Not only did the government provide the veterans with financial aid through the transition from serving to working, but they also sent many of the younger vets to college to get an education. This action helped to raise the middle class population that had college degrees. Before college was for wealthy white families, the GI Bill opened college to the middle class and/or lower.  

            I believe that it is unfair to base affirmative action strictly on race. Although whites have been receiving assistance since the government was first created, that should not stop the government for assisting other whites who need the help, or vice versa. The GI Bill had good intensions in trying to help out the war veterans; however it discriminated against any person of color. It was only open to white veterans, and mostly from the Euro- origin. Many people today are still benefiting from the GI Bill, and taking full advantage of a free college education.

            To touch back on the original question of race versus class, I believe that class and financial need should have been considered for the GI Bill. What’s done is done, however we now know to learn from our mistakes. We should not assign help to a family or person that is fairly well off when we have much poverty in the world.

 

Lastly the article talked about how when people first started to immigrate to
North America, we were all a “different race.” There were Germans, Irish, Swedes, English, ETC. They were not all considered white at the time, and they all had one nationality that they claimed to be associated with. However as the
United States developed nationalities started to mix and people started to refer to themselves as half Irish and half German ( as an example). Nationalities started to become more subtle, and people started to refer to themselves as Americans and disregard their heritage.  This, for example, is how the “Jews became White.”

           

Racial Etiquette

{ February 6, 2007 @ 2:08 am } · { Reading/ In Class Response }
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As a small child I grew up learning racial etiquette through my schooling and peers. Some came from my parents, however my parents have some racial tendencies. One day I came home from school and mindlessly mentioned to my mother that I had an African American boyfriend. Immediately I realized my “mistake” as she jumped on my explaining the “biological reasons” that I should not engage myself in an interracial relationship. She told me that when “interracial relationships” decide to have children there are precautionary actions that need to be taken. She continued with how much discrimination that the child would receive because it was biracial.  And being as she is a registered nurse, I just assumed she knew what she was talking about.

My mother is an example of a person who tries to justify their racism with science. As Barbara Rothman stated in her book, The Book of Life, “Part of the extraordinary power of racism, as with all ideologies, is its ability to incorporate any variety of facts and make them fit the belief.” (pg 57).  Personally this makes me really mad, to justify not liking a person because they look different from yourself. Not to get extreme valley girl on you, but so NOT COOL! Even though I grew up in a southern family, that has some narrow minded view on people of different races, I do not consider myself a racist person, I have friends that are of a different race, and I do not think lesser of them.

Lastly I believe that these people who justify themselves will continue to do so. When someone tries to point them out, and tell them they are in the wrong, they just bring up more facts. And since they are “scientific facts” they cannot be argued. Personally I think the nation as a whole should try and move away from testing difference in race. When you separate people is studies because of race, it makes people feel offended.

I totally Food Service Filmed Someones Car!!!

{ February 1, 2007 @ 9:50 pm } · { Just for Fun }
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| View Show | Create Your Own

Click View Show!!!!!

Civilized Americans

{ February 1, 2007 @ 4:20 pm } · { Film Diary }
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How is it that whenever the American/English Culture meets peoples of a different race we think of them as the lesser person? It has happened throughout history with the Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, and more recently the Hispanics. We consider these people “uncultured savages” that we need to civilize into our ways of living. We try and provide them with education, which includes a new language and a new way of viewing life. Not only do we provide them with the “right education” but also with a new fashion, and new ways of performing everyday tasks. But how is it being the better person removing them from their familiar land, family, and ways, and forcing them to be slaves and/ or workers.

            However, I believe that we were the lesser persons. We were the ones that denied their backgrounds and ways of life. So who are we to say that we are cultured or civilized? The Native Americans were intrigued by their encounter with the English, and they accepted our ways of living. Except when those ways included taking their land, children, and wives away from them. The same goes for the other races; we violated their rights, in today’s standards, as a human being. Back then we didn’t consider them human per say.

            I just believe that we should not be learning or believing that they were the ones that were uncultured or civilized, it was the English people that were, for not accepting their ways of living.

 

As a continuation of the theme stated above, once
America became “the great melting pot,” these sort of obligations as the “biologically inferior” turned mainly towards the African Americans. In response to the movie, Ms Evers Boys, who does the government think they are by feeling the need to “study blacks.” Where is it documented that the government did the same sort of study on the white population? Did they allow the whites to continue to develop a deadly disease that would eventually lead them to excruciating pain and eventually death? Lastly, did the government even intend on treating the people after their study had been completed?

            These questions I believe were to controversial for the movie to try and answer, it just laid out the facts of the situation. I believe that in the time that the
Tuskegee incident happened, the American government would not have allowed such cruel things to be done to whites. So how come it was ok for the blacks to undergo the pain and suffering but not white people? And they justified themselves as trying to compare the disease’s progress between the two races, but where was the information that had been collected from the white groups?

            This is an extreme opinion but I believe that the
Tuskegee experiment was just an excuse for white government officials who were still angry about the Civil Rights movement to try and “get back” at the black population.

 

 

Ohio State Schools

{ January 30, 2007 @ 3:09 am } · { Film Diary }
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       “A bunch of flowers growing in garbage cans…” This is the phrase an elementary school teacher used to describe her students. The school is located with in an urban area in the state of
Ohio. The schools condition is far passed unacceptable for a learning environment. The elementary school that is teaching our nation’s future had hot wires hanging from the ceiling, leaky pipes everywhere, unsuitable restroom facilities, unsuitable eating facilities, and unsuitable heating equipment. When a kindergarten class has to walk a block to use the restroom, it is unacceptable! In
Ohio, the building and safety codes for businesses and houses are different from the codes that deem a school safe. This means that people in the state work in better conditions then the schools they send their children off to learn in. Thus the codes for the schools are said to be unacceptable for any other citizen to live or work in.

            The urban schools however are in a rut when it comes to fundraising for a better learning environment. A schools funding comes from local property taxes and other miscellaneous local taxes. However when there is high unemployment rates and low property values, then taxes cannot be raised in order to provide money for educational use. It is not like the surrounding areas do not care that their children attend a school where there is puddles on the floor after every rain, they just do not have the finances to better the school.

            How do we fix this problem that connects wealth with the quality of education? The whole state of
Ohio should be concerned about their urban schools, not just the surrounding region. A school tax should possibly be placed on the citizens of that state to help better their schools. Once taxes are collected they can be evenly distributed or distributed based on need. However, how does one decide which schools need the money more than others? I believe safety is the number one issue; schools that have wires hanging from the ceiling and that still use coal as a heat source have more safety needs than a school that needs more technological advances. This money that is distributed to each school will be added to the money contributed by the community towards its own schools in its area.  This allows for schools in wealthier communities to still reap the benefits from living in an area of money.

            The solution to help these schools in need is not easy to provide. However, the students, teachers, families, and citizens of the state all agree that something needs to be done in their benefit. When someone will stand up and take action in order to raise money for these schools, no one knows. Lastly I would like to point out that this movie is dated, so the information that I have provided may stand incorrect or proven wrong in the present compared to when the movie was originally made.

Racial Privileges and Racial Wealth Divides

{ January 29, 2007 @ 12:53 am } · { Reading/ In Class Response }
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In the Declaration of Independence it was stated, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Within this sentence there is a phrase that to this day has yet to be portrayed within American society. The truth is people may be created equal but they may not be considered as equals. In a society that is predominately white, whites seem to receive more and better advantages than people who are considered to be minorities. These advantages that whites receive are due to something called white privilege.

According to Robert Jensen who wrote the article, “White Privilege Shapes the
U.S.,” “…the ultimate white privilege: [is the] privilege to acknowledge you have unearned privilege but ignore what it means. (pg 79 Privilege: A Reader)”  Jensen makes a point through this statement, some whites realize that they have advantages over other races, however they choose ignore it due to the fact we are said to be in an equal society. However, most whites think they receive their advantages through building themselves up through hard work. They do not realize the benefits their relatives have received and had passed them down through the generations. The fact that these advantages still exist in the twenty first century proves that there is still forms racism alive today.

When writing on such an emotional and political issue, I believe that one should recognize both sides of the issue. In American society when we hear the word racism, we mostly hear of whites discriminating minorities. Also, its not minorities that have the privileges, its strictly whites. However, I beg to differ. There is such a thing known as minority privileges. For example, the government has placed multiple racial status quos that corporations and universities, and other miscellaneous public places must meet in order to stay in business. This allows for minorities to get somewhat of an advantage over a white person. Not only is it shown through job opportunities and university acceptances, but also in financial aid recipients.   

I spent the majority of my senior year of high school applying for as many scholarships that I could find. However the amount of scholarships that are open to minorities only seem to outnumber the amount open to anyone. The reasoning for this however is understandable, minority wealth and finances seem to be substantially smaller than those of whites. As stated in the article, “Overview: The Roots of the Racial Wealth Divide,” written by Lui, “The racial wealth gap has continued to grow. From 1995 to 2001, according to the Federal Bank Reserve, the average family of color saw their net worth fall 7 percent, to $17,000 in just six years, while an average white family’s net worth grew 37 percent, to $120,900, in the same period. (pg 2)”

Lastly, I would like to point out I am on neither side of the argument, I just thought it would be thoughtful to show that there is such a thing as minority privilege, thought it’s not as prominent.  

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