Takaki chp. 6

Once again, this chapter, going along with all his other chapters, is an informational chapter. Takaki uses chapter six to focus on the Irish immigrants, and their immigration to the Americas. While doing this, Takaki talks about the reason for their comming over and how they were treated once they were here.

To open the chapter Takaki tries to clear up the false general idea that most Irish came to America because they had to. Takaki states that this is incorrect, because it was actually a matter of want versus need. They felt the need to escape the English, and the English’s will to take over the land. The English began to force the Irish into poverty, thus creating a strong will to escape to a place with more opportunities (America). Takaki gives a crude figure on PG 143, that about 1,000,000 Irish died because of them being forced into poverty and making them starve and become easily exposed to disease. On top of the English taking their land, they also had to deal with a famine where their key crop (potatoes) was ruined. The Irish were able to be more successful Americas, one reason being that there were many job opportunities here. Railways were in need of workers and many other ways of transportation were in need of improvement. Even though the opportunities were plentiful, the treatment wasn’t what they had expected. They were treated poorly and were seen only by their stereotype. This being that they were lazy, drunk bums who were no better than blacks. Even though many saw them as equal to blacks, they became racist against the blacks as well. Takaki finishes up the chapter by telling us about the women and their work in America. Most women became maids or housekeepers, and did the best they could to get their children educated so that they would never have to go through what they had. The Irish were treated badly when they immigrated over here by the English, but yet were more quickly able to blend into the American society because they were a white group of people who were brought up Christian. The American society saw this as acceptable and what was wanted to help the country grow. Takaki explained all of this and was able to once again emphasize the privilege of being part of a white, Christian group.

Is there any remaining evidence of this treatment of the Irish still today? I don’t believe that there is really much evidence of this in today’s society. The only evidence that I am aware of is the stereotypes that were given to them. Irish are still seen by some as lazy drunks who would rather be out drinking than working to help their families. Many Irish men were seen as selfish, and were said to spend their little money they earned on “booze”. Just as in many other cases, the stereotype of a group of people has tended to stick throughout our society.

I have to admit that what I read was kind of an already known thing. I’m not sure if anyone is familiar with the book “Angela’s Ashes”, but it is an amazing book that I read in high school about an Irish family. Much of what Takaki talked about was described in this book, and was previously learned information. I personally wish that people could start looking past stereotypes and learn about the person as an individual. People aren’t all the same, so lets make an effort to "see the problem, and talk about what we can do to fix it"(Johnson).

Johnson Chapter 3

The white male is recognized as the highest paid group of all. “Capitalism” Johnson explains in chapter three is a big part of privilege in our society today. The example above is proof that Johnson shows, stating that it is a big deal in gender and race.

Johnson opens this chapter with an interesting fact that had the potential of catching every ones eye. He lets the reader know that white racism didn’t show up in society until the idea of capitalism came about. Many don’t understand what capitalism is, so Johnson explained and defined capitalism to the reader. Pretty much, in Johnson’s explanation, in capitalism money is used only to turn and make more money. Knowing this, he then makes the reader aware of how unfair capitalism is. Some may end up with a lot of money, while there is a large portion that ends up with almost none and struggling to survive on what they have. Cheap labor was a big influence in all of this. Johnson informs us about cheap labor of the Chinese on the western railroad systems. He explains how unfairly paid and worked these people were, and how the whites justified what they did. The whites used their whiteness, as superiority over other groups. Johnson explains to the reader how capitalism and privilege can be so confusing to many. Many people may be able to be in good standing socially because of the amount of money they make, yet because of the certain group they are associated with, this good standing may be thrown right out the window. Race, sexual orientation, gender, and class are all connected in that they can all determine your ability to feel privileged in today’s society.

Why can what group you belong to determine how privileged you are in society still today? I think that there is no legitimate answer to this. I believe that no matter what group you belong to, you still work just as hard as any other, or at least have the ability to work to get where you are. As we discussed in class, any person, no matter what gender, race, sexual orientation, or disability status, can be able to work just as hard as any other and accomplish just as much as any other. The answer many may give is all going to boil back down to history and privilege in history. Maybe its time to reconsider what we have thought in the past?!

I personally found this chapter to be once again, previously obtained information. I had learned in high school, about how different groups earned different amount of money than others. I don’t think that its right that people are able to do that to one another, but its part of our history. I wish it could all change and everyone could be seen as the same equality, but like many say “history just repeats itself”, and as of so far, that’s what has been proven to me throughout my life.

Johnson Chapter 6

In many cases, people do no know that they are part of a problem, but they really are. This is Johnson’s main theme in chapter six. He believes that in order for anything to change or become solved, people must begin to realize that they are part of the problem. This problem of which we are seeking the solution is the problem of privilege and oppression.

To solve any problem, first somebody must bring it up. Now that the problem is recognized, people need to begin to talk about it and not shy away from it. Johnson thinks that we, a society as a whole, tend to do not so much of the talking about it, but more of the pushing it away because it’s a touchy subject and we are afraid to create an awkward situation. “Its not my problem”. This is a phrase heard a lot in today’s society. People have begun to think of themselves and how it affects them, and not the people around them. People begin to blame others before even considering how they may have been involved. Most everyone is part of the problem in some way, and they don’t even know it. We do what is “acceptable” based on what our society accepts and not what is right. But we never even know that it is what we are doing because its what everyone else is doing. But at one point or another, we are going to slip up and do something that is not “acceptable”, and that will be the point where most of us realize. We tend to act differently in different situations. Johnson states that depending on whom we are around, we tend to find different things acceptable and not harmful. But what we are doing in many cases, is doing exactly what is opposite of acceptable in any other situation. Many of us also realize this when, once again, we slip up and those other people around you also realize that what you have said or done just isn’t right. For example, “black jokes” around your friends and others, may seem perfectly harmless and comical. But put in a room with strangers who just may happen to be black, and that joke slips out, there may be not as many laughs but more hurt feelings. And though it was not meant in any disrespect or any harmful manor, you may have just brought up that big problem. Johnson finished this chapter by explaining to the reader that we need to stop holding it all in and being silent about it. We need to acknowledge it and talk about how we can fix this problem of privilege and oppression.

Why haven’t we fixed this problem yet? I think that the answer to this is because people are still scared. Scared of a few things. Some are afraid to talk about it because they don’t want to hurt others and their feelings. But still others are only afraid to hurt themselves. Many of these people are happy with where they stand with their privileges and don’t want to change that, thus hinting on the individualism idea again. And finally, there are still those who just don’t know. People are going along in life not seeing themselves as causing any harm to anyone, and they just see no problems.

I personally had never thought about this before I read this to be honest. I was one of those people who have been going on through life seeing myself as causing no harm to anyone. Now that this has been brought about to my attention, I have no worries talking about it to everyone, even my family, making them understand just what I do now. Though it is in many cases unintentional, people are getting hurt every day because of this and I wish everyone could realize it as I do now.

Zinn Chapter 2

In chapter two of Zinn, “Drawing the Color Line,” he tries to explain to the reader how and why exactly racism began in the United States. He says that racism wasn’t something that came naturally, yet a choice made by a group of people. One idea Zinn seemed to express was that racism wasn’t around until slavery, and that before then it didn’t really exist.

Zinn, being a very opinionated man, started the chapter with his opinion that the U.S has made racism more of a problem than any other country has. In the attempt to show how racism started, Zinn points his finger to slavery. English settlers, were lazy, and decided that they could have somebody do the hard labor for them rather than them do it themselves. To do this, they tried to enslave those who were readily available, the Native Americans, and they ended up being too hard to control. The Native Americans knew the area much better than the settlers and were able to escape into the wilderness never to be found again. Because of this, they then turned to the alternative. They began to enslave the Africans, whom were seen as hard workers, and strong. The English saw this as a possible better alternative, because the Africans had no knowledge of the land and therefore were less able to escape and hide. Also now that they were in America, they had to adjust to new “culture” and learn a new language to survive. This is something that they could not do by themselves, thus they had to depend on the English to survive.
Slavery in Africa, according to Zinn, was much different than that in the Americas. In Africa, the slaves were treated merely as “surfs”. Still seen as people and beings with rights, the slavery was not nearly as cruel. Where, in America, the slaves were seen as a lesser people who had lesser rights than the whites who were also enslaved. These blacks were given harsher punishments and were shown almost no respect at all. As uprisings of blacks against their treatments began, some of the whites began to get involved as well. As this was seen as a threat to the whites, the state of Virginia passes laws that gave rights to whites that were not given to blacks. Thus making the even the poor whites feel more superior to the black men. In conclusion, Zinn listed a few things that he believed were the keys to racism in the Americas. Things such as: superior status of even the poor whites over the black men, the unfair treatments and punishments given to black men, and never to forget the money and will for the planters and slave owners to earn money at all costs.

How do these key ideas that Zinn named relate to why it may still be around today? I think that the ideas only fit in some people. Only people who are still agreeing with the ideas let them stay around. But to controdict myself, it may be around in everyone in the will to make money. Money has always been a large part of our country, and many may still do anything just to make a little money. Maybe no longer in the idea of selling slaves and making people work for free, but in the idea that many may be paid less than fair, just for someone “superior” to make a little money.

Most of what Zinn had spoken of in this chapter had been previously obtained information. His information was presented maybe a little more clearly, or maybe even a little more biased than what I had known before, but was still made known to the reader. I’ve known that these things had occurred in our history, but it still bothers me to think that people were treated so unfairly, and cruel to the point that the effects of it are still around today.