Indian Post

This website and th characteristics that follow along with it can connect with theiea of red eyes. Many people who look at these iages oratleast the Indian image think there is absolutely nothing wrong with it and that it is not harful to anyone. The problem is that these individuals are only seeing everything through white eyes, eyes that have always been priviledged and in no way opressed. The Indian mascot is a insult to those who have heritage connected to it and when seeing your heritage being paraded in front of a giant crowd just for laughs there is no doubt that some will be offended.

McPherson

This article written by McPherson spoke about the first real time she experienced the Dixie influence on the internet. She was aware that there was most likely some sort of underground or hidden area where people would express their opinions and beliefs about racism and white power but did not really think that it would be so easily accessible. The author speaks of the ways in which people can shed their day to day images and ways of life and truly express some of their deeper thoughts and feelings behind the many walls and shields of the internet. The author tells of the main building for this Confederate Embassy, she had lived in Washington D.C. previously and never actually knew such a building had physically existed. Surely she had gone past it at some point or time but never recognized what it was. The author tells about many of the ideas that fuel the writings of this neo-Confederate writings as a way to set their place in a technological society. But unlike many other groups these seem to be attempting to form a very real connection with people to join their largely racial ideals. The author tells about how the majority of the author or authors of these web pages are white men ranging generally from 18 to 30 who either live in the south or are from the south, predominantly in fact around Dixie. Most meetings/places/times or anything spoken about in these sites is vague most likely to help reduce any repercussions. These people often participate in southern traditions in the real world as well which is somewhat unnerving when thought about. All the misguided beliefs placed on these pages are one thing when they are just in writing, they are not actually harming anyone, but when ideas turn to actions there are always consequences, especially racial ideas.
1) Are there many racial groups against white people and have some what the same values just against whites?
2) Who was one of the first pioneers in this field of discussion forum?
I believe that there are many of these white supremacists online and that are gaining more and more support from other whites who are too scared to stand up and freely admit their beliefs. When behind a computer one can say or write anything without really having to worry if the things said are not illegal. There is no real way to track someone down just because you do not agree with or like what they are saying, which makes this a great place for under developed and well stupid ideas to develop.

Sommervile

Somerville tells on the accounts of the differences between homosexuality being an attribute of different races. The argument begins with Somerville arguing that homosexuality was something that which people were born with instead of choosing to born and that medically there was a reason. The author states that somewhat of a reasoning behind this abnormality was a “the model female born into a model males body”. There were tests being done in order to attempt to find a relation to race and homosexuality. Somerville goes on to explain that since the different races evolved differently and at different paces there is going to be a difference in the ideals. There were even some tests done to Caucasian Women and African American women to see if there is a difference in their organs because that may somehow be a cause. Because of the Caucasian organs less noticeable and accessible compared to the African organs, the whites were scientifically better and more evolved. The test was sadly able to tell some people that there were differences biologically between these races and that one must be inferior to the other. The author writes about the scientific test done to show the differences of not only races but of human sexuality.
Why is there so much emphasis on trying to find the differences between people, we know that were all inherently the same and genetically there is no real difference, why cant people just accept that?
How many people actually believe that there are genetic differences, we must believe that the majority of people are logical semi intelligent beings so why is there so much stupidity.
I can believe that there were tests being done to try and push the idea of “wrong” to the African race because many white want to push anything they think of as wrong toward a type of people they do not understand, this is strongly pointed at the black race because ever since the start of slavery white believed blacks to be less of people.

MovieChallenge

The movie attempts to make the watchers believe that it was an alright place to live. Throughout the movie were people shown playing softball, football and baseball in their free time. The people during the movie did not appear to be unhappy but on the contrary, they always seemed to be having somewhat of an enjoyable time. In the beginning of the movie it starts explaining why the Japanese citizens were relocated and about the capacities of the relocation centers. The movie continues and tells about how the majority of the relocation centers were in deserts however there were a few that were in wooded areas. Any of the open land and fields that the relocation centers were located around were turned into agricultural areas. The food produced by the people was very plentiful because of the fact that the majority of them were farmers. The food was not put out on the market but kept and fed for the people in the camps to eat. According to the movie there was school systems along with a fully legitimate curriculum that met the boards standards. There was somewhat of a political system. The movie talks about the different pay that people were receiving, a beginner received 12 an intermediate earned 14 and an expert got 19 per month. These wages may seem like horrible wages and the thought that no one could ever even survive on this amount of money, but back then the ability to live off very small amounts of money was a lot better. For one there were not as many things available in the line of luxury goods as well most things did not cost nearly as much as things do now because of inflation and the massive amount of jobs available currently.
1. Who decided where to place the camps?
2. How were all round up?
My reaction to this video was somewhat surprised. I expected everyone to be completely miserable but almost everyone was smiling and appeared to be happy. Maybe it was just the people making the best out of a bad situation. Overall with what Takaki had said that it was not how it appeared. What was shown to us was not how the camps actually were.

BakerMcBride

“Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch” written by Dwight McBride talks about the astonishing advancement of corporations throughout society. The way photos and advertisements would help in the sales of certain clothing by portraying models who wear these products was a huge leap in the marketing department. Abercrombie and Fitch started as a clothing line mainly for homosexual men. When the author went to a club some years ago he noticed that almost every gay male was wearing this certain brand of clothing that he had never heard of before. The author discusses the history of the Abercrombie and Fitch and the way it came to be known in the fashion industry. The brand has been around even before Roosevelt outfitting the modern outdoorsmen. The brand slowly moved from David T. Abercrombie’s small shop in Manhattan into the large corporate giant we are familiar with today. Originally Abercrombie and Fitch were made for the common outdoorsman like Abercrombie himself. It has transformed over the years and has become the dress of mainly white, upper class males. The authors main quarrels with the brand are not as some may have thought the fact that Abercrombie and Fitch is so loose and shameless with the morals and the way of dress. The author does not actually disagree with how the photos and modeling show off the lack of clothing but the author does have a problem with who the brand is attempting to advertise to. Over the course of its history Abercrombie and Fitch has not been geared toward any real ethnic group. The brand also does more than set a certain trend but instills values on how the purchasers should actually act. There are rules that are supposedly supposed to be adhered to when wearing the clothing. Some such rules are rules about hairstyles and the jewelry ones can wear. Up until a few years ago the author speaks about all the models and photographs depicting only white people wearing and promoting this brand. The idea that Abercrombie and Fitch is made only for the white race is a corporate ideal and has only perpetuated itself throughout its life. Even now there are hardly any people of color wearing this clothing line and as such Abercrombie is looked at as a somewhat racist clothing line.
1) Has Abercrombie always been so expensive?
2) Who is in charge now?
My reaction to this article is not of surprise. I always thought of Abercrombie as a way to distinguish people if not by race but of just social class. The price of almost all of the clothing is made so that a very small percent of the population can afford to purchase the items thereby holding onto its constant high style and attitude.

QuizKindred

Kindred, the story of oppression and disillusion of the way our society is told to be free when in reality no one really desired freedom except African Americans. The government expresses real concern and desire for everyone to be free when speaking publicly in hopes of gaining all the free support they can but in private many of the political figures are still holding the ideas that there is a genetic difference between white and blacks. These beliefs make the way our society works very racial and unjust. With the ideas that blacks were not as good as whites and that they were genetically different and should be looked down upon just because of the color of their skin our society suffered major problems which have taken a long time to attempt to eradicate. One excerpt of Kindred was in the beginning when Dana, a black woman attempted to save a young white boy having trouble while in a lake. Dana jumped in to help the boy and was greeted on shore with a shotgun in her face pointed by the boys white father. This is not very surprising especially for the time period in which it took place. The whites in this generation were still very wary of the blacks and any help that they were receiving. Blacks were still not totally equal in just about anyone’s eyes. To the majority of the population blacks still had to obey a whole different set of rules when out in public because they were still thought of as second class citizens. This excerpt from Kindred relates to the video we have been watching in class about the major turning points in oppression of African Americans. Even though Dana was legally free there were still many ideas and people who believed that she and others like her did not deserve to be treated freely. At this time there were still rules in place, not just in the form of ideas but actual laws that guaranteed that blacks were still not as free as they were thought to have been. This ideas that blacks were still objects not worthy of the freedom given to them from white people was not limited to Dana in this story but Carrie who was a friend of Dana but a slave who was thought of as being mentally handicapped. Though she did have a somewhat of a disability she was not retarded. Jake Edwards was a hire hand to manage the “workers” over a farm which Luke had managed before. Jake would do he same job except instead of being somewhat courteous he would threaten whipping. This shows that Jake still thinks of blacks as just property and that whipping, beating and hanging are acceptable alternative ideas for punishment.

BakerMovie

The movie the “Eyes on the Prize” was a discussion about many of the strong civil rights movements that were beneficial in the equal treatment of African Americans. The first story which was told was about Emmett Till. This was a 14 year old boy who traveled to Mississippi with his cousin to stay with family. Upon his arrival he was hanging around with some of the local boys and was persuaded to talk to a white woman inside a general store. As Emmett walked out of the store he said “bye baby” to the white woman and headed home. Later that day the husband and brother in law of the lady arrived at Emmett’s uncle’s house where they took Emmet with them in their car. Emmett was found a few days later floating in the river. His mother was notified and a trial went underway. After much deliberation the jury of the two men’s peers released the men on all charges, even after hearing the testimony of Emmitt’s uncle against them. A few months later the two men gave an exclusive interview for 4,000$ to a reporter describing in detail what exactly happened and how they killed him. Another story in the video was about Rosa Parks. This woman who was a strong leader in the civil rights movement refused to move to the back of the bus when white passengers arrived and she was arrested. This sparked a large boycott for the black society for using public transportation. For months African Americans refused to use any form of public transportation in hopes of forcing the government to reform its ways. Eventually the government did change the law allowing blacks to sit wherever they desire. This was a great accomplishment and a huge leap in the equal treatment of African Americans. Another story that was discussed was the 9 African American students who entered Nashville’s newly integrated school system. The mayor though saying he desired integration was allowing mobs of whites to make this integration extremely difficult. Eventually Eisenhower sent in military forces to protect these students as they make there journey through the halls every day. This helped show the nation that America was no longer supporting segregation.
1) Why were people so set in their ways?
2) Why didn’t people see through Nashville’s mayor the second he changed his mind?
It is very disturbing to know that people went through so much just to be treated equally and shameful that people are so ridiculous in their belief systems.

BakerWright

The ethics of living Jim Crow is somewhat of a biography of an African American and his life starting from a very young age. The story was about the way in which blacks were completely treated separately from whites. Even though it may sometimes seem that equality was there is becomes extremely apparent that racism is still around. The author speaks about fighting in the streets with white kids when he was younger with his friends. He ended up being hit with a milk bottle and having his head split open. When his mother came home from work he expected to have his wounds nursed and a caring shoulder to cry on, what he received was his first lesson in the new age of racism. Whites are still able to do whatever they please and blacks should just be thankful of their mercy. His mother told him he was lucky that he had not been hurt more and the white kids had spared him, they had every right to completely beat him. His mother spanked him until he couldn’t take it anymore while reciting the teachings of Jim Crow, trying to impart on him the idea that whites were still in unequaled control. The next contact with white people was a long way down the road. He had moved from Arkansas to Mississippi where “a black boy who knows no trade can get a job” (23). He received a job where his boss appeared to be happy and desired to teach him a trade. When he first started the two white men he worked with seemed to like him and treated him very well. When he tried to ask for one of the men to teach him after being there for a while he was verbally attacked. He had not realized not to ask for things but to just be grateful to just be allowed to be there. After some other incidents he had left this place of work where he had caught up on his lessons of Jim Crow just continuing his education on “equality”. Throughout his story the author continues explaining his lessons on life with different stories which helped him understand the way things really worked instead of the way things should work.
1) Why did black people not fight with the law behind them?
2) Why did his mother not teach him the way things were and the way they should be instead of just telling him whites were right?

I was not surprised after reading this article. I knew that blacks were mistreated long after they were set free even though they were not supposed to.

BakerJournal

Zinn’s chapter 9 article stated the ideas and attempts of slaves. Zinn talks about how the U.S. had such a desire for slave labor because of the production and sale of cotton. The slaves made it possible for their masters to produce more cotton than they could ever imagine with very little costs. The southern states had an enormous compilation of laws, courts, armed forces and etc. behind them to keep their control over the slaves strong. Zinn goes on to say that it would take either a full scale war or rebellion to free these slaves and change these deeply held beliefs that blacks were second class citizens at least. A large misconception back then was that slaves were happy and enjoyed there lives because of their singing and dancing at night. A former slave John Little spoke about this by saying that it was all that they could do to keep their hearts from breaking. The loud noises and celebrations were their only refuge from the painful lives they lived. Though there were many slave revolts in America, they were no where near as frequent or as large as some of the ones in the Caribbean or South America. One of the largest revolts in America was one that took place in New Orleans. This encompassed roughly 500 slaves. They first killed their masters and then proceeded to go from plantation to plantation and retrieve more help. This was ended when the military arrived and killed 66 slaves on the spot and many others were sent to trial. Most of the trials ended in death by firing squad. Revolts, wars and running away were the most probable actions masters would expect from their slaves. Running away was the most common practice and was generally much easier to accomplish than gathering a multitude of followers. It was tolled that an average of 1000 slaves ran away and escaped every year. Many would go north to Canada or south to Mexico. These countries often offered some refuge since the American government had very little power and these were not large slave using countries. Harriet Tubman was a leader of the Underground Railroad which carried slaves from the south to the north. Tubman, a slave used to say that she would either live free or die, she would never return to being a slave.
Why did the slaves not revolt in a large scale before Lincoln?
How did slaves begin a revolt?
I already knew that there were many attempts by slaves to run but did not know about all of the attempted revolutions undertaken. I don’t understand how they could not revolt for such a long time. The horror of slavery I think would be worth dyeing for instead of ever being a slave.

BakerBrodkin

“How the Jew Became White Folks” written by Brodkin discusses that when he was growing up the emphasis placed upon people by society was not really on religion and different races within one color such as Jewish whites. He goes on to explain that part of his ethnic heritage was to believe that Jews were smart and the success was due to there work epic. Even though he did agree with these traits the Jewish people portrayed he did not believe that it was all that was to receive credit for many of their success. Brodkin believed that along with the Jews desire to work hard and get a good education they were also able to consummate the removal of very strong social barriers. Euro races is thought of as the European races divided into many different inferior and superior races. This began with the huge waves of immigration from southern and eastern Europe which started in the late nineteenth century. The early beliefs were actually somewhat laughable. Women were asked to stop breeding with other than superior races in hopes of shrinking the population out. Economic crisis and medical problems were blames on the immigrants so the idea of genetic differences became more and more widespread. Brodkin discusses the fact that through the faces of adversity in Columbia his father was able to make a strong and successful man out of himself and his mother did not feel the shame of being who she was and still had a happy life. Both parents always placed an emphasis on good education and hard work to achieve somewhat equality. Up until Brodkin reached adolescents he was still seen as a Jew in everyone’s eyes. He would go to school on the Z block of his area and his neighborhoods were mainly segregated, not just by race as it is now but religion. Once he reached adolescence Brodkin Jews were thought of as white folks, no more mainstream ideas of Jewish as a lower race. After the beginning of World War 2 much of the anti Semitism values and anti European racism lost its respectability. After what was going on it was hard to be a self respecting person while still upholding the values of a genocidal nation who we as Americans were fighting against for unfair treatments. This lead to the ideal that the United States would be a land of real equal opportunity and all people would have the option of becoming middle class. After the war was the largest building of colleges this nation has ever seen. Since colleges up to this point had been seen as only a marker for upper class, with all these GI’s taking advantage of their opportunity given by the government. This transformed America’s class structure once again. Though the GI bill was meant to work fro everyone the African Americans and Women of any race were not being compensated which was still a sign of somewhat underground prejudice.
1) Why were Jews outcast originally?
2) Who decided Jews were not white?
My reaction is not surprise. I knew the Jews were treated unfairly but I thought that it was mainly in Europe and that in America Jews were just as equal as others.

BakerAnalysis2

I believe that Christopher Columbus should not be considered as a hero. Columbus made his name famous through the torment, pain and triumph of people who were not as industrialized. The fact that Columbus was the man acclaimed for finding the New World may make him important to our society but should not turn him into a hero. I will be using articles from the course such as Howard Zinn’s “A people’s History of the United States”, and Loewen’s book “Lies My Teacher Told Me”. I will be using Zinn’s ideas to explain some of the misunderstandings most of our society has about Columbus including beliefs that the Indians were treated fairly and not taken advantage of. I will be using Loewen’s book to show that many of the ideas our society is taught when young is taught through “white eyes” and that many ideas are misconstrued even in textbooks. I will use the evidence that Columbus forced many Indians into slavery to repay his debt to Europe. I will show that even though Columbus is credited with the finding of the New World even though he was not the one who first spotted it. The fact that Columbus discovered the New World is just belligerent on the very principle that it was already inhabited. The ways most schools and textbooks teach early “American” history through the eyes of white people and try to explain how what was done was ethically right is also evidence I will be using to prove my point.

BakerRosenblumTravis

In Karen Rosenblum and Toni Travis’s book “The Meaning of Difference” the authors discuss the social construction of race, gender, inequality and privileges. The fact that all of these are constructed by our values is one of the key points that the authors are trying to convey through there writing. One idea discussed is theoretical framework which is a set of basic ideas we have when trying to understand the world that surrounds us. This is a crucial part of our everyday world and how we understand it, as the building of a house needs strong resilient framing so do our ideas and beliefs. The authors also discuss what a master status is and what the five main master statuses are. A master status is the status which overpowers the others. To understand that however it is crucial to know what a status is. A status is what is cast upon a person either by nature or society such as gender or career position. These statuses can cause privilege or oppression depending on what culture is being looked at and which status a person holds is highest on the list. According to the authors the five main master statuses in social order are race, gender, sexual orientation, ability/disability, and social class. These all are what society in general looks at when determining a persons “worth” if you will. Though we may not like to think of ourselves as such insensitive creatures unfortunately these ideas are very strong and are often seen but unnoticed everyday by just about everyone. The authors also convey the ideas of essentialist versus constructionist. An essentialist believes that the world and everything in it is natural and just simply “there”. Where as a constructionist believes everything is there and requires an interpretation from everyone. Social construction is another idea talked about in this book, which is generally regarded as the rules and boundaries set in place by society to sway our actions into conformity. A few examples of things which socially construct our reality are the law, careers, religion, schools and families. The authors discuss the role in social construction plays in the study of race and ethnicity. Their idea is that the two terms are just a product of social construction because there actually is no true difference between people. Naming, the placing of people into groups by labeling them is also an issued discussed.
1. Why do people continue to believe race is biological?
2. Is there any time in history when statuses did not exist?
I believe in many of the points the authors are trying to make and I can understand what they are talking about. Though I haven't ever really thought about these statuses I can understand how they play a big deal in our lives as individuals and how we see eachother.

BakerECJohnsonCH12

In Johnson's book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" chapter 12 dealt with the issues of how many textbooks are pitted on the basis of speaking in a "white" tone. Johnson believes that many of the textbooks, especially social studies and subject of that nature are having a negative effect on not only minority children but also white children. The theory is that when dealing with history one must have some emotional response to what is being brought in, whether it is forced or not. When books are read from only one point of view which generally triggers an emotion it is often times negative. Many books Johnson talks about are written from a white point of view which when read by privileged whites is some what productive because they can relate and put a good emotion toward it. On the other hand when an African American or Native American begins to read and contemplate these readings more negative feelings come into play. These negative feelings may be having a impact on these children which is much less than desirable. When someone reads something they believe is unfair or unjust in a certain way they may tend to block it out and forget it which in turn results in a lack of knowledge. Johnson talks about a student of his who had been teaching in a school in with a large Native American population the celebration of Thanksgiving came up and one boy said that he was told not to listen to what any white man had to say because it was wrong. This shows Johnson's point that when things are told in a certain point of view they may sometimes be dismissed rather quickly. Johnson also discusses the impact of education on the idea of the Vietnamese war. With a logical idea most would think that the more educated on is the greater the desire would be on average that war would want to be avoided. This was what was expected of the census taken in January 1971. The result however confused many social scientists and scholars. Apparently the less educated people were the higher the average was that they wanted the troops to return home from the war. What is believed to be the reason now is that people in the upper third of the educational and pay range of our society is believed to support society more since they have done so well in it where as the “lower class” are more empt to resent what is supposedly good for society.
1. Why was that idea not thought about before the polling?
2. What was the point for the census, the government wasn't going to listen anyway?
I can agree with what the author is saying because when I was in school I would find it almost warming to hear that our ancestors were such great people. After learning about how whites were so domineering over other races and could be so horrible toward others I found myself appauled, these views were not coming from the "white" state of mind but looking in and emotions played a large part in my thoughts. I don't however agree with blocking out because I don't like what I hear, since I've learned how bad some whites have been I have gained curiosity.

BakerAnalysis

Columbus, a great explorer, founder of the New World and profiteer. Yes, this man did push the idea of human progress throughout the new world and urge Europe to recognize the untapped labor force; but is what he did acceptabe? Columbus is thought of as a "Hero", as taught in early school, he found the New World and made it possible for us to be here today. So with all that he has done to help our way of life should he be remembered as a greedy, genocidal, selfish man? The awnser is yes. While contributing much to society and productivity Columbus hurt countless innocent people who had no desire but to help and teach him. This man was greedy, selfish and should not be remembered as a hero, but as a murderer.

BakerLoewen

Red Eyes, a chapter from "Lies My Teacher Told Me" was an illustrated view into the wrongful ways many textbooks handed out to America's youth use to depict Native Americans. Almost all history books stated Indians as savage, barbarick, primitive and so on. This continues well into the 90's. Until recently textbooks gave little if no reference to the Native Americans culture before verbally bashing them and making them out to be unfit to walk on the same earth as the white Europeans. Now adays atleast 10 out of 12 textbooks Loewen surveyed gave atleast 5 pages to depict the ways in which Native Americans lived. In many areas Europeans pitted tribes against one another to extend their own rule. Even though the Indians were willing and able to help the Europeans in the planting, growing and cultivation of food while possesing knowledge to also help them catch food and herbal medicine. The Europeans made Indians slaves which in turn let them trade for food instead of grow it. "Instead of weaving a basket they could trade some beaver for a kettle." The Indians were widely regarded by whites to have a natural ability in the medicinal arts and ability to help cure, they have been living off the land for who knows how long and have not had any of Europes new, industrialized remedies or docters. With this in mind the Europeans would make medicines and bottle it with pictures of Indians on the cover pursuading people to buy it. Not only would medication come with the pictures of Indians but other European products would as well.
1) Why didn't Europeans just accept that leaving the Indians alone would benefit more than enslaving them.
2) Why were whites so attached to the idea of enslavement?
I was not very suprised when I read this article. I have read about the other horrible things the Europeans have done to the Indinans and this just seems to rank right along with them.

BakerJohnson6

"What it all has to do with us". This article is showing the way that taking the path of least resistance is often followed by most people. The path of least resistance is the chioce which makes one not have to fight as hard once the chioce is made. One of the examples in the text is a manager is told to fire many employees or he will be fired himself. By refusing to fire the others he would encounter much resistance, mainly from losing his job, so most likely the man will fire the other employees. This idea conforms to the idea that individualism is not as important than the group. If most people take the path of least resistance, taking out the extreme circumstances, the group as a whole will benifit, that same company which desired the man to fire his employees may have made that decision because they are aware of the companys loss of profits and if the company were to keep the employees it would have gone under, which would have forced more people out of their jobs. While there are some times that people aren't even aware of the other choices that could be made which still leads them to the path of least resistance. Sexism and racism both tie into this idea, to fit in many people will jump on the bandwagon to ridicule or humiliate just so they aren't cast out of their group. It is much easier to agree or not say anything to a joke or statement you dont really agree with than to show how you are different and be ridiculed yourself.
1) Why do most people not know how the path of least resistants is the path they choose because it is so much easier?
2) Why are white men, supposedly the highest ranked social class, many white man are discriminated in society today because of their incomes or age.
My reaction to this article is that I guess I can somewhat relate to the conforming to social classes by going with the norms and taking the path of least resistance but I dont think I ever though of it that way. Most of the time the path of leat resistance is the only that will end the same way, if everything doesn't turn out the same than not only are the paths different but results are to, which one could just argue people do things because of the results.

This article was "Drawing The Color Line", it was chapter 2. The article discussed the starting of racism. The fact that blacks were slaves did not fully disclose the idea of racism. Their were also white slaves, but the problem was that white slaves were given more pride by their owners than black slaves. The Europeans did desire to make the Indians their slaves but fortunately the Indians completely outnumbered the settlers and were much better at living off of the land the the Europeans. To attempt to enslave the Indians the Europeans would have in sued a massacre of their own people. Therefore the blacks were the obvious choice to make slaves. After the blacks were brought all the way from their homes and placed in the tight confines of the slave ships, which embodied spaces barely large enough for coffins and chaining the slaves together while forcing them to sit in slime and their own excrement for the entire journey, the slaves were psychologically and physically unable to resist. Many times the slaves would throw themselves overboard as to save themselves the ongoing torment of being captive on the ships any longer. Once the blacks arrived they were sometimes forced to walk hundreds of miles then caged to be picked from by the white masters. When the slaves were being punished the black slaves were often punished more so than the white. In some cases where the slaves would try to run away and caught the white slave got a somewhat bad punishment while the blacks were horribly mutilated and burned. This was the essence of racism, the unequal treatment of people, even slaves based on their color. The theory was that blacks were always lower than white no matter what class of citizen. Now there was slavery back in the native countries of the slaves which sometimes ended up being much more brutal than what the whites forced the slaves to do but that doesn't make it right. Since the slaves were gaining strength and knowledge they were starting to run away and gain assertiveness. Whites were getting nervous about the slaves causing an uproar and starting a revolt. The whites were not all very scared of this occurrence because the majority of blacks were still scared of their masters and the repercussions of what could happen if they were to leave which is most likely the reason that a huge overturn of government didn't happen.
1) When did slave owners start leinency toward white slaves?
2) Why didnt the slaves comprehend they were greater in numbers?
My reaction to reading this article was somewhat suprised because I never really thought of any slaves getting better treatment, I knew that blacks were treated cruely but I never really thought about how the white slaves were treated any better.

BakerCh.3

Power, Privilege and difference. This chapter was an argument on how the idea of race was created by the wealthy as a way to keep the lower class down. When an economist uses race he may use it in such a way that slavery was brought to the U.S. When the cotton gin was produced many economist capitalists brought large amounts of slaves over to increase what the could produce in a given time period. Capitalists used slaves because they made profit from the money left over after they paid for the supplies in production and then paid for their labor. Now the lower ones labor cost is the higher ones profit will be. With this kind of thinking not many people were going to give up free labor, which is why between 1800 and 1860 the slave population jumped from 1 million to 4 million. After the civil war the idea of race was also shown to the Chinese while they were forced to wok in sweatshops, and then the Japanese who were forced to work on pineapple farms.
For the whites to believe that what they were doing was right, such as stealing the "New World" from the Indians and Mexicans or to force every other race into slavery. The whites created this idea for which they were the epitome of humans and anyone else was below them. Capitalists use to use racism even to keep white people below them. If white laborers desired raises better benefits or etc. than the company would let them go and hire minority's for cheap labor. This worked in controlling the labor and their demands.
Another point in this article is to point out the privileged and not. When we think of privileged we believe of white males. The problem is that there are so many status dropping things that any status is not untouchable. For instance a white middle aged male is said to be one of the top classes but if he is known to be homosexual than his status could suffer and his manhood could be in question. A white woman may be white but she is a woman therefore shes not ranked as highly as males.
My reaction to this chapter was not total surprise. I knew that race was always used but didn't know the full extent of it. When you think of the way whites just made up a theory of ultimate existence in which no other race fell into, therefore the other races are lower and should not be granted the same rights such as land, freedom, etc.
1) Who all was made slaves?
2) Why didn't whites go to S. America for more slaves?
3) Who helped spread the theory?

BakerMoviePost

This screening was to show that different races are not inherently biologically different but are culturally different and most of the differences are perceived. The biggest differences between people are about ten times less than houseflies. A small part of the video was a group of volunteers who tested their own oral swabs and mitochondrial DNA to check and see how close each one was to the others. The volunteers were asked to guess which others they thought they were more closely related to, and to no surprise each thought they were more like the ones which had the same racial background. When the test results came out the students were surprised to figure out that the majority of there similarities and differences were not who they though they would correlate to. The movie also discussed how many Caucasian scientists back during slavery were ruthlessly attempting to figure out the biological difference between whites and blacks. The findings were that there is actually no biological trait to make someone a different race. The scientists would test everything from toe shapes in length to forehead sizes to leg lengths. The movie also talked about the supposed physical benefits from being a different race. Many people believe that blacks have a genetic disposition to be better athletes than whites along with other races and that whites are smarter. The thought was that blacks had an extra muscle or something that whites don't have which allowed them to excel at sports and that they didn't have the brain capacity that whites had. What sparked this thought was when the Olympics were held in Germany and Hitler's Arian race was put to shame when Jesse Owens dominated all of the running events. Jesse Owens was tested, retested and critiqued after his performance at the Olympics and was made to feel as a lower being when in actuality was a hard working man who was just really talented.

One question I have is why were whites so persistent at trying to find a reason about genetic differences when it just continued to be obvious there were no real differences?
Another question is why didn't the people doing the studies understand that comparing privileged whites to poor blacks couldn't work because of so many different externalites? Even back then we understood that different environments caused multiple findings.

My thoughts throughout the movie was how could the white race really be so idiotic and stubborn about the way they think. All their starting ideas were not something that they had tested but just illogical superiority complexes. It makes me sick to think that so many people are actually so stuck in their ideas that they cannot comprehend that we are all one species and no one color has an advantage over another, whether it is physically or mentally.

This article was "Drawing The Color Line", it was chapter 2. The article discussed the starting of racism. The fact that blacks were slaves did not fully disclose the idea of racism. Their were also white slaves, but the problem was that white slaves were given more pride by their owners than black slaves. The Europeans did desire to make the Indians their slaves but fortunately the Indians completely outnumbered the settlers and were much better at living off of the land the the Europeans. To attempt to enslave the Indians the Europeans would have in sued a massacre of their own people. Therefore the blacks were the obvious choice to make slaves. After the blacks were brought all the way from their homes and placed in the tight confines of the slave ships, which embodied spaces barely large enough for coffins and chaining the slaves together while forcing them to sit in slime and their own excrement for the entire journey, the slaves were psychologically and physically unable to resist. Many times the slaves would throw themselves overboard as to save themselves the ongoing torment of being captive on the ships any longer. Once the blacks arrived they were sometimes forced to walk hundreds of miles then caged to be picked from by the white masters. When the slaves were being punished the black slaves were often punished more so than the white. In some cases where the slaves would try to run away and caught the white slave got a somewhat bad punishment while the blacks were horribly mutilated and burned. This was the essence of racism, the unequal treatment of people, even slaves based on their color. The theory was that blacks were always lower than white no matter what class of citizen. Now there was slavery back in the native countries of the slaves which sometimes ended up being much more brutal than what the whites forced the slaves to do but that doesn't make it right. Since the slaves were gaining strength and knowledge they were starting to run away and gain assertiveness. Whites were getting nervous about the slaves causing an uproar and starting a revolt. The whites were not all very scared of this occurrence because the majority of blacks were still scared of their masters and the repercussions of what could happen if they were to leave which is most likely the reason that a huge overturn of government didn't happen.

People's Hisotry of U.S.

The authors thesis is that we should not fully judge what former "heroes" had done in the past, we should recognized what they accomplished in their lives. The authors main argument is that Christopher Columbus should not entirely be judged based on his horrifying mistreatment of the Arawak people but on the advancements he made over his life. On Columbus's fisrt voyage he was financed by spain to go find new land over an unknown ocean and he came accross amazingly friendly indians. Columbus wrote with much exageation how giving the the Indians were to convine Spain to continue financing. When Columbus returned home he promised Spain that he would bring back slaves and boat loads of gold for the population for his second voyage. When Columbus returned to the islands there were many slaves but no sign of fields of gold as he had promised. Columbus went from village to village with his seventeen ships and gathered slaves of all facets, men, women and children. When no gold was found Columbus returned to Spain with what was left of five hundred slaves he originally set sail with. With hardly any gold the slaves were sold relentlessly at auction and tormented. The male slaves were sent to work in mines where many of them died while the omen were left behind to work in the soil. The working conditions were horrible. Infants would starve because the mothers were so mal nourished they could not produce milk. Mothers started to drown their children once again to save the from a slow painful death. Columbus was so desperate to find gold he would send the Arawak's out every month with a certain amount of gold to find and if they found it they would receive silver to wear around their neck, if an Indian was found without this they would have their hands cut off and bleed to death, this was an impossible task. The author shows that even through all Columbus did one should also look at what he accomplished through life and what benefits mankind has made from this. He may have done wrong but according to the author the sins he commit ed should be ignored for what he has accomplished even though they were ill gotten
Why should his actions be ignored just because he found new land?
Was any real amounts of gold salvaged?
I knew that the Indians were always mistreated but was always kind of hinted that Columbus didn't have any part in the mistreatment.