BY I.V.
Racism
is defined as the belief or
doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups
determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that
one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a
particular racial group is inferior to the others. Growing up I wasn’t exposed
to racism until I came to the United States at the age of 4 or maybe I just
wasn’t aware of it. Kids would divide themselves according to their skin color
instead of playing with each other and I was so shocked because I would not
know what to do about that. Racism is a word that has long been rooted
in history, which includes many Latino and black communities. From the time of
slavery, people of color have always been treated as lesser individuals then
the white man. Even after the emancipation proclamation and the annexation of
the amendments issued by Lincoln, black people were mistreated just like all
other minorities.
The
Black Panther also so known as the Black Panther party was an African American
revolutionary group that original purpose was to patrol African American
neighborhoods and protect residents from police brutality. The Black Panther
came to light right after the assassination of the late Malcolm X. Similar to
the struggle black people endured for equality and equal rights, a movement
among the Puerto Ricans began in the United States in the late 1900’s. In wake
of their struggle as well the Puerto Ricans also founded their own revolutionary
group, called the Young lords that sought to end the means of unfair treatment
of the Puerto Rican people by the oppressors. Just like the Black Panther group
the Young lord group implemented their own methods of dealing with the
oppressors and even had a list called the “13 point program”. Stated in the “13
point program”, “We want liberation for all third world people-No Puerto Rican
is free until all people are free!. We are revolutionary nationalist and oppose
racism-Power to all oppressed people (Young Lord Party).
When people are backed into a corner I believe
that the only option there is to fight back. The Black Panther group would walk
around carrying guns at times in order to show the police that they were not
going to take it anymore. In the movie, “El Pueblo Se Levanta” the Young lords
went and occupied a church and threw the trash that the sanitation department
would not pick up in the streets to cause a roadblock. The two sides have
suffered greatly at the hand of their oppressors but have rounded up as a
community and fought back.
References:
Duncan, Garrett
Albert. “Black Panther Party.” Encyclopedia
Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
“13 Point Program
and Platform of the Young Lords Party.” 13
Point Program and Platform of the Young Lords Party. Young Lord Party, n.d.
Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
I find it interesting that you hadn't experienced the type of division that racism creates until you came to the United States. My parents are immigrants from Nigeria, a place where the majority of its citizen are Nigerian-born. Despite most of the population having the same ethnic background and skin color, Nigerians have found methods to display superiority over their fellow man, whether it be through economic class or the area of the country in which they were born. Being born into a particular "tribe", which is dependent on one's geographic location, equips some individuals with a sense of entitlement and supremacy. My point being, even in countries where race relations aren't an issue, like Nigeria or potentially your home country, people will still find ways to divide themselves and discriminate. Unfortunately, I believe it is apart of human nature.
ReplyDeleteI can relate with you on how you feel like you didn't experience/become aware of racism until you came to America. For some reason even though this country is made up of the idea of different coming together AS ONE, race is still a big issue in this country in 2016. Maybe it is because it is just human nature to prevail whether it be in something we do or other living beings .
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about sometimes the only thing left to do is fight back, when you're backed into a corner, and unfortunately, many people have had to experience this. Racism is still a very real and horrible thing that takes place today, that many people try to ignore and act like it does not exist. Police brutality is out of control at this point and I do not see much improvement. It saddens me that people of color cannot feel safe when they see a cop anymore, they feel scared. How do you think we can fix this? How do you think we can better prevent racism?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately due to event that occurred in the past our society is institutionally taught these forms of racism. We not say that it exist in society today but that fact that we try and hide it does not solve the problem. We know that discrimination still occurs today. And there people who stereotype other just baed on their skin color.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately racism is institutionally embedded in our system. I do agree with you that sometimes people are forced to fight back. When a large group of people have been oppressed for to long, sometimes the only way people will listen to them is when they fight back. I always thought it was ironic as to how sometimes in order for change to come, violence must occur first. I think we are living in a very interesting time in history currently. We are witnessing a lot of change and protests. It'll be interesting to see what occurs in the neat future considering all the racial tension that has become clear in the past year or so.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that in the U.S. states there is definitely a huge emphasis on race. I was born and partially raised in the Dominican Republic where there’s a lot of diversity in terms of people’s physical appearance and being dark skinned and having kinky/curly hair isn’t strange, although that does not mean the way people think isn’t predominantly Eurocentric. However, at the time I was young and did not make sense of this. The confusion came when I moved to the United States where everything seems to be boxed in and one cannot be two things at once.
ReplyDelete