Just What Are We Afraid Of?

Diana Eck’s article in our text, Afraid of Ourselves, is unfortunately very real.  And, the video we watched in class is just one small example that addresses this issue.  Here we are, all Americans, in the “melting pot” and still, after years of opportunities to accept each other, are still very ignorant of religions outside of mainstream America.  If we simply look at demographics, quite honestly, “mainstream” America just isn’t what it used to be.  As Charles H. Lippy states in The New Faces of Pluralism, “Even within the Christian tradition, it has become impossible to look at Anglo-American styles as normative.”  I also agree with his idea that in the face of our country’s increased diversity, we can no longer regard a single religious tradition as normative or even culturally dominate. 

 

Additionally, the point Eck makes in her article through the example of the American Muslims that were targeted after the Murrah Federal Building bombing was unnecessary, unfortunate, and based solely on fear and ignorance.  And, the media’s failure to report the supportive involvement of Muslim firemen, doctors, and Muslim organizations who donated money and time to the relief effort only exacerbated the issue.  I do not understand this.

In the style of true American tradition, I hope that the citizens will continue to “stand up” and be different.  It is our responsibility to educate each other and explore more opportunities to embrace our differences.  

In looking further into this topic, I ran across a 9/11 story of a true American hero…

http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=9860

Domestic Workers = Oppression

Reading through the article in our text by Mary Romero that speaks to domestic service struck a chord with me.  The idea that along with the feminist movement and more involvement outside the home for women, what happened was not asking your male counterpart in the relationship to share in the household responsibilities, but instead, pushing the duties off onto another woman.  And then, adding injury to insult, these women receive low wages, no overtime, no vacation, no sick pay, no health care plan.  As the text states, “Paid housework that is structured to replicate the unpaid domestic work of the housewife includes practices affirming women’s inferiority.”  This article by Ms. Romero was written in 1992 and, while I am hopeful that positive changes have taken place, there is still injustice occurring.  

See this link to an article on NYDailyNews.com:  http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/04/08/2009-04-08_give_nannies_and_housekeepers_the_rights-2.html?page=1

Today it is more likely that both partners in a relationship work outside the home (either by choice or need) and there also seems to be more shared responsibility within relationships.  Job responsibilities are changing as well.  Many people actually work from home, which allows more flexibility for shared domestic duties.  Having said this, it is obvious that there is still a need/desire for domestic service, I hope that the days of white uniforms, cleaning floors on hands and knees, and gift giving in lieu of higher wages and benefits is a thing of the past.  These employees definitely deserve dignity and fair labor standards equal to those of any other industry.  

In looking around for information on fair labor standards for the domestic service industry, there truly is very little out there.  The following is a link to Domestic Workers United, an organization of Caribbean, Latina and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly caregivers in New York, organizing for power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build a movement to end exploitation and oppression for all.

http://www.domesticworkersunited.org/

Toxic Responsibility

If we’ve taken responsibility for matters of toxic waste that has occurred in the past, why have we not done the same for matters of toxic behaviors concerning race?

The following are several quotes from the epilogue of the Blackmon text we read this week.  These quotes relate to the past responsibilities of those companies involved.

The old Sloss Industries (known better today as Walter Industries):

“Obviously, this was a dark chapter for U.S. business.” 

“Certainly no company today could even conceive of this kind of practice.”

Rodney Mims Cook, Jr. (related to the English family who grew the Fourth National Bank – now known as Wachovia):

“In the proper context, we don’t object to it being discussed.” 

Representative of Drummond Coal Company (connected through mergers to Pratt Consolidated Coal – one of the largest forced labor employers of the past and owner of the lethal Banner Mine):

“I don’t know how we could be tied back to something that happened in the early part of the century.”  “Drummond wasn’t even founded then.”

U.S. Steel’s representative: 

“When it comes to the question of burden, I don’t think anybody here at this company today would feel burdened at all by anything that happened before 1908.”

“If we in face knew that the people who were there between 1908 and 1911 were forced to work in obviously unsafe conditions, which we don’t know that was true, we would feel badly about that.”

“Is it fair in fact to punish people who are living today, who have certain assets they might have inherited from others, or corporate assets that have been passed on?” 

“You can get to a situation where there is such a passage of time that it simply doesn’t make sense and is not fair.”

As I read this text, these quotes seemed to build upon themselves.  Then, I reached the paragraph in the text that speaks to hazardous waste and the laws adopted to force companies to take responsibility for past contamination of predecessor companies, irrespective of the passage of time.  WOW!  

I ask the same question that Martha Minow (Professor at Harvard University of Law) asks.  If we (our country) can take responsibility for our past environmental mistakes, why can’t (aren’t) we doing so for matters of race?! 

Then and Now

Hurricane Katrina 2005

Great Flood 1927

Week by week, our class becomes more engaging and interesting.  This week I thoroughly enjoyed our class discussions and the honest sharing by fellow classmates.  I am choosing to blog this week about our reading and class discussion regarding the great flood of 1927.  I’ll have to be honest, I felt a bit silly not know anything about this flood, especially as Professor Gerstenblatt unfolded its absolutely devastating story.  While this flood was one of our country’s greatest natural disasters, it was also disastrous economically, politically and racially.  Several times during my reading of this text, and our time in class discussing it, I couldn’t help but compare certain details to one of “our” natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina; also devastating on many levels.  Just as the Mississippi flood of 1927 exposed class divisions in America, so did Katrina nearly 80 years later.  Just think about how much destruction we saw in the press and as we discussed in class, just how much WE DIDN’T SEE.  Just how is it that we continue to make the same mistakes we did almost 80 years ago?

The following is a link with a cool story about the music inspired by the 1927 flood.  It is a history of sorts, starting with a song written by Charley Patton in 1929 and his influence on musicians for decades to come.

http://www.wbez.org/story/2011-05-18/when-levee-breaks-ripples-great-flood-86719

It’s clearly a black and white matter…NOT REALLY…

I found the Zinn writing Drawing the Color Line to be very thought provoking.  Never have I thought about the black/white “issue” quite like this before.  How has this thing called “racism” remained so ingrained in our nation’s culture over such a long period of time?  The idea of tracing it back to the very beginnings of slavery and the coming of the first whites and blacks to North America really makes sense.  And, that from the beginning, economics played an important role in slavery and ultimately, racism.  I agree with Zinn that racism is “a complex web of historical threads,” (Zinn 2003, p. 38) and not “natural”; that this was originally a system created due to the desperate settles starving to death, the incredible helplessness felt by displaced Africans, the drive to maximize profits by slave traders and plantation owners, the temptation of superiority for poor whites, strong control measures to discourage escape and rebellion, and the legal and social punishment when blacks and whites collaborated.  It is unfortunate that the situation created by slavery never allowed for black and white to embrace each other simply as fellow Americans – without a history of subordination, monetary incentive for exploitation and enslavement, and the desperation for simply surviving.  Fear, power, and greed can be the root of terrible things.  What really puzzles me though is why the struggle continues some 350 years later.

Additionally, I found interesting the idea that, even before slavery, the color black was “distasteful.”  The definition, from the Oxford English Dictionary (before 1600) as quoted in the text was in no way positive, as opposed to the Elizabethan poetry description of the color white and its connection with beauty.  This got me thinking about what the definitions of both black and white might be today.  The following are the links to the definitions of each from the on-line Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white

What are your thoughts on how they compare to the definitions referred to in our reading?  Take note of the following examples from Webster’s current definition:

 Black:  very dark in color (his face was black with rage)

White:  notably ardent : passionate (white fury)

Welcome to my Social Identity...

This was an interesting exercise which, quite honestly, I found a little more difficult than I anticipated.  I fully expected to just run through it in a matter of a few minutes.  Once finished, I left it on my desk.  I have now gone back two different times, looked it over again, and made changes.  As you will see, I think often about my spiritual life and physical/emotional development.  These are also the areas in which I desire to learn more about and I believe have the strongest effect on me personally.  Interestingly enough, and as supported by our readings, I think least about the things I take for granted, my race, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, age, national origin, and first language. 

What did you guys learn from this exercise?  Any surprises?