Author: congleton.8

Jordan’s Text Review

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Grey’s Anatomy, Season 17, depicted the inner workings of a hospital during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic began in March of 2020, and hospitals all over the country struggled with how to address their mass influx of patients and shortages of supplies. These difficulties were portrayed through the stories of surgeons at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Throughout the season they addressed a number of power systems and inequalities at play throughout the United States.

Miranda Bailey, the chief of surgery, had her mother pass away from Covid-19. While she was in the hospital, Miranda and Maggie, both women of color, discussed the ways in which the black community had been disproportionately affected by Covid-19. They did a great job explaining to those who may not be aware, the lack of healthcare access to people of color and how that resulted in their unequal impact by the pandemic. 

In addition to the pandemic, they addressed America’s issue of police brutality towards people of color; specifically African American men. Following the murder of George Floyd by policeman Derek Chauvin, there were a large number of protests breaking out across the country. Surgeons from the hospital went to protests in support of the movement against police brutality. Aside from the protests, they depict Winston, pictured below, being stopped by police while on his way to Seattle. The police made him step out of his vehicle and searched each piece of luggage in the back of his car. Once they found no reason to keep him, they drove away, leaving him to clean up his clothes which were strewn all over the side of the road. 

Each of these instances did a great job depicting power structures at play and the constant Othering of the African American community in America. African Americans have historically had less access to resources which affected them throughout the pandemic. Additionally, black people in America are constantly viewed as Other, as dangerous to society. For many of these reasons, they are the target of hate crimes and police brutality which were shown throughout tough conversations and heartbreaking scenes in Season 17 of Grey’s Anatomy. 

I believe Shonda Rhimes, the producer, wants to shine a light on these topics that can be difficult to talk about. The series ended with a neurosurgeon leaving to work with a foundation to bring to light the inequalities in America’s healthcare system. This neurosurgeon explains how before his experiences during the pandemic he was an ignorant white person and he wants to educate himself and use his platform to help others. I believe Shonda used him as an example for all of us to work on ourselves and do what we can to address these inequalities.

 

Resource:

https://people.com/tv/greys-anatomy-recap-police-brutality-racial-injustice/

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase – Treatment of Haitian Immigrants at the American Border

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The treatment of Haitian migrants at the Texas-Mexico border in recent news has brought to light an area of systemic injustice in the United States. Recently, pictures have circulated social media depicting U.S. border patrol agents riding on horses and using whips to force Haitian migrants into a river and away from the United States. Earlier this year the president of Haiti was assassinated and there was a devastating earthquake which led to many Haitian immigrants coming to America in order to find a refuge. However, they are being met with poor treatment due to the United State’s long history of immigration restrictions. The image above (to the left) compares these actions to that of slave owners, and as you can see there are many similarities between the two. 

In 2020, Donald Trump passed an authorization which allowed for the immediate deportation of migrants due to Covid-19 concerns. This country has a long history of passing acts to prevent and complicate immigration. Politicians throughout history have used their power to enact and maintain racially and ethnically motivated policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Trump’s ban of immigrants from largely Muslim countries. This concept of nativism, which is hostility toward immigrants due to the fact that they are foreign born, has been present in America since the beginning and its presence is still very well known. The actions of these border agents in forcibly removing these migrants instead of offering them a place of refuge continues the trend. 

The views and actions of people in power in the United States need to change in order to prevent this from taking place, however another elected president can overturn any progress we may make towards remedying this injustice. These actions however are reinforced by the history of discrimination and hatred toward immigrants. The history of restricting acts passed to limit immigrant groups and the failed attempts at reform have allowed this to occur for over 150 years. The poor treatment and forced deportation of migrants, especially those trying to seek refuge from a country in turmoil, is very much a systemic injustice that is present in our nation. 

I would consider these Haitian immigrants to be subalterns in American society due to their intersectionality of being black and an immigrant. Historically both groups have been discriminated against in America however have been able to achieve power to an extent. We see this power with Barack Obama being elected President of the United States and foreign born celebrities gaining status. However, this intersection of race and immigration status, results in the positioning of these individuals as being a subaltern in society, having no say or access to power, and physically being forced away. 

 

Resources:

https://globalnews.ca/news/8208877/haitian-migrants-mexico-texas-border/ 

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/20/border-patrol-texas-del-rio/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58654351 

https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/why-are-haitian-migrants-gathering-us-border

Week 6: Things Fall Apart

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Effects of Colonization on Nigeria

The novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe follows the story of a fictional character named Okonkwo who lives within the clan of Umuofia in Nigeria. This story begins during the pre-colonization era in Nigeria and continues into the British colonization in the early 20th century. Colonization occurs when a foreign presence comes and asserts control and domination over the native land, largely for their own benefit. As you can imagine this colonization had many effects both on the Nigerians living through this experience as well as generations to come. These effects have both been positive and negative for the people in Nigeria.

Throughout my research I found overwhelmingly more negative impacts than positive ones. The first one may seem obvious, but this colonization resulted in Nigerian society being completely dependent on the British rulers. Before this, Nigeria was an independent country and now due to the exploitation of resources by British power Nigeria is considered underdeveloped (Ejeh, 14). Through the lens of a woman, Tambu, looking back on her experiences as a child living in colonized Nigeria, she saw the effects in herself. Tambu knew her place in society was to cook and work in the land and this was due to the double oppression of women in colonized society. Throughout Achebe’s novel we see that women are not viewed as equals in society however this is made worse through colonization. Finally, Nigeria’s culture and traditions are fading away as people begin to dress and talk like their British rulers. According to Ejeh, “a good number of Igbo sons and daughters can hardly speak or understand their language” (14).

The greatest positive effect of the colonization of Nigeria was the impact on their education system. Children suddenly had much greater access to schools as the new government worked to build new schools and provide children with access to education. The curriculum in the school was also aimed toward skills that would “meet the long-term developmental needs of the society” (Omojimite, 93). Universities were established and expanded by the new federal government and primary education was made free for all children living in Nigeria. Eventually a phase of decline set in due to lack of funding but overall, the children and society have been greatly impacted by the development and access to schools from the British government.

 

Resources:

Bajnay, Flora. “Postcolonialism in Children’s Eyes: The Effects of Colonization on the Development of Children.” In Esse: English Studies in Albania, no. 2, 2018, pp. 91–111., www.ceeol.com/search/viewpdf?id=913191. Accessed 23 Sept. 2021.

Ejeh, Paulinus C. “COLOMENTALISM: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF COLONIZATION IN NIGERIA.” AMAMIHE: Journal of Applied Philosophy, vol. 19, no. 1, 2021, acjol.org/index.php/ajap/article/view/1091/1077.

Omojimite, Ben U. “Education and Economic Growth in Nigeria: A Granger Causality Analysis.” African Research Review, vol. 4, no. 3, July 2010, pp. 90–108., doi:10.4314/afrrev.v4i3.60158.