Nothing's Changed

I believe that violence not only sends a message out to people on how to view themselves but as society as a whole views a certain type of person. Most of the violence that happened to the African Americans enforced the stereotype that they were weak and unequal. The lynchings and other hate crimes that took place showed how the African Americans could be easily “taken down” and couldn’t stick up for themselves. With the book Passing we talked about how Clare wanted to act white because society told her being black was wrong. People get their ideas of what they should be from what society thinks and violence’s shapes societies views. People often only care about societies views, which is why every girl today wants to look like Angelina Jolie. When society constantly tells you something is right you start to believe it. African Americans were only persecuted or ashamed of what they looked like because other people were wrong. Nobody would have cared about the color of their skin if those around them didn’t care so much. When I saw this prompt I immediately thought of my favorite show Law and Order SVU. This is a show that depicts the lives of detectives who work on sex crimes in New York City. I have seen almost every episode and in the vast majority of them the victims of the crime are women and the perpetrators are men. The rare ones that don’t have women as the victim have gay men or children as the victim. I have never seen an episode where a straight adult male has been the victim of rape. These types of crimes are similar to the lynchings in the fact that nothing comes out of them other than showing that one human has power of another. The show, which is played in today’s society, which is supposed to have gender equality, constantly shows women in a lesser role. By showing that women are physically “inferior” to men because they are often victims that can’t stand up for themselves, the TV show is reinforcing the idea that women are a lesser gender than men. This is the same way in which the Lynchings showed that African Americans were physically “inferior” to the white people. Although these are just simple little acts, they start the whole movement and change people’s way of thinking. If you constantly see something in front of you it sinks into your mind and your thinking is altered. Even if men for example have never committed a crime such as rape if they constantly see men on TV deriving pleasure from overpowering seemingly helpless women, their thinking will start to be altered to think of women as just pleasure objects they can overpower. There was actually an episode where a boy commits rape and his lawyers claim it is because he has seen so much porn depicting rape growing up that he figured that it was something natural. He said he had seen women say no so many times and men kept going that he thought that was a natural part of sex. As ridiculous as this seems his lawyer actually presented a valid argument and he was given a much lesser charge for the rape. Hate crimes and violence still occur today and changes the way people view themselves and how society views a certain group of people.

Who wants to pass?

Irene’s “passing” in the novel is extremely intriguing to me because she does it out of convenience, not out of belief that being white is superior to being black. When she thinks she is “discovered” for being black in a place that is meant for only white people she reflects on her feelings, “It wasn’t that she was ashamed of being a Negro, or even having declared it. It was the idea of getting ejected from any place.” (Larson, 19). Although I understand why Irene would want to “pass” and pretend to be white it seems extremely hypocritical to me. She talks to her friend Gertrude about wrong and foolish she thinks it is that Clare pretends to be white all the time. Although Irene is pretty open about her blackness, she is totally secretive about her homosexual feelings. To me at least she needs to pick a side, either be ahead of her time and accepting, or be quiet like everyone else and accept the norms of the time. I think my views probably are a little extreme as I am really liberal but I believe you should stand up for what you believe in! I don’t know what it is like to deal with a secret that big, or live during those times so maybe I can’t judge correctly but why wouldn’t Irene come up. Even though everyone thinks they can’t make a change, someone has to do it. Who knows Irene could have maybe started an acceptance in the black community. It seems to me they would be more accepting than the white community as they were both groups that were discriminated against. I wrote about in my essay how special needs advocates teamed up with civil rights activists to gain recognition for their causes. Even though these causes are thought of as minorities, if you pool together all the groups that are thought of being different you would actually make up the majority of people. I truly believe you shouldn’t try to fit in, you should be who you are which is what is frustrating about Irene’s passing not only as a white person but also a straight person, two things she is not.

Maybe I have been inconsiderate in taking into account Irene’s feelings. Although I clearly have very strong ideas, I live in a society that is much more accepting than Irene did. I somewhat do understand her motivations for wanting to fit in. I think this is clearly seen in the example of Clare’s passing. Even though she questions it, society has told her she is wrong her whole life and if you hear something enough you start to believe it. Black people were continuously told they were inferior and I could see why they would associate being white with being better, but who wants to be seen as greater by society if it is not who you truly are? I believe that all of Irene’s passing is brainwashing by society as it is clear that she is somewhat on the verge of “coming out”. Even though I know that Irene isn’t real and it’s just a book, things like her situation did actually happen. I feel really badly for all the people that lived during that time period and wish society would get to the point where no one thinks about race, or sexual orientation other than just the way someone is.

I actually looked more into the whole idea of passing because I wanted to see what some of the real life people looked like. I found out there was a woman named Ina Ray Hutton who was famous during the 50’s and was passing for white. I was genuinely shocked when I saw her picture; she looks whiter than I do! It actually kind of made me happy to think about the joke that she played on America. People worship celebrities so much and thinking about the amount of people that looked up to what they hated makes me laugh. She brings together all my ideas about trying to fit in as "passing" is similar to acting like a celebrity today and the parallels are all seen in this one example.

Ina in action!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T3qS1ynyJss#!

Extra Credit MLKJ Post 1/24/13

            I was pleasantly surprised when I went to the Martin Luther King Jr. panel discussion earlier today. There was a huge diversity in not only the speakers but throughout the audience as well. The diversity piece of the discussion is what really stood out to me. One of the first speakers talked about how she attended a play in China about Martin Luther King Jr. I was actually shocked that people in China had not only heard about him, but cared enough to put on a play about him. She described how the play company had to negotiate with the communist Chinese government in order to be allowed to perform the play. I was surprised that people in other countries cared this much about race equality in America, especially countries like China that are predominantly only one race. Her speech reminded me of my trip to South Africa a couple years ago, my family went to an Apartheid museum and before the trip I had never even heard of it before. I learned the basics about MLK in elementary school, but I never learned about other countries racial equality. I did briefly learn about the caste system in India but not even close to enough about it to perform a play about it. At least one if not two of the panelists where from foreign countries and I was surprised at the vast knowledge they had about Martin Luther King Jr. I don’t know if they learned about him when they came to the United States but today I definitely was enlightened by the fact that many other countries know a lot about Martin Luther King Jr. It got me thinking about how many global heroes there are that I probably don’t know about. How had I not heard of the Apartheid before a few years ago, why is that injustice not something we learn about in school. I don’t know if it goes back to what we talked about in class, The United States is egocentric and we tend to only learn about ourselves, but I think it is a shame I haven’t learned more about other heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., especially in a country so rich with other cultures.

Blog Post 1

Thousands of years ago man domesticated animals, and in doing so made a promise that in this mutual relationship they would take care of one another. I am sad to say that today this promise has been broken. Many a creature fall victim to abuse and mistreatment at the hands of their supposed caretaker.

Throughout history man has depended on beast as a resource for food, labor and companionship. With advances in today’s technology and the lessening burden on animals for society to function, we as a people have failed in upholding our companionship end of the bargain. Where would society be today if the cavemen didn't have deer to hunt, if the Eskimo didn't have dog for transportation, or if the farmer didn't have cattle for labor?  With all of advancements in society we must not forget our past, what enabled us to be where we are today. How can a people so readily abuse and misuse god’s other creatures.

This is an injustice we will no longer accept. As a country and as a people we must stand up as one to defend the rights of those who cannot defend themselves. It is obvious today that we as people have broken our promise. When we took these creatures into our homes we swore we would look out for them, but today this is sadly not true. Many animals will not know what it is like to be appreciated, to receive the benefits of the unconditional love they put forth. Too many times are animals abused, beaten and starved to death. It is our duty, our responsibility to assure that this type of injustice will cease to exist. How can man be so cruel to a creature that has done nothing vengeful in return? Now is the time to open the heart of mankind to all of god’s creatures and provide them with the homes and environments for which he had intended. Now is the time to make animal shelters a thing of the past and provide all of the earth’s amazing animals with a loving home.

We as a people will stand for this no more. We refuse to accept the idea that the love of human kind is used up. We refuse to sit down while defenseless animals are mistreated. We won’t sit by as humans destroy the lives of creatures who want nothing but love. We will not turn our heads as our brothers and sisters mistreat the creatures that have enabled us to succeed. No matter how our world progresses and what technological revolutions are to come, we as a people must never fail to appreciate and uphold the contract we made with the domesticated animal. It is now that I call to action all people of the world to make animal abuse something our children will learn about in history class.

I have a dream that one day no animal will have to fear, fear the hands of their master, and fear their future.

I have a dream that in the near future animal abuse will be a thing of the past and all of god’s creatures will know what it feels like to be loved.