In his examination of slavery, Takaki shares with his audience the term "giddy multitude," which was used to describe the entire population of black men, women and children who were forced into this country and onto the fields with very little giddiness or grace. I feel this term is a slap-in-the-face, because it lumps together all African slaves (even though each tribe has their own unique customs and culture) and suggests that the black slaves are so large in number that they are bothersome to the white European settlers. Another significant issue that Takaki addresses and criticizes is the conditions of the "free" slaves in the North. The notion that slaves lived a life of freedom and grand opportunity in the Northern states compared to the plantations of the Southern states is bogus. Most black slaves were still denied suffrage, civil rights, favorable employment and working conditions as well as fair wages. Sure these men, women and children--for the most part--were not being treated as heinously as they were on the cotton and tobacco fields; however, life was still a constant struggle for life, liberty and happiness, especially amongst their Irish and Jewish neighbors.
After reading the third chapter of Joel Spring's text, I am reminded of the overseas trek that just about every black slave took in order to reach America. It is shocking to me how many individuals actually survived, despite the unsanitary and unlivable conditions (especially those that Courtney addressed so well in her midterm presentation). Moreover, citizenship for the slaves is something that I never even think about when considering the groups of immigrants who have struggled to be recognized as American citizens since their arrival months and years ago. It is certainly something I take for granted and before reading Spring and Takaki had never really been exposed to this uphill battle for citizenship amidst segregation & racism.
essential quotations:
"Black people kept their African ways as they understood them, worshiping in a manner that white observers condemned as idolatry and superstition. If a new generation of American-born peoples was tempted toward Christianity, an older generation would have nothing of it. Indeed, the distinctive nature of African-American culture led some white observers to conclude there could be no reconciliation of African and European ways" (Spring, 52).
[This quotation is an intriguing one for me, because it sheds light on the fact that the Anglo-Saxons are unwilling to reach a compromise (and when have they ever been) or even entertain the possibility of religious freedom. In the growing ecumenical world of 2009, the religion of these Anglo-Saxon men and women would not survive as it was.]
"Mr. [Booker T] Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things--First, political power, Second, insistence on civil rights, Third, higher education of Negro youth--and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South. [The result was the] disfranchisement of the Negro, the legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro...steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher education of the Negro" (Spring, 61).
[Give up? Haven't members of the black community given up enough already? Booker T Washington needs to consider how unreasonable his requests are and someone needs to remind the likes of Booker T that he is doing more harm (possibly causing another insurrection) than help for even his own cause]
"The love of justice and the love of country plead equally the cause of these people [slaves] and it is a moral reproach to us that they should have pleased it so long in vain....you know that nobody wishes more ardently to see an abolition not only of the [African slave] trade but of the condition of slavery: and certainly nobody will be more willing to encounter every sacrifice for that object" (Takaki, 69).
[The author of these words is President Thomas Jefferson as he gets himself in a hypocritical commotion in the Takaki text. In one paragraph, Jefferson attempts to prove why slavery is necessary and beneficial to the common good, and in the next, he expresses his shame and guilt for being a slave owner himself! Reading the true story of some of our former US presidents has been one of the most shocking revelations of this class--and American history--thus far.]
"In the theaters gold cannot procure a seat for the servile race beside their former masters; in the hospitals they lie apart; and although they are allowed to invoke the same God as the whites, it must be at a different altar and in their own churches, with their own clergy. The gates of heaven are not closed against them, but their inferiority is continued to the confines of the other world. When the Negro dies, his bones are caste aside, and the distinction of condition prevails even in the equality of death" (Takaki, 107).
[I selected this quotation, because I felt that its author, Alexis de Tocqueville, did such a good job exposing the reader to the absurdity of segregation and all its evil forms that it makes you scratch your head in utter confusion. Really? Some folks thought/think that even in death the blacks and the whites are not equal!?!]
"To me, at home in my early days, there was no difference between white and black. [One of Marcus Garvey's friends was a white girl] We were two innocent fools who never dreamed of a race feeling and problem. As a child, I went to school with white boys and girls, like all other negroes. We were not called negroes then. [But, then Garvey had to be separated from his white friend, because he was a 'nigger'] It was then that I found for the first time that there was some difference in humanity, and that there were different races, each having its own separate and distinct social life"(Takaki, 355).
[This quote is radical in the sense that Takaki does not always provide both sides of the argument and in Garvey's case here, Takaki once again draws his reader's attention to the absurdity of racism and segregation based on skin color that previously had been nothing more than normalcy.]
outstanding questions:
question #1: I am not a pessimist, but sometimes it seems as if the deep issue of racial inequality will never get resolved. What will it take to resolve local & global conflict/violence that revolves around various cultural and racial differences? Is there a solution?
question #2: For the first time, in quite some time, it seems as if education has become a national priority. Unfortunately, this is still not the case for everybody, as the dropout rate for teenage students is still high. Why is it difficult to understand the importance of a sound education? Is it a matter of what is being taught in the home environment or has society assuaged young adults that failing to graduate from high school is ok?
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