Monday, October 29, 2007

Comic Book

I chose a Captain America comic book. It is a picture of Captain America and his sidekick fighting a battle on a beach against the Japanese. They are riding on a bull dozer running over many Japanese with it. Captain America is in motion to throw a bomb on them while his sidekick is shooting them with a gun. Planes are coming in and shooting with air attacks.
I think it is talking about World War II after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The Americans are retaliating and sending in troops to kill the Japanese. They did it in such a powerful manor which is symbolizing the bull dozer. They jus pushed the Japanese around in their own country. With all the Japanese dieing/dead this symbolizes that the Americans won.
This is related to chapter 10 Takaki Pacific Crossing. This chapter talks about how the Japanese were treated unfairly. They moved to America for the better money pay and the work. With this bad terms came between white and Japanese races. They felt as those the Japanese were taking all the jobs and then were not treated with the same rights as the white race was treated with. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor that just crossed the line and then the Americans nuked them twice.
These comics did not really affect me at all. I do not know a whole lot about the different wars that happened in the past. A few of the comics were a little extreme with the racism they put in it.

Monday, October 22, 2007

How Jews Became White Folks

In How Jews Became White Folks by Karen Brodkin thesis is “Suddenly the same folks who had promoted nativism and xenophobia were eager to believe that the Euro-orgin people whom they had deported reviled as members of inferior races, and prevented from immigrating only a few years were now model middle-class white suburban citizens.”
In the 1920’s scientific racism said that real Americans were white and that real whites came from northwest Europe. In 1882 racism by white people did not count Chinese in being white. This came to the immigration door being closed on Europeans and Chinese. Jews were the first of the Euro-immigrants to enter schooling and have a significant constant number attending colleges. With this, the Jews were discriminated against being called harsh names. The Seven Sisters schools were being said to be flagrant discriminating. Speech test were becoming difficult to stop Jews from becoming teachers because they did not want them to be teaching Catholics. After World War II, views on whites were changing and it made it easier for Euro-ethnics to become middle class. Economics also played a large role in where you were placed in class.
How come Jews were discriminated against even thought they are white? I think they were discriminated against because they did not follow the Catholic way. So instead of saying it was because of their choices in what they believe in for their god they just said they were not white. This put the Jews at a lower class instead of being where all the other white people were.
I think this article was confusing. I also believe that the Jews were mistreated because of their views instead of what they looked like. As people grew they became more understanding that there are more views on Gods than just their own and began to accept that.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Chapter 9 Zinn Slavery without Submission and Emancipation without Freedom

In Howard Zinn’s chapter 9 Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom, his thesis is that black people still had slavery even though they were free and they were set free but had restrictions on what they could do.
African Americans had a tough time living in the 1800’s. They had to go though more brutal times than most people could say they have today. As the tobacco plantations grew they turned into cotton lands where more slaves were needed. As they slaves were being illegally imported, they started to revolt against the slave owners. One of the largest occurred in New Orleans. In the 1850’s slaves started to run away to Canada and Mexico. They used the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman, one of the most famous slaves for making numerous trips back and fourth with having the chance to being caught. She freed 300 slaves knowing she could go back to being slave for the risk of freeing other slaves. In1860, Lincoln was elected president. In 1861 he declared that all slaves to be free. Zinn says “When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in January 1863, it declared slaves free in those areas still fighting against the Union and said nothing about slaves behind Union lines.” This means people in the Union still could have slaves because they were not fighting. As the blacks joined the Union army, whites became angry for having to sacrifice different things. They had to join the army because they were drafted because the rich paid their way out of being drafted. With this, the whites started to go town to town killing black people. One white person was heard saying, “If we are got to be killed up for the N word, then we kill everyone in this town.” This is saying they are unwilling to fight for black people and would rather kill the side they are on rather than fight for them. Since the states still fighting did not get rid of their slaves, the war produced slaves in select states to rebel and destroy the plantations they were on. As blacks were starting to be respected and get into the government, whites began to rebel on blacks. The Ku Kulx Klan was formed. A white supremacist group who hated blacks and went around killing them and raping them. As blacks started to get jobs they were only paid 55 cents. In the south the plantations owners basically tricked the black workers by not paying them but with “orders” that the black worker could only use where the planter owned.
Why were so many people angry about what Abraham Lincoln did freeing the slaves? I think Abraham Lincoln did the right thing. African Americans did not deserve to be treated unfairly being a citizen. They deserved the same rights as whites. Just because they have a different color of skin they were treated unfairly and Abraham Lincoln saw that they are the same even thought the look different from him.
I think African Americans had a terrible like in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Today there are still racism problems where blacks are being treated unfairly. Racism needs to stop and everyone needs to be treated fairly especially in the court system. People should follow the laws and respect everyone for who they are not by what they look like.