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Text Review: The Bechdel Cast Podcast

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The Bechdel Cast podcast logo.jpg

The Bechdel Cast Podcast is a podcast hosted by Caitlin Durante and Jamie Loftus that focuses on the representation of women in film, but over the years has also come to focus on representation of minority groups/people of color, social issues in film and more. The name of the podcast comes from the hosts utilizing the Bechdel Test as a baseline to measure a film’s representation of women. Each episode starts with a summary of the film, followed by in-depth discussion and analysis of representation, how issues and ideas are presented as well as a final wrap up. Oftentimes guest speakers of a range of occupations, gender identities, racial backgrounds, etc. are invited to provide deeper insight into the film and discussion of the episode.

Being able to explore different topics and representations through the examination of a variety of films allows a flexible approach towards different ideas. Ideas such as Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of the Other are explored when Durante and Loftus frequently identify how many films place white, heteronormative men as the default and centerpiece while placing women (and the LGBTQ+ community) in the role of the Other. Topics such as systemic injustice are also discussed in several films such as Den of Thieves where guest speaker Cerise Castle talked about how communities of color are less likely to have crime and their stories reported compared to more affluent and white communities, as well as the deeply rooted copaganda of America.

Although the podcast addresses serious topics, the tone remains conversational, and humor often appears to lighten the mood. Ultimately, each episode leaves the audience thinking about how the media and society has shaped our views. The movie The Dark Knight is often hailed as one of the greatest superhero movies, however, when analyzed it didn’t even manage to pass the Bechdel Test of two named women characters exchanging two lines of dialogue about a topic not about a man. The intersectional lens the Bechdel Cast Podcast uses to examine a work forces both the hosts and listeners to notice problematic issues they might not have noticed in a beloved film before, as well as the ripple effects these issues have on what we expect in the visual medium and in real life.

 

Week 14 : Regarding the Pain of Others

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Regarding the Pain of Others is created by Susan Sontag about the war photography, which talks about the relationship between human pain reflected in the image and the spectators. Susan uses the mutilated arms, bloodied faces, black and white images in the war and disaster to reflect the cruelty and misery of the world. Although the tragic images can arouse the spectator’s compassion, people’s feeling of helplessness makes these images seem redundant and absurd, which are ubiquitous and incompatible in life.

Since the spread of photographic technology during the First World War, people began to look from a distance at what was happening thousands of miles away, witnessing the somewhat horrifying reality and suffering of others. Definitely, photography as a media to inspire compassion, sympathy, and anger to focus on the disasters and wars outside of the personal world. However, like Susan said, “photography shrivels up as much sympathy as they create”, while we are eating our food, we are watching on television which reports a bloody conflict taking place in some corner of the world. Meanwhile, we are unconsciously bystander of other’s disaster. Even the news and images of war are the seasoning for small talk with friends or family members.

In this book, While Susan focuses on the ethical value of photography itself, she also criticizes the medium through which these images are transmitted. She considers the motivation of the photographers who take pictures about war. Their purpose is to provoke a reaction and click rates. The flood of information caused by TV and newspapers excavates and satisfies the human peep addiction. And people unconsciously get used to and approve this way of life which watches the pain of others. This is a result of the media’s tactics to attract audience rating in way of compassion as cheap commodity, pain as pungent material.

Citation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52373.Regarding_the_Pain_of_Others

Text Review: Crip Camp

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When Judy Heumann, camp creator, joined alongside other students, their first question was not “what is your name?,” but rather a statement labeling her as “sick.” Before Judy even got the chance to identify herself, able-bodied children had identified her as someone with sickness—someone with a disability. Even the principle at Judy’s school engaged in these microaggressions by offering concerns that Judy was a “fire hazard.” As Judy recalled her own experience being a disabled student watching other “more” disabled students being sent into the basement for separated classroom sessions, she recalled knowing that she and her disabled classmates were being “sidelined.”  When Judy found her way to becoming a counselor of a camp, it was her utmost priority to ensure that everyone had a chance to talk. In the documentary, we see individuals utilizing one another to better understand themselves and each other. The film highlighted the difference between how disabled people are treated in the depths of an ableist society versus how they are treated when disabled people can create a society that fits their needs. While ableism runs rampant as we see in texts such as the subaltern character of Maggie in Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, it does not have to. Ableism dictates that disabled people are only capable of certain things and the concept of a disabled person achieving something beyond those limitations seems unfathomable. However, this documentary proved all those limitations to be faulty; it displayed disabled people running their own camp entirely on their own. If this sound’s surprising, it should not. Disabled people live in a world that is designed against them and forces them to consistently be faced with the burdens of systemic ableism. Disabled people often cannot make it through one day without experiencing a systemic barrier and injustice. To assume the same people that are being treated as ‘others’ simultaneously cannot endure and achieve insurmountable things is only further degrading the incredible strength and power that disabled people withhold. The next time you enter a building, consider how accessible the door to enter is. The next time you walk through a grocery store, consider the accessibility barriers: narrow aisles, tall shelves, wheelchair-inaccessible checkout counters. The next time you post on social media, consider the language you use such as crazy, deaf, blind, dumb, etc. As was quoted in the Crip Camp documentary, “move the architectural barriers—we can work.” 

Additional website with a longer video and some more information about the documentary:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/26/health/crip-camp-americans-with-disabilities-act-wellness/index.html

Week4 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Background introduction and analysis

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In 1963, black civil rights activists called for a march in the streets of Birmingham to protest racial discrimination. The movement’s leaders applied for permission and security for the march on Easter Sunday, but the local police chief, Conor, refused. The city authorities then asked the court to issue a ban on the march on the grounds of public safety and order. But the leaders of the march defied the court’s order to stop the march. This action led to the arrest of eight of the leaders of the march, including Martin Luther King. While in prison, King received letters from seven prominent church figures demanding that he call off the demonstrations and rely on negotiations and the courts to resolve the matter. King wrote his famous “Birmingham Jail Letter” on the edge of the newspaper.

As an outstanding black leader in the African-American civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., guided by the theological idea of nonviolence, led the blacks in their struggle for citizenship, against racial discrimination and oppression. The city of Atlanta discriminated against blacks and segregated them. In this environment, Christian theology had a strong influence on King. Compared with Atlanta, Birmingham was also full of racial discrimination and racial oppression, which formed a strong contrast with the ideas of freedom, equality, and fraternity advocated by Christian theology, and became the main motivation of King’s struggle.

King, based on Christian theology, advocated fraternity and against blacks who, dissatisfied with the status quo, resorted to violent means of protest. Some people view nonviolent resistance as negative, but in King’s view, it is a positive act of religious faith as opposed to the collective silence of the church. The flipside of King’s vision of nonviolent struggle, moreover, was an affirmation of American values. In King’s view, the American spirit and the Christian spirit were always one and went hand in hand, which objectively won him the support of the federal government. In the midst of the Birmingham black protest movement, President Kennedy even announced the deployment of 3,000 federal troops to the outskirts of Birmingham to safeguard agreements in favor of blacks.

Information from：

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement#Birmingham_campaign,_1963

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Week 14: A Small Place

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A small place is a novel that describes the changes of a tourist destination by comparing the colonial past and present. The past and the present of colonization are never clear, because the explanation of now has to go back to the past, and to go back to the past has to tell the history of colonization. Jamaica Kincaid shows us how to attack Britain and its colonial rule. The content of the novel is closely linked, revealing the corruption of the government and the bad situation of the tourist destination step by step. The novel reveals the corruption of Antigua’s government, which ignores the country and the people, through two facts that Antigua’s ministers all hold green cards and that although Antigua’s medical and economic conditions are poor, the ministers will hire the best doctors and nurses. At the same time, these corrupt governments lead to the bad environment of Antigua, which also nourishes the corrupt government. Moreover, because Antigua’s ministers all have green cards, they will not pity people who are discriminated against by colonialism. These Antigua ministers can sell their country for their own benefit and then flee to the United States. As a tourist destination, the government discriminates against its own people and does not allow Antigua people to use the best beaches. You feel Jamaica Kincaid’ anger, you think she should be, but you only read her casual satire.

 

I also read another novel of this week, regarding the pain of others. There is a passage in the book that resonates me with  Jamaica Kincaid’ Antigua. As long as we feel compassionate, we feel that we are not complicit in the inflictors of pain. Our compassion declares our innocence and our incompetence. At the same time, regarding the pain of others made me think. Can we really feel the pain? I don’t think you can experience the sufferings of the indigenous people of Antigua when you haven’t experienced this kind of corrupt government and bad environment. I think the pain recorded by novels is not in line with reality, because even if novels are not written for art, novels themselves are artistic. In order to shock readers, the description of the environment itself may not really show the suffering of the real world. In addition, when you travel, you may only notice the blue sky, the waves under the sun, and the luxury hotel facilities. However, you can’t believe that the indigenous people of Antigua who were once under British colonial rule were still discriminated against in their own country. When you’re swimming in Antigua’s pool, you don’t know Antigua doesn’t have its own sewage treatment system. When you’re eating delicious lobsters, you don’t know that Antigua’s people are still hungry. I think if colonial rule brought advanced science rather than terrible oppress and exploit. If they take the rule of civilization rather than brutality. Will Antigua become beautiful and prosperous

 

Work Cites:

Zhiru, et al. “Regarding the Pain of Others.” Douban, https://www.douban.com/group/topic/1299996/

Yo Is This

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This semester, each of the systemic injustices post I had, meant something to me deeply.  I have always said if I am going to write about something no matter what it is for, I am going to write about it with purpose and meaning behind it.  Two of my topics were closely related from the systemic injustices I wrote about.  My fourth systemic injustice I wrote about was the inequality in several aspects of collegiate sports, rather it was on gender or race varying from sport to sport.  The sixth systemic injustice I wrote about was something that went viral during March Madness, and that was the weight room difference between the women basketball players and the men basketball players, with the men having a much more extravagant gym to work out in.  The two topics are very closely related, not just because they are both topics of collegiate athletics, but it shows an introduction to a bunch of people what they might be in store for in the adult world.  It is not right, we all deserve equal chances, and now we will dive into that.  

This image was the actual difference between the women’s and men’s weight room, guess which one is which, I bet it won’t be hard to figure which one is which.  In case it is, the one on the left is the women’s and the one on the right is the men’s weight rooms for the March Madness tournament.  Now there are obviously two different sides to this, one for why the gym’s are like this and why they should be, and the other being they understand why the gym’s are that way but that does not mean it is right.  People argue it is that way because of how much money the men bring in for their sport, and how little money women bring in for their sport.  There is an astronomical difference between the two revenues brought in between the two.  Which is a reasonable argument for the treatment to be so different.  That does not mean it is right.  Both the men and women work really hard, the women do not get as much recognition or national attention as the men.  The thing is, the thing many people preach nowadays, especially the NCAA, they say they try to make everything right, when anything comes up with gender in their sports Title IX comes up right away, and that is how they say they are making things more even.  To bring the girls more attention, they could potentially take some of the extra funds the men programs bring in and put it towards the women, it can help them get more equipment and allow them to train to the same capacity.  Like stated though, there is the argument that the women teams did not earn that money, but why didn’t they, because, they did not get the national recognition? That is not a good reason, they work just as hard as the men, and they deserve to be treated fairly for it.  

Even in the most recent March Madness there were games in the women’s tournament that were just as if not more entertaining than majority of the men’s games.  The women are starting to get more recognition I believe, but nothing to show for it, yet.  Hopefully the time comes soon, the only thing we can as fans of the game, is to support and make sure our opinions are heard.  A big star that is doing something with that is Megan Rapinoe, a women soccer player for the United States.  She is very vocal about the income difference between the women and men, and it has got a lot of national attention, which is great for everyone.  Rapinoe is so vocal about it because of the accolades she and the American team has achieved, while the men’s players are payed substantially more, but have no where near the achievements the women’s team does.  It is sad to see how the world does work like this, but it is just the way it goes, hopefully to change soon.

  The other topic I talked about, very similar, but it is a little more general of the topic, but it still helps get the point across, maybe even more across.  I found an article online that I found very interesting, the article can be found here (https://i-sight.com/resources/discrimination-in-sports-5-types-25-solutions/#Gender).  The article even dives into talking about playing time, how people get treated at each position, rather it is a player, an assistant coach, a head coach, and even the athletic director.  It also talks about the general revenue that is brought in between the two genders in collegiate sports.   The article also brings up race in several of the collegiate sports, and you really do not find an even distribution of race between any two sports, there are obviously some closer than others.  There are sports like tennis, water polo, golf, and rowing, where it is dominated by white people, with other races obviously being there but not a large or even significant number of them.  The sports that get majority attention are dominated by African Americans, there is no extra incentive in it for them, but people could argue without African Americans, the NCAA loses almost all of its revenue and profit.  It is also matching that no one gets extra revenue for what they bring in, the NCAA is known as one of the more evil and selfish companies, abusing kids basically while they do not get much gain out of it, while the NCAA gets everything out of it.  

This article goes into detail about how maybe we can help with each different type of discrepancy that people are facing because of how they are different, we are going to go over a few of those.  Something we can do just as fans, is support the women’s and girls’ sports, realize the work they put in and they deserve to be appreciated.  People may not find the sport entertaining but it does mean it deserves to be treated as less.  Something schools or front offices can do, is hire more women in power, to be leaders in the office or out on the field or court.  By doing that it shows how much similar women can do work as men do.  It is going to be a process, but it is a process that is well worth it.  Another big system injustice that is faced in all sports is racial discrimination.  Some solutions the article talks about is, writing a zero tolerance racism policy, focus on inclusion, do not make assumptions and support athletes when they use their right of free speech.  To go one by one, a zero tolerance policy, forces franchises and or schools to allow every athlete or person that is involved with sports at all to have an even chance as the next person working for it, they have to earn it fairly.  If we focus on inclusion, things start to blend, to mix and match, we see people all as one, the way it should be and hopefully we can get there one day, sooner than later.  By not making assumptions about the athlete based off their race, it allows us to see anyone be able to do anything in any sport.  Over the last few years, more and more athletes voice their opinion, and there is always an uproar right after it seems,  because they should just “shut up and dribble”, it is disgusting to think their opinions are less valuable than others because they are athletes, everyone has the right to speak their opinion, but some are lucky enough to have a big enough platform for it to matter more.  

Something that we talked about over our semester, that is connected to these topics, is implicit bias.  We had an excerpt from Jake Fortney, with help explaining Implicit bias.  There is a quote from his statement that is, “Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner”.  I would explain this quote as people act without really thinking, and that is very true in all levels of sports today and through out history.  If we listened to this quote more in sports today, we would be much farther in many aspects of many of the games.  If we thought about things more, we could sit here and realize that women deserve equal treatment because of all their hard work and the entertainment factor of their games could be just as entertaining if not more entertaining than the men’s games.  People of all races could get treated more equally out of high school sports heading into college sports, people of different genders could get treated more equal, and people of different backgrounds could get treated equally as well, it is 2021 and we need to get to this point sooner than later, before things start to get bad.  It is the last thing we need in the world we live in today with everything that is going on.  Sports should bring people together, it is what sports has done in the past on many big events like 9/11 and the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, hopefully it can do it again here soon, in a big way

Thanks for reading my column,

Ryan Karn

Yo is this

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Racism and the abuse of power

 

Racism

 

Even today, 156 years after Lincoln’s Declaration of Emancipation, American racial discrimination is taking place everywhere. Furthermore, in many parts of the world, unreasonable discrimination against other races occurs due to nationalism’s consciousness. We discriminate against someone for reasons such as ethnicity in a country that cannot live economically because our skin color is different. For historical reasons, and for the same reason, we are discriminated against by someone. So racial discrimination is happening all over the world. It can be seen that the initially attempted racism policy has spread to the present day, long after five centuries, and has spread not only to the United States but also to the world. Moreover, now, racism based on language has emerged from discrimination based on race and skin color. In other words, races who do not speak English have been discriminated against by races who speak English well.

This is new racism created in conjunction with language imperialism. When racism based on skin color gradually disappears due to various human rights movements, discrimination based on language is expected to become more severe due to other problems.

 

The misuse of power and authority is the structural inequality I’d like to discuss. There are numerous forms of power abuse in Society. However, the abuse of power by police officers is still a source of controversy. Since anybody can get a gun with a permit in the United States and many unauthorized gun uses, police officers have more authority than in any other country. One of the reasons is the high prevalence of gang and drug-related violence. However, police officer misuse of control continues to be a problem. 

 

Police officer’s uses of a gun are more generous than any other country in the United States. What is even more unfair is that there are significantly more black people killed by police officers. Everyone in the United States is under the same constitution and rules. Therefore this can not be Justified. Being a black person does not make them worse or better than any other race, but they are all equal US Citizens.

 

However, Statistically, black people are more likely to commit a crime and get killed by police. 

Some people view this differently. The reason why black people have more of those rates is because of the social-economic problem. In Us history, black people got freed in 1863 for emancipation by Abraham Lincoln. Even when they just got released, white people kept the wealth since, and black people started without any money. Therefore when they first got freed, most of them were lower-class people. For more than 150 years, many black people have stacked up their wealth throughout the generation. However, many black people earn comparably lower income compared to white people. Some people say that black people have more crime rates because they have more financial problems than whites. This societal location where they are at causes more crimes, therefore, more deaths. So some people view this as a financially unequal problem in Society, not a racial issue.

 

Officers are sometimes able to determine whether or not to shoot a suspect. If a suspect with a gun attacks an officer, the officer has the right to kill that person at any moment. However, since the police are just beings, they make mistakes when deciding whether to fire. The issue arises when they misuse their authority. Some officers may have legal problems, and others may be supremacists. Any crooked policemen have taken advantage of their positions, and these cases have escalated into significant issues.

The fact that police brutality continues to be a serious issue does not imply that no change has been made. People have mobilized to bring about reform in neighborhoods across the United States. 

it emerged from our realization that, in the end, the faithful and sustainable change would include a concerted and continuous initiative by neighborhood organizations. And it is in honor of those contributions that this manual has been published.

In American Society, other racial issues with abusing power happen. One of them is Asian hate. This is becoming a more prominent topic in 2021.  After being shoved to the ground, an old Thai immigrant dies. With a box knife, a Filipino-American is stabbed in the chest. After being slapped, a Chinese woman is set on fire. These are just examples of Asian hate that happened. The critical thing to notice here is that those who are getting are weak elderly or women. These people can’t protect themselves like others, and stronger people tend to attack them. This is also the abuse of more substantial power.

 

As an Asian who lives in the US, I have experienced many Asian stereotypes of racism. Obviously, I have encountered people saying stereotypes more than racism. I felt terrible all the time I hear stereotypical thoughts. When I went to middle school, I went by the name “Jonah.” However, people kept asking me what my real name is. I actually have my Korean name, but necessarily I don’t think my Korean a real character. Still, I just have two words, a Korean one and an American one. When I took my high school math classes, people kept assuming that I was good in Math, even when they did not see my grades. I was embarrassed by myself because I was not as good as other people thought I was good at math. Also, people keep asking me where I am actually from. I often feel offended because I feel like people are seeing me as different from who they are. These stereotypes are the ones that I remember, and I believe there are far more that I can not remember. Also, there were some racisms that I placed. It Happened When I went to New York, a random person called me a “Chink” and walked away. I was with my friends, so I just did not react and acted chill. However, when I keep thinking about it, I am mad at how he called me disrespectfully on the street. I think these kinds of racial-related insults should not be used to anyone but especially not to someone who they do not know at all.

One of the things that I noticed as the COVID-19 Pandemic started is the Asian hate. Some people who got penalties bad things happened to them because of the Pandemic tend to blame Asian people just because COVID is created in China. I am mad at these things because, first of all, I am Korean. It is a huge mistake to blame this situation on Asians. The virus started in China because the virus is what people can’t control. We just have to get over it together and not blame any race because COVID should not be a racial problem in the first place ( it can become a national problem because of the spread). But it is not an individual’s problem.

 

I think there are far more racisms in other countries than in the United States. However, in the United States, people can use guns, so it is much more severe when violent things happen than in the US. I have been to many countries, and countries with more than 90 percent of only one race tend to have more racial discrimination problems. I am currently in Korea, and I am seeing lots of racism toward foreigners. Unlike English, Korean is not learned in school in other countries. So foreigners in Korea can not speak Korean very well. Korean people tend to look down on foreign workers. For example, when I went to a restaurant, some unfamiliar people were eating. I heard a Korean saying that the foreigners lose their appetites and complained to the waiter. I was shocked because, in the US, I have never heard things like that. Also, when I went to Italy, Europe, I felt something. First of all, I went to Italy two times. The first time I went there with my Korean family, and the second time, I went there with my white American friends. Things that I noticed are that Italian people were nicer to the white group. For example, when I tried to get on to train, an Italian couple wanted to block us from getting on the train. I did not understand what they were saying by blocking us, but It sounded insulting, and we felt offended. When we went to a restaurant, the waiter threw silverware to the table. It was actually in an insulting way. At the time, I was 100% sure if it was racism or not because they could have been just rude people. Still, as I went to Italy with my white friends, I was more sure than racial discrimination. In a white group, I did not see any people acting rude in Italy. It was more enjoyable to travel, honestly. 

Compare to these things in Europe, I believe that all the races are much more equal than in other countries. Some problems still exist these days, and we can all try to fix them and improve together in the USA.

 

reference https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684

Week 14 : Regarding the Pain of Others Analysis

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Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the Pain of Others” is a book focused on war photography. It explores the relationship between the suffering of the person reflected in the image and the viewer.When suffering all kinds of inhumanity, darkness, misery, life and death, all we do is slide the phone, turn on the TV, and click the mouse. While browsing the interpreted so-called news images, smacking the fragrant coffee, watching and sighing for a while, we continue our respective lives. All these have forced war photography to get closer to the vague images in exchange for a short stay of people’s attention, and this behavior itself also makes war photography and readers more indifferent.

War is the subject we are covering this week. When we hear the word “war”, we first think of inhumanity, darkness and death. In this article, the author described to us countless tragic war scenes, such as the American Civil War, which was the first large-scale war after the Industrial Revolution. Most of the 3.5 million people who participated in the war were volunteers. The war killed 750,000 soldiers, maimed 400,000 soldiers, and an unknown number of civilians were also affected. All these figures and bloody photos remind people of the importance of world peace.

But what this book wants to highlight is that as bystanders who have not experienced war, can we really perceive such pain? The pain of being photographed itself is inconsistent with reality, because even if it is not taken for the sake of art, photography itself is artistic. The photographer hopes that through such a tragic scene, people can see the pain of others and work hard to do something. But when it arouses people’s mercy, what he shows is not a real scene in itself. There are some photos that we will shudder every time we turn them over. If you have ever stared at some photos of torture, you must be able to leave in your mind the feeling of being in an extremely shocking state that is hard to erase. What we have for suffering is often more than pure pity, because how is pity felt? Why do we have mercy on certain things, all we can use is our own memory. (Susan 20)The suffering caused by war is beyond our comprehension, although we can see the scene of war through photos, so we call for world peace.

Work Cited:

Sontag, Susan. “’Regarding the Pain of Others’.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2003, www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/books/chapters/regarding-the-pain-of-others.html.

“Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 26 Aug. 2004, www.goodreads.com/book/show/52373.Regarding_the_Pain_of_Others.

Week 14 Presentation: A Small Place

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We have not experienced war, but also no stranger to colonialism. Colonialism is an aggressive policy by which powerful countries use various aggressive means to turn backward countries into their colonies. “A Small Place” is political narrative prose published by Kincaid in 1988 that accused colonialism and rebuked the Antigua government.

Antigua is a small island nation in the West Indies that has been under British colonial rule for a long time, and it has gained independence after breaking away from colonialism but continues to be poisoned by neocolonialism. Neo-colonialism is an indirect and concealed method of colonial aggression adopted by Western powers after World War II. Due to the vigorous rise of the national liberation movement, imperialism could not continue the old colonial policy and instead used economic advantages to carry out economic and political actions against non-Western countries, continue to control the country that has gained political independence. The new colonists are the continuation of the old colonists, and “tourism” is one of the forms of neo-colonialism. Tourism, as the pillar industry of Antigua, is actually still controlled by the United States, Britain, and other countries. The Antigua government continued to cooperate with colonial rulers for personal gain, forming a class basis for the continuation of tourism colonialism. Kincaid pointed out that although Antigua has become independent on the surface, the colonists continue to exist under the name of “tourism”, the local people are still suffering.

In the face of the lingering legacy of the old colonial and the trauma of the new colonial, Kincaid did not suppress her inner anger, or adopted a gentle and euphemistic tone like other writers of her generation, but used her “cursive” style. As a “descendant of the colonized” who immigrated to Europe and America for many years. She angrily exposed the illusion created by the colonists, presented to the world the real history and current situation of the colony, and expressed her hatred of colonialism and hatred of the incompetent Antigua government. In today’s globalization with the theme of peaceful development, there are still many places controlled by colonial countries like Antigua described in “A Small Place”. The independence and prosperity of those areas and the equality and well-being of the people are nowhere in sight. Kincaid wrote history and reality, truth and illusion with its extremely tense, frank, and unique language charm, which made me fall into deep thinking.

 

Kincaid, Jamaica, et al. “A Small Place Section I Summary and Analysis.” GradeSaver, www.gradesaver.com/a-small-place/study-guide/summary-section-i.

Published by E. M And View all posts by E. M And, et al. “Jamaica Kincaid: A Small Place; Literary Analysis and Review.” Things of Interest, 31 Mar. 2018, thingsofinterestweb.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/jamaica-kincaid-a-small-place-literary-analysis-and-review/.

Smith, Haley, et al. “A Critical Analysis of ‘A Small Place’ by Jamaica Kincaid.” The Odyssey Online, 15 Oct. 2019, www.theodysseyonline.com/critical-analysis-of-small-place-by-jamaica-kincaid.

“Yo, Is This…?” Column

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There Will Never Be An End to Racism

The Founders Were Oppressors

There has never been a point in time in this nation where at least one group of people have not faced some form of discrimination. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” was a rhyme that most of us grew up knowing. Throughout my childhood years, we celebrated Christopher Columbus’s arrival to America. For many years I thought that Christopher Columbus was a man worthy of being honored until I was informed about the horrendous demands and the harsh treatment that he inflicted on the aboriginals. From forced labor to genocide, Columbus and his men did it all. We were even  taught the term “Native American” was appropriate to call the aboriginals, but in reality, they were the true “Americans.” I mention Christopher Columbus to remind people that from the point that America was discovered up until now, man has always despised one another. 

Slavery

Throughout the world, slavery has existed for many years. “The history of slavery is a large and untellable story, full of tragedy and cruelty that spans both centuries and continents. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact year that slavery began, historians can trace the roots of this inhumane practice back roughly 11,000 years” (restavekfreedom.org). There are many different forms of slavery: sex trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor (also known as debt bondage), domestic servitude, and unlawful recruitment of soldiers (borgenproject.org). The most saddening fact about slavery is that children at times are involved. Although each testimony of each slave around the world may vary, the characteristics and mindset of their oppressors are constant. Their hunger to be in control, and to have power over someone is consistent with the term oppressor.

The Significance of History Itself

I’ve always heard that it was important to learn about history. Whenever a sad or gruesome part of history was being taught in class, it was common for the teacher to say things along the lines of, “it’s important to learn about uncomfortable topics like this so that history does not repeat itself.” But are we truly taking that saying to heart? What are the steps being taken to prevent history from repeating itself in all forms? Not just the physical aspect of slavery, like torture but the repercussions that affect the mind.

______ Still Exists

Thankfully slavery (unwilling servitude, forced labor)  in the United States was abolished due to the 13th amendment being passed. But there is no denying that racism is still prevalent and that the hatred for one another because of one’s skin color is still common.  Just because slavery was abolished does not mean that everyone is treated fairly. There has been a great change if we are just comparing slavery to the times that we are in now,  but there is still more work to be done.

Recent Incidents

From Diary of Systemic Injustice: 

[Towards the end of May in 2020, the whole nation heard of the murder of George Floyd. A lot of news regarding police brutality typically involves Black/African Americans, every single case that has been brought to light left me and many others outraged. Terrill Thomas was a Black man who was arrested for firing a gun inside of a casino with no one harmed. He later died of dehydration after the water in his cell was shut off for seven days. According to the NPR article, “They forced him to spend the last week of his life locked in an isolation cell 24 hours a day, with no drinking water, no edible food, no working toilet, no mattress, no blanket, no shower access, no means of cleaning his cell, no ability to communicate with his family, no relief from constant lockdown, and no meaningful access to urgently needed medical or mental health care.” His treatment was compared to Jacob Chansley, a White man who was accused of participating in the rioting in the U.S. Capitol. “A judge ordered corrections authorities to provide organic food to an Arizona man—- The order came after a lawyer for defendant Jacob Chansley complained that his client had gone the past nine days without eating because organic food isn’t served at the Washington jail where he’s housed,” Chansley said that because of his religious practice he demanded organic food, which was later granted to him. I understand that as a citizen he has the right to exercise any religion. But when it comes to Black people or other minorities, I thought that prisoners had their rights taken away. Hearing his story saddened me tremendously because Terrill Thomas was treated so inhumane, while Chansley had his bourgeoisie commands fulfilled. Not only did Thomas have his rights taken away but the necessities to live, like water. Without doing too much research, I immediately thought that this was the perfect example of White privilege. That specific riot that took place at the U.S capitol also sparked a lot of debate regarding injustice and bias. Because a lot of people, including myself, believe that if Black people did the same thing, there would’ve been casualties. In correlation to what I mentioned last week, even if there was an appropriate charge for a White person, there is still injustice behind the scenes. Instances like these make it reasonable to feel/think that people think that the lives of Black people are insignificant. I would also like to add that it is unfair for all white policemen to be labeled as “racist” and for all  black men to be labeled as “thugs.” It sort of feels like a cycle: hatred(racism) from one group, produces fear from the other group, resulting in violence and sometimes death. The people who are meant to protect and serve the community are the ones that we fear the most. There have been too many deaths that were unreasonable and unjustified. I believe that this would be considered systemic injustice because a lot of white men (including policemen) believe that because they are favored in society they have this sense of pride. When the judicial system fails to discipline them, they have more reasons to not fear doing anything wrong because they won’t be labeled as “in the wrong” in the sight of the decision-makers.] Due to COVID-19, there has also been a significant increase in the number of hate crimes towards the Asian American community. [In the times that we are living in, it seems like it is gradually becoming worse and people are bold about expressing their racist/prejudiced way of thinking. Systemic is defined as something that is fixed, and structured. This system isn’t gonna change if people in authority are on the same side of the oppressors or even sometimes are the oppressors.] Cases like these are just a few examples of why minorities still feel as if this country cannot be considered home for them. Back then for the enslaved,  the reason was that they were not given human rights/ freedom in “the land of the free.” But today, racism is one of the major reasons. There is still a form of favoritism for White people and this gives them a sense of superiority. Viewing people as subalterns even in the slightest/nonchalant way is a form of superiority complex. It is only inevitable for people who are not White to feel inferior. Sometimes a majority of people are quick to blame white people for all the evil doings and unfair treatment in this nation, but I think it’s more of a lack of understanding and empathy.



Why Will There Never Be An End?


America is known to have years of history recorded where White men have always had the upper hand and authority to demean people that did not look like them. Today, slavery doesn’t necessarily exist anymore (due to the 13th amendment). White men aren’t necessarily threatening people with guns or weapons, and Black people and other minorities are not enslaved by them. But there is a form of slavery that still exists, and that is the oppression of the mind and also the spirit behind every evil doing against another human being. Whether that may be an implicit bias way of thinking towards another race or physically expressing their hate, it’s still racism.







Looking at this image, I’m reminded of a Bible verse  about the matter of the heart:


“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts. . .” Matthew 15:18-19


For racism to end, every single individual walking on earth needs to have their mind renewed on race and how we view one another. Whether we like to admit it or not, most if not all of us have some form of implicit bias. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we are racist and that we choose to be racist, it just shows how much race has been ingrained in our minds for a very long time. The people who are “superior,”  and know that they have an upper hand in life,  but ignore this unfair treatment is the reason why racism still exists.


This image can also have many different meanings, depending on who is observing. Here is how I interpreted it and how it correlates to racism:


    

  • The root of this nation (the foundation) has always been corrupt. From the “beginning” when Columbus discovered and inform Europeans about America, he belittled the aboriginals and treated them inhumanely.
    • 

  • The reason why this nation has not removed itself from the same foundation as its founders is that the heart of individuals today have a similar way of viewing themselves: greedy, superior, powerful, and in control. The heart can be very wicked. The root of the problem (racism) is the contaminated hearts in this nation. Years and years of continuous hatred for one another have only made the roots of the tree grow larger and deeper, making it harder and harder to deracinate. 
    • 

  • The roots represent the hatred for one another that grows day by day, with recent news of police brutality, hate crimes based on race, more and more people are being turned against each other–being fueled with anger.
    • 



If the roots continue to go downward, there will never be an end to racism.






References


https://restavekfreedom.org/2018/09/11/the-history-of-slavery/


https://borgenproject.org/types-of-slavery/ 


https://www.npr.org/2019/05/29/728023455/-6-75-million-settlement-paid-to-family-of-milwaukee-inmate-who-died-from-dehydr 




https://abc7.com/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-riot-capitol-siege/10313166/ 




Image 1: https://creativemarket.com/Alltruecolours/5360302-Sketch-vector-Handcuffs-on-the-hands 




Image 2: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/350084571026639308/