Introduction to African American Studies - Essay Example

Introduction to African American Studies: Two Essay Questions Devote at least two (2) typed pages, double-spaced, to each question. 2) In the movie American History X, Danny extracts the following passage from Lincoln’s speech: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” What is the significance of the cited passage in the context of the movie? In the movie American History X, the speech Danny makes at the end—in which he quotes Abraham Lincoln—is significant for several reasons. Derek and Danny were both members of Aryan white supremacy groups; Derek suffered violence at the hands of other prisoners due to his friendship with a Black inmate; and Danny was killed by a student like himself, a Black young man with whom he had had an altercation the day before. Derek had not wanted his younger brother Danny to engage in the same kind of senseless violence which characterized the very reason Derek was in prison. When two Black men vandalized Derek’s truck—the only possession left to Derek by his father, who was also a target of Black-on-white crime—Derek killed one man and severely injured the other. That notwithstanding, Derek was sentenced to be incarcerated for a period of a few years and came out of jail wanting his younger brother not to follow in his footsteps. Derek and Danny, at this stage of the movie, definitely do not consider Black people to be their friends in any respect. Nay, they are enemies—people who are to be feared and regarded in low esteem based solely on the fact that one side is white and the other Black—a most denigrating feeling perpetuated by these two brothers. In jail, Derek’s friend Lamont—who happened to be Black—became Derek’s best friend while in jail. After Derek suffered a brutal rape at the hands of prisoners, Lamont protected him from any Black inmates who wished him ill. Still recovering from the attack later on, Derek realizes that he must leave the Aryan Brotherhood and convince his brother Danny to leave the white supremacy group he had joined. Indeed, in jail, Derek has come to know true friendship with one person who is Black—which definitely changes his mind about how he sees people. This helps Derek realize that it is not the color of one’s skin, but the content of one’s character, that makes a person what he or she is. Once he realizes this, he fears it may be all but too little too late for his dear brother Danny, who takes a similar road he did. The question is,will Derek be able to save his brother the same or similar fate he experienced? Derek now realizes that, since his prior thinking was wrong, he must do something to set things aright now that he is getting paroled from prison. Meanwhile, Danny takes a personalized, private history course—an idea of Dr. Sweeney’s after Danny does a paper on Hitler’s Mein Kampf as an apologetical work—“American History X” being the name of the class, which is supposed to be a substitute for the other history class in which he was doing very poorly. Unfortunately, just as Derek himself did, Danny found himself in a confrontation with a young Black man over a prior argument or beef. This young man proves to be Danny’s enemy—and his realization of his morally reprehensible, wrong, racist attitudes of the past are ones which he no longer agrees with—unfortunately, too late. The idea that both Blacks and whites should be friends, not enemies, is the point that Lincoln the abolitionist, our 16th President, was trying to drive home. Lincoln’s ideology flew in the face of the white supremacy that devoured Derek and Danny’s lives; Lincoln saw the potential for friendships containing individuals of both races; and Lincoln knew the destructive ends of hate, which no one should hopefully have to experience in one’s lifetime. 5) In the essay, “Toward a Theory of Popular Health Practices in the Black Community,” in Africana Studies (AS) p. 112-123, it was pointed out how many African Americans engaged in an alternative form of healing and preventive medicinal practices. Consider how some of these approaches might be useful in addressing certain healthcare reform measures with which the Obama Administration is now struggling. There are various types of alternative healing, preventive medicinal practices, and faith-based/religious practices used in health care that are prevalent in the Black community—which all might be helpful in the health care overhaul which was President Barack Obama’s brainchild. Alternative healing is not necessarily just putting a poultice on a wound anymore. Alternative healing centers would be great additions to Obama’s health care plan. Within the African American community, centuries of oppression have trained people in the Black community to be able to deal with various types of ailments—everything from home remedies for indigestion to keeping one from losing one’s hair. Speaking of which, preventative medicine is also a large part of the body of knowledge about healing in the Black community. Much of these strategies harkened back to the days of slavery, when the necessity to work a long, hard day out in the cotton fields every day would be precipitated by secrets of the slaves in order to lessen some of the pains of plantation life. These preventative medicinal practices could be utilized in a task force to help do outreach to the Black community in regard to the health care plan. Many faith-based practices could also be integrated into the national health care plan. “The Serpent and The Rainbow” is a famous book which ethnobotanist Wade Davis documents Haiti’s vodoun (commonly known as Voodoo) practices in Haiti, which is “…a land where things are not what they seem.”1 Due to the toxicity of the pufferfish, people have indeed been zombified. In Haiti, where there are still witch doctors called houngan, native practices that have been going on for years continue there today. The houngan priests use Voodoo dolls and a variety of other practices in order to carry out their magic spells. A lot of practitioners of Voodoo have mojo bags, and their various spells include rituals with fire and animal sacrifice. Similarly, Santeria is another religion which focuses on sacrifices—which are sometimes needed—as well as sacrifices of nuts, honey, and other favorite foods of the gods in Santeria, which are called orishas. “Santeria…is an indigenous form of Yoruba religion that has absorbed aspects of Roman Catholicism while maintaining Yoruba traditions...The slave trade brought [several Africans] to…the New World, [where] much of the religion was hidden behind a façade of Catholicism.”2 Santeria definitely became more popular and then spread from Africa to the Caribbean. “An increased interest in Santeria developed because of the numbers of Black Cuban soldiers returning from Angola and because of the 1985 publication of Castros bestseller Fidel and Religion.”3 Each practitioner of Santeria has a particular orisha that is designated as that person’s godhead. There are beads which must be worn by the novitiate until him or her takes his or her “seat,” which is called tomando asiento, literally, “taking a seat.” It is kind of like being inducted formally in the ceremony to become a santero. Similar religions, like Regla de Ocha, Regla de Palo, Lucumi, and Candomblé (the Brazilian variant of Santeria)—all have African roots which many people still continue to practice today. Alternative healing, preventative medicinal, and faith-based practices could all be integrally included in the national health care referendum in order to reach out to the Black community—as well as potentially other communities as well which would be open to their availability. WORKS CITED Barbera, Donald R. Black and Not Baptist: Nonbelief and Freethought in the Black Community. U.S.: iUniverse, 2003. Davis, Wade. The Serpent and The Rainbow. U.S.: Simon and Schuster, 1997. De La Torre, Miguel A. Santeria: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America. U.S.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. Read More