The Shameful Past of America - Assignment Example

Commentary on Quotes It would seem, from reading the content of most history books or the writings of early American settlers, that America was a country founded on principle and altruism. In reality, however, just beneath the proud surface of early America there lurks the same patriarchal and racist values that today still haunt this country. The first president of the United States, George Washington, of whom schools, monuments and states are named after, was in reality a slave holder and a chauvinist. An evolving society that is coming to terms with its shameful past cannot fully align itself with a true spirit of equality for all for present and future without first fully accepting the reality of its shameful beginnings. “Someone has to say it or we are never going to get out of this rut. I am sick and tired of the founding fathers and their intents” (Kurlansky, 2006). This quote from Mark Kurlasky, found in an L.A. Times article, reiterates the notion that we as a country seem compelled to glorify the intent or mission of our founding fathers when what we should really be doing is using them as examples of how treacherous a patriarchal, class based society really is. Additionally, we should remember them for who they who in reality, slave holders and misogynists. It is true that they were involved with establishing this country from meager beginnings but at great cost to humanity. The founding fathers of America built a country through slave labor and virtual genocide of the native American people. Today, if we watched overseas, as another group of settlers invaded a country and killed it’s inhabitants, we would most likely act repulsed and challenge that country to war. Incidentally, that is exactly what we did in Desert Storm in the 1990’s when Iraq invaded the small but wealthy country of Kuwait! “Whether the revolt was right or wrong, the way the city, state and government officials conducted themselves after the revolt ended, has left a lumo in the throats of American Negroes”(McKeller, 1967). This quote pretains to a revolt which took place in a specific city known as Watts. Watts is one of many examples of a city with less than adequate public schooling, not to mention low income and poor race relations. Thanks to the standards set by our founding fathers, we still have deeply routed racial issues today in America. Had our founding fathers not sat a precedence of racism, intolerance and inequality; we might actually live in a country where individuals were able to live harmoniously with one another despite the difference in their national origin, skin color, gender and so on. “My pursuit of American character, is basically a pursuit of difference”(Deavers, 2000). This author has set out to find the origin or core of American character but has done so with the understanding that America as a whole is comprised of difference. Certainly, this is a clear understanding of what one might find if truly seeking to find the center of American character as the truth is, that this country is entirely comprised of difference in many ways. To be an American, is to be one of many variations of human beings. In fact, the title of ‘American’ truly implies that one is an individual who lives among millions of other individuals, all with unique and varying elements of origin and character. “Allegations that Columbus was a miserable governor, a poor leader, an opportunist and an unfit navigator were gathering support”(McWilliams, 1943). Returning to the ideology that America’s founding fathers left a lot to be desired as far as humanity is concerned, Christopher Columbus is no different. We will find in any history book on America, the same old tale of Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the ‘new world’, which we know as America. What we easily forget however is that Christopher Columbus found a land occupied by Native Americans. In other words, the uncharted land that Christopher Columbus takes credit for discovering some 600 years later, was not really undiscovered nor uncharted. It was land inhabited by preexisting colonies composed of many tribes of natives, who until Columbus’s alleged discovery, lived relatively peacefully among one another as well as in peaceful harmony with the earth. Prior to Columbus’s ‘discovery’ of the new world, there were no congested cities and oil crisis’s. There were no concerns about a jeopardized ozone due to human induced global warming. There were no nuclear power plants or deepening concerns about a global energy crisis and there were certainly were no impending Native American genocides or growing institutions of slavery. One may argue that Columbus cannot be blamed for the mess which his ancestors created, but he is certainly to blame for the rape and pillage of pre-owned land. The 14th Amendment, adopted in that same year, said that naturalized Americans have the same rights as the native born Americans but, in 1870, the Nationality Act specified that only ‘free whites’ and ‘African Aliens’ were allowed to apply for naturalization”(Kington, 1997). This quote from a work entitled China man is just a reminder of the foundation of this countries principles and standards. America began its existence with settlers from Europe who essentially moved in, took over and cleaned house. The native American peoples living on this land who had called it home for generations, were essentially forced out of their homes and/or murdered. Some of the early Native American tribes are extinct because of the spirit of American “naturalization”. Further more, the early settlers who allegedly held fast to biblical morals, ventured to the other side of the world to rob a country (Africa) of its citizens, only to enslave them for generations. America has the blood od Native Americans and Africans on its hands such that its origin of character is permanently blemished. “That every man might have need of other, and from hence they might be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection”(Winthrop, 1630). The reference of human kind inequality discussed here by John Winthrop, implies a need instilled by God, for human inequality such that we all might need one another. This is a hugely misguided and archaic statement by someone who now a days, would probably be at the front lines of a KKK rally. There is no way to wrap racism or racial supremacy up in pretty package in order to deliver it as something other than what it is. Winthrop discusses his ideology that God has allegedly made men to be rich and others to be poor and so on. If this was a remote possibility of being anywhere near truth, than it would seem that God is a great puppet master and we are all here for his sadistic, childish amusement. Additionally, this ideology essentially conflicts with any rational description of a greater deity because no deity capable of such behavior would be wise enough to fashion the human genome, let alone the solar system from thin air. The point here is, that Winthrop was largely misguided in his thoughts on God and humankind, not so dissimilarly from the founding fathers of this country. “Living in the borderlands means you fight hard to resist the gold elixir beckoning from the bottle”(Anzaldva, 1981). The words by this author are poetic, modern and all too reminiscent of what many Americans have felt for centuries. Anzaldva is someone who is a mixture of several ethnicities therefore finding life a constant struggle of allegiance to each facet of her various ethnicities. One might like to think that in this the 21st century, and as late as the turning of the last century, race relations were highly evolved compared to the time of slavery. Sadly, we still are those people who limited rights of certain peoples or who neglected to recognize those peoples as ‘like us’ simply because of the fact that they are different. One hundred and fifty years ago, if one was black or native American, they were considered non-white and without the rights of a white man. In fact, no one had rights equivalent to a white man, even white women. Certainly, times have changed such that women can now vote along with anyone wo is a U.S. citizen and certainly, women may divorce their husbands and so on. Sadly though, the new racism is directed at sexual orientation these days. Granted an African American can finally vote, but a homosexual cannot marry their life partner. The cycle of Winthrop’s ideology of why people are stuck in class systems or a social hierarchy is a continuum of one human oppressing another. Not because God makes it so but because humans make it so. “In such a spirit on my part and on yours, we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things”(Roosevelt, 1933). In his Inaugural address to the nation in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt openly admits a nation of difficulties but then blatantly writes them off to ‘material things’. From the beginning of the nation’s origins to this point in history and to present, the basis of American origin has been racism, capitalism, sexism and social exclusion. Roosevelt’s choice to feign blissful ignorance of these facts is just as common today in the U.S. government. We are at the finale of an 8 year republican administration which leaves the U.S. economy on the fringe of another great depression. An administration which fights for the right to life by depriving women of rights but fervently preaches the death penalty. Incidentally, the majority of individuals who have been given the death penalty are black men. For every 40 black men who are given the death penalty, one white man earns the same penalty for the same type of crime. We are a nation who preaches ‘Christian values of love and acceptance” but yet we only allow for those who fit social norms to enter into a publically acknowledged vow of marriage. We are a nation with healthcare ranked number 37 globally, right behind miniature Eastern European countries. “When I think over this rumor, I cannot adequately express the emotions which seize me. Dead letters? Does it not sound like dead men?” (Melville, 1856). Melville’s story “Bartleby the Scrivener” is a story about a man who worked at a Dead Letters Office and became unable to live life in any sense. The man became so desolate that he “preferred not to eat” and died of starvation while in jail. This can be seen as a commentary on society in general. With such inequality and distress that is so ubiquitous throughout society, there are bound to be people that are unable to mentally cope with all of the difficulties that are faced. The Dead Letters Office is also another commentary on society. So much effort goes into communication between people, but when one considers the Dead Letters Office, it is impossible to realize the degree to which messages back and forth do not reach the intended audience. The Dead Letters Office can be viewed as the futility of communication, and one cannot help but think that if all of this miscommunication did not exist, then there would not be the same degree of injustice and racial discrimination that takes place. In order for empathy to exist, people must be able to communicate their stories, and if the messages aren’t reaching the intended audiences, then the empathy cannot exist. “Our freedom of speech is freedom or death/ We got to fight the powers that be/ Lemme hear you say/ Fight the Power” (Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, 1989). These lyrics from the Public Enemy song “Fight the Power” are indicative the frustration that is felt by those that have been discriminated against for their whole lives. It is not a hopeless feeling, though, as the lyrics state that one should “Fight the power.” In the command to fight the power, there remains the possibility of changing the injustices that people face on a daily basis. This is an important attitude to keep when people are being discriminated against; it says that these people will not tolerate this sort of behavior towards them, and that they feel that they can positively affect change in their own lives. “If the laws be continually disposed and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property are held by no better tenure than the caprice of the mob, the alienation of their affections from the government is the natural consequence” (Lincoln, 1838). Lincoln was referring to the many violent acts that were taking place against black people and people who were perceived as being in league or sympathizers of black people. He is stating that this kind of violence can be the only thing that could destroy America as a nation considering that America was basically impervious to the attacks of foreign nations. He knew that the issues of the subjugation and enslavement of black people would be the one issue that could tear the country apart, which it almost did in the Civil War. “Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. / Nor do I often want to be a part of you. / But we are, that’s true! / As I learn from you,/ I guess you learn from me— / although you’re older—and white— / and somewhat more free” (Hughes, 1959). Langston Hughes is commenting on the impossibility of separating the black identity completely from the white identity and the other way around. They both inform each other as Hughes explores in his poem “Theme for English B.” Because of the way that white people have subjugated black people and have racially discriminated against them for so long, this is ingrained into the identity of what it is like to be black, but at the same time the long history is inescapable for white people as well because the country would not be in the state that it is in today without the everything that was done to black people. There is no way to consider what one identity is like without considering the other identity. On the brink of a new millennium and perhaps a new administration, our country still battles its demons of deeply rooted racism and a horribly destructive class system. For those who would argue that racism is no longer an American social epidemic, perhaps an interview with presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama could shed some light on the reality of America today. If an interview could not be procured, it is most likely that Sen. Obama’s staff has had to ensure the most secret service detail, then has been required by any other presidential candidate in American history. Then again, every other presidential candidate has been a white man. Read More