Oppression of the American Indians and Africans - Essay Example

?Oppression of the American Indians and the African Americans Thesis The American Indians and African Americans surrendered to the massacre unleashedby the Europeans in the beginning because of their innocence and suddenness of the situation. But, they started resisting through various ways very soon. But, the small unorganized tribes were no match to massive European armies well equipped with advanced weapons. The Europeans used cultural genocide as a tool to wipe out their aboriginal pride and instil humility in African Americans and the American Indians by depriving them the right to follow their own culture, language and religion in the name of civilizing them. 1. The American Indians were passive to the European attack in the beginning as they did not expect the new comers to be rivals. They believed the new people came in search of friendship and were superior to them. 2. The American Indians had ideals much different from the Europeans. They believed in sharing since they had abundance of everything. They did not see any reason to fight. They wondered why the Europeans mercilessly slaughtered the natives when there was so much available for everybody to share. Columbus rightly judged they would fall without resistance if they were attacked initially as they were very unsuspecting. 3. Once the word regarding the Spanish massacres started to spread, the American Indians started to fight against the new comers. But, they were not able to withstand the mighty armies of the Europeans and soon succumbed to them. Protests continued over centuries making the Europeans hate the Indians to the core. 4. African Americans were bought into the picture to work in the abducted Indian lands. What was kept common for all was made a particular communities properties and a new community which neither owned the land nor belonged to the nation was forcibly migrated there to work as slaves making their situation very vulnerable. The situation lasted for many centuries. 5. The African Americans accepted their plight due their vulnerable situation for the first few years. They started to voice their concerns in the form of rebellions and strikes after a few decades. 6. Cultural genocide was unleashed on the African Indians with the sole aim of eliminating their pride. Their children and land were abducted, families split and forced to live a secondary life in the name of civilizing them. Forced religious transformations were done to exterminate the Indians and make them follow only the European culture. The African Americans had great persistence through which they safeguarded their culture and spirituality. “Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts.” (Howard Zinn, 1) “The Indians, Columbus reported, "are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone...." (Howard Zinn, 5) “When a Spanish armada appeared at Vera Cruz, and a bearded white man came ashore, with strange beasts (horses), clad in iron, it was thought that he was the legendary Aztec man-god who had died three hundred years before, with the promise to return-the mysterious Quetzalcoatl. And so they welcomed him, with munificent hospitality.” (Howard Zinn, 12) “They lack all manner of commerce, neither buying nor selling, and rely exclusively on their natural environment for maintenance. They are extremely generous with their possessions and by the same token covet the possessions of then; friends and expect the same degree of liberality. ...” (As told by Las Casas)( Howard Zinn, 7) “ We are unarmed, and willing to give you what you ask, if you come in a friendly manner, and not so simple as not to know that it is much better to eat good meat, sleep comfortably, live quietly with my wives and children, laugh and be merry. “ (Howard Zinn, 14) “They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Howard Zinn, 1) “They are not completely peaceful, because they do battle from time to time with other tribes, but their casualties seem small, and they fight when they are individually moved to do so because of some grievance, not on the orders of captains or kings.” (Howard Zinn, 7) “Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses.” (Howard Zinn, 6) “The system was psychological and physical at the same time. The slaves were taught discipline, were impressed again and again with the idea of their own inferiority to "know their place," to see blackness as a sign of subordination, to be awed by the power of the master, to merge their interest with the master's, destroying their own individual needs. To accomplish this there was the discipline of hard labor, the breakup of the slave family, the lulling effects of religion” (Howard Zinn, 34) “Their helplessness made enslavement easier. The Indians were on their own land. The whites were in their own European culture. The blacks had been torn from their land and culture, forced into a situation where the heritage of language, dress, custom, family relations, was bit by bit obliterated except for the remnants that blacks could hold on to by sheer, extraordinary persistence.” (Howard Zinn, 25) “Slavery developed quickly into a regular institution, into the normal labour relation of blacks to whites in the New World. With it developed that special racial feeling-whether hatred, or contempt, or pity, or patronization-that accompanied the inferior position of blacks in America for the next 350 years-that combination of inferior status and derogatory thought we call racism.” (Howard Zinn, 23) “Still, rebellions took place-not many, but enough to create constant fear among white planters. The first large-scale revolt in the North American colonies took place in New York in 1712. “(Howard Zinn, 34) “In the 1520s and 1530s, there were slave revolts in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Santa Marta, and what is now Panama. Shortly after those rebellions, the Spanish established a special police for chasing fugitive slaves.” (Howard Zinn, 31) “It was common, for example, for servants and slaves to run away together, steal hogs together, get drunk together. It was not uncommon for them to make love together. In Bacon's Rebellion, one of the last groups to surrender was a mixed band of eighty negroes and twenty English servants.” (Howard Zinn, 36) “A stubbornness, and stoutness of mind arising from natural pride, which must, in the first place, be broken and beaten down; that so the foundation of their education being laid in humility and tractableness, other virtues may, in their time, be built thereon." (Howard Zinn, 21) “The white invaders seized land and stock, forced Indians to sign leases, heat up Indians who protested, sold alcohol to weaken resistance, killed frame which Indians needed for food.” “Far from being left to itself, religion was imbedded into every aspect and institution of American life” (Howard Zinn, 77) Conclusion The American Indians and the African Americans were forced to believe they were inferior to the other classes by in a psychological way. Though clashes between the tribes were common among the Indians and slavery was prevalent in Africa, it was not that barbaric in nature. The tribes who fought between themselves suffered minimum casualties and the slaves in Africa were usually treated as equals with several rights. The Europeans viewed upon the Indians and the African Americans only as nomads. They ceased to understand the richness and uniqueness of the indigenous culture claiming themselves to be superior. Their mass annihilation measures wiped out certain races like Arawak’s completely from history and their rich heritage along with it. The natives did strike back with all their might. But, they were not able to match the cunningness and the ruthlessness of the invaders. They put up a brave fight before they succumbed to the foreigners through mass suicides and direct defeats. References 1. Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present. Harper Perennial, New York. 2001. Read More