It can be argued that Catholic and Irish immigrants were treated just as harsh as African Americans in the 17th century. The cultural behind America was if you were white then you were alright, but that changed when white immigrants traveled into America and had different religious choices. Most Irish and German immigrants were referred to as “the whore of Babylon” by many Protestants that were already there. Scientist believed that the Irish were descendants of African Americans and were “low class” or “stone-age savages”. Even though they shared the same complexion, even that was not enough to be considered white. Similar to African Americans, they suffered through stereotypes and often referred to as apes and other inappropriate dehumanizing figures in political cartoons. They were also forced to live in the slums and were denied housing. Bottom line, if we are comparing and questing if the Irish had it harder or the same struggle as African Americans, the answer is no. No other race has had consistent embarrassment and oppression than the black race. Back then, immigrants knew that in order to be successful in American they needed to identify themselves as a white American. It was way easier to be considered white when all they had to do was change their last name. African Americans on the other hand didn’t have a simple way. We could not try to blend in, we were denied housing and jobs longer than the Irish and they were still able to sustain their own neighborhoods to provide food for there families. African Americans did not get that choice, we still to this day in Chicago do not have a ‘black town” ( Chicago has several known ethnic neighborhoods; Jewtown, Chinatown, greektown, little Italy,etc) Black people in Chicago do not have our own neighborhood because we had to work for other people because the government would not allow us land. The struggle of African American will never compare to another’s struggle. We continue to suffer from polices that were put in place in the 17th century, others are more fortunate.
I hate LABELS
Living in 2019 humans have more ways to describe yourself rather than 50 years ago you were labeled what people called you. Humans started to categorize themselves as a way to create statuses and hierarchy. Also, as humanity grown along years humans ran into other humans who did not quite look like them. This led to studying and trying to understand the curiosity. We cant get to mad at that right? I mean we needed to start some where, and I am pretty sure if an unknown species came out of the sky we would want to find out what “It” is ow how to categorize them. But why? Why do humans feel the need to figure out abnormality. Just because we see someone who doesn’t look like us why cant we just let them be? Well other than the Census that calculates how many number of state representatives we receives and to better understand our population as a whole. But why do I need to check a box? or is it even a problem? if you know yourself it shouldn’t be a problem to say what you are. America just needs to expand the choices. I know that yes I am a female, yes I am African American/black so it does not really bother me to check those boxes. Humans use simple labels like, white,black, brown, or Hispanic because visually that is how humans appear to other humans, and it is the most simple yet non-offending adjective someone can describe. I don’t think it is harmful to use simple labels when you are speaking in general. For example, If a see a green person down the street, who has green pigmentation then that is a description I would use to describe him. Vice- Versa for me, if someone is trying to describe me they would say, “you know the short black girl…” it jogs people head easier and it is what you look like. Now of course humans should always try to start off describing someone with features first like, “yeah the girl with the big hair”, or “the boy who always has his headphones on” but using simple labels like, black and white is not harmful.
Everyday Racism
As a young African American women I have definitely experienced my fair share of everyday racism. Black people and other minorities always see the front face of racism. The thing about being a minority is that you just have to accept the little racist encounters you face just to eliminate any further altercations. We are taught from a young age how to handle certain situations and how to remain calm when a person is being rude to you to just make sure you come back home safe. This toxic ideology of minorities being forced to learn how to handle racism instead of white people learning how to not be racist. Dating back to a child and being exposed to older white people judging me and misconduct. My mother lived in the City of Chicago and traveled almost an hour everyday to Shamburg, which is a suburb of Chicago to work. For “Bring your Children to work day” she was super excited to bring my sister and I that she made us miss school for it. She did our hair all pretty and dressed us in our best clothes, and when we finally made it to her job, I never seen others who did not look like me. All of her co-workers getting silent in every room we walked in. Even the ones who were “nice” and talked to us said to me and my sister, ” I have never seen your kind with such long pretty hair”, “you are so pretty for a dark skin”. I was only 7 when I was exposed to mistreatment and my sister was 16. That day my mom explained to us that we will go through that my entire life and we just have always nod and smile. Of course I can list more examples of how my family and I go though racism everyday, but its been going on in America forever and its going to take a long time for this to change.
Comedians Using Race??
I think comedy was invented to entertain and create jokes that relate to the audience. I think that it was also created as a tool to address serious or controversial topics in a funny way so it can be talked about. Sometimes people cannot handle sensitive topics so as a comedian they try to break that barrier to let others know that that sensitive topic can be joked about. One of my favorite comedians is Dave Chappel, he takes real life situations and give his perspective on it, which is of course funny. Being a comedian you have a “third eye” (got that from a Steve Harvey stand up) they see things and think about it differently that the average person. Dave Chappel takes topics such as, racism, trans-phobia, school shootings, sexual harassment, and politics which are topics you dont normally address to strangers. However, he addresses the elephant in the room for each topic. He does this to shed light on topics that may seem unconformable to talk about and shows that you can actually laugh at the uncontrollable things we see in America. This is used to show different perspectives as well. Some people just accept what the news says or believe in certain stereotypes because thats all they have heard. Comedians show the audience a different way to think about this subjects and realize we all go through the same struggles or situations as other humans. So, why not make jokes about? Comedians using race will never go away, especially because the world is starting to accept diversity. Humans making fun of other humans is just plain human nature. If you view it as a problem then just don’t listen to stand up comedy.
New Topics
Other topics Dr.T should have his future students write research papers on religion. Have students analyze if religion is actually needed or was it something created to keep faith and hope. They can go into rather they believe in religion and how that effects them. This topic can be a sensitive topic that can spur up many opinions. Another topic can be on education system. It can be on what are certain things the education system do to make children better in society. This topic should go into the depth of what things need to be changed in the education system. Or even how the education system is different in states, cities, and countries.
Infidelity
Humans make mistakes, when we are around something that we like it is harder to resist. Temptation is everywhere however, we try to limit the temptation in our home. When the married couple need to hire workers they should avoid hiring an attractive worker to work in their homes to limit the temptation. Even though a relationship is built on trust we still try to prevent our partner to cheat. According to Scott Kaufman, “The default state is to act on impulse. Overriding this requires mental effort, and the more attractive alternatives you have, the harder it is to control your impulses.” A married couple should know each other and leaving an attractive person in your house with your partner should be avoided if you can. It is true that that person can cheat regardless but if you can control that temptation in your house you should. Any thoughts that the partner might have can be avoided .
Elementary Children’s Health
Elementary schools have always been one of the main source of child obesity, and one way it can be lowered would be replacing all sugary beverages with water. Schools should get ride of juices because it will also encourage kids to live a healthier lifestyle by drinking water at an early age. With the obesity rate increase recently, one of the main sources were school nutrition. A way to combat that would be making the first step into implementing clean fresh water. According to Karen Kaplan, “Some studies have found an association between heavy sugar consumption through juices in excess of 12 ounces a day and obesity” (2) Starting kids early with a habit usually influences them heavy for the rest of their life, so getting young kids to get into the habit of drinking plenty of water more than juice will teach them discipline and start them off on a healthy start.
Mike Tyson Tattoo Scandal
In the legal case involving the famous Mike Tyson tattoo being used in the movie, The Hangover, the tattoo artist who designed the tattoo should receive money from the movie studio due to branding rights and art recognition. There was a scene in the movie where one of the character, Stu, woke up with the Mike Tyson tattoo on his face. Failing to give the tattoo artist his cut or recognition can be seen as disrespectful because that can imply the movie producers did not care enough to value him an artist. Tattoo artist should be considered artist because they are drawing and creating just as other famous painters, which means they should be taken seriously. Also, that tattoo was that artist signature and infamous brand and that could be considered copyrighting because the movie producers did not acknowledge him. Overall, The Mike Tyson tattoo is one of the many things he is known for, and the person who created that look should have receive a cut of the total earnings for that movie.
RESPONSE TO DONALD TRUMP DACA DESCION
Last week Donald Trump and his team made an executive decision to change over eight hundred thousand students. He effected students who were just put in an unfortunate situation and were just trying to make the best out of it. Since he put that into place it has been mixed emotions about the whole thing. Some who are against immigrants are fairly happy about it because now they feel like they have more room for American students. Now as far as those parents and students who are effected by this new law they are more than terrified, they are nervous and almost sick to their stomach thinking about what might happen next.
One of the things that make me angry the most is during Trumps campaign run, he literally said that if he gets elected then he will get rid of DACA. Now people are shocked about situation. It is one thing to be shocked that he actually went through it and voted against him. However, if you voted for him knowing that he was going to do this then you should be ashamed of your selfish actions and have no right to be mad about the situation. If you voted for him not knowing that he said this then you should have did all your political research instead of blindly voting for a privileged, selfish, and ignorant man. This man purposely tried to do anything to keep immigrants out of this country as if America was not founded off of immigrants. I do however, give credit to those Latino political figures who are standing up for their race and even Latino politicians who were supporters of Trump are now disowning him and trying to do everything in their power to fix the situation. That shows a lot about how much people are trying to come together.
Like I said America was built off of immigrants, that is one of the things that makes America so unique we have so many different races, nationalities, and cultures. These students who have came into America unwillingly because their parents wanted them to start a better new life are now forced to go to back to a country where they might not even know the language. They have also been reoffered to as Dreamers, people who worked hard over here to try to get the same benefits than Americans get and it is so sad and unfortunate to see some of my friends worry about being deported. Also, if you are reading this and do not feel effected or angry about this situation then you need to re evaluate your selfish lifestyle and it is effecting America as a whole.
Reyes, Raul A. “Opinion: Trump’s DACA Decision Is Another Wrecking Ball to Latino Support for GOP.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 11 Sept. 2017, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/opinion-trump-s-daca-decision-another-wrecking-ball-latino-support-n800241. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017.
Response to Mr. Cantwell
Mr. Cantwell, Oh, Oh, Mr.Cantwell. I hope you are having a good and productive time trying to make another peaceful protest. You know making sure you have all of you weapons before you step outside the house, preparing for the fact someone might die during your protest. I must say you are quite the character Mr. Cantwell, the fact that you honestly think what you are doing is peaceful and that every other race besides Caucasian deserves this kind of treatment. Let me tell you who protested non-violence. I don’t know if you are aware of four African Americans college students during the 1960’s sat in at a diner in North Carolina where all they asked for was a cup of coffee. Instead they got harassed by white people by having food throw at them, coffee spilled on them, called nasty names. While all tis those four college students DID NOT RETAILATE they practiced their non-violence. If you are reading this and you are completely unaware of what I am talking about then let me briefly summarize it for you. In Charlottesville, Virginia there was a riot conducted by Christopher Cantwell, a white supremacist who had weapons and torches trying to get there message across that “An all white America is a great America” During this riot it left many people including African Americans and a young white women hurt or dead. During this time Mr. Cantwell was in an interview where he was crying out trying to defend himself saying it was a peaceful protest. Also, saying that he was preparing for this “peaceful protest” by carrying all of his guns and weapons on him.
Well as a young African American young women who feels very negatively about your comments and your thoughts will just like to say that your level of hatred is unbelievable. We did not do anything 200 years ago when we were enslaved and we still haven’t done anything now. I just want you to understand that hate is taught and I don’t know where you learned to hate African Americans as much as you do but I just want you to know that we are still going to continue to fight and continue to spread love and we will not let people like you stop our movement.
Work cited
“Physiological & Psychological Impact of Racism and Discrimination for African-Americans.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/racism-stress.aspx. Accessed 7 Sept. 2017.
arts and design 