White Supremacy in Colonies

In Messay’s book brokered boundaries, he talks about the living conditions and ideology after they came to the U.S. Many of them are unable to adapt the American culture and suffer from the discrimination. Therefore, generally these immigrants live in the lower class in American society, and they have less power to dominate in the Country. Also the same situation happened on the early generations of Chinese immigrants in the U.S, and the Arabian immigrants in France. It is really hard for immigrants fit the society and get the respect from others in the early times. However, during 19th, groups of immigrants are different from them. Those people came from the rich western countries like Britain, France and Spain, and they moved to their countries’ colonies in developing countries. In Magaret Duras Book, the Lover, she talks about a poor French family in Vietnam. Even though their economic situation is bad, but their race still have the high social status in the colony. Therefore, I believe that the powers will decide the immigrants’ status in the country.

By the late 1880, France government controlled Vietnam and other southeast Asian countries, and these areas were considered as French Indochina. These colonies were developed fastly, and they turned to be the most lucrative colonies for France. Therefore, more and more French people moved to Vietnam to search economic opportunities or work for the government. The female main character Jane’s family moved to Vietnam from France, and her mother worked in the local schools. In their lives, we can see the segregation in Vietnam and the differences of the social status among races.

Having strong political power can ensure the race’s to have the privilege in the country. Even though French people were new to Vietnam, because they had the absolute power on politics, they could make the regulations by themselvs. They had the right to enact policies and laws, so all rules are made for benefit French people. Therefore, They have the superiority in the colonies, and the society was divided into several levels. White was considered as the top class in Vietnam. For instance, in The Lover, it describes the segregation situation in French Vietnam colony. There were reserved seats for the white on public transportation, and French kids went to different schools from the local students. All these rules provided white people advantageous , so they lived better than the local citizens.

Economic is also an essential factors to determine immigrants’ social status. Under the protection of the French government, the white people in colonies can have a better economic conditions than the local citizens. Most profitable business were run by the white people, and they could find high salary jobs much easier. In addition, when the white people in colonies were in the poverty, the government will give them necessary assistances on economy. In the Lover, the main character Jane was from a very poor French family in the colony. However, their lives were much better than the local Vietnams. Her family still had a maid to serve them, and they had enough food to eat. Like she said in the book, “we are poor, but we do not need to starve, because we are whites.” The whites in the colony live have the power to dominate the society, because they are rich, and money helps them to live in a high standard. Thus, the social status of French people is high in Vietnam.

Political power and economic situations are crucial factors to develop the race’s social status. The colony provide more opportunities to the dominant race, and they are above the local people as well as other races. Therefore, the white people in Vietnam had the superiority in the society.

http://alphahistory.com/vietnam/french-colonialism-in-vietnam/

A Positive Relationship: More Than A Mascot.

Possibly the most fascinating case out of all the name controversy is probably the relationship between the Seminole tribe and Florida state's mascot's Chief Osceola and Renegade. This mascot tradition began on warm Saturday morning in 1978. The tradition included Chief Osceola on his Appaloosa Horse riding to midfield and then planting the burning spear his was carrying in the turf. Insuring that the Chief was accurately depicted always has been a essential part to the integrity of the mascot. Florida State makes efforts to ensue that the depiction is accurate as possible and thus have gained tremendous support from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, although they have not earned the support of everyone.

With that said the Seminole Tribe of Florida was more than impressed with the tradition that Florida State put they decided to honor Chief Osceola and Renegade. Student Drake Anderson, who currently plays the role of Chief Osceola , alongside leader and former Mascot Allen Durham with six members of the Osceola and Renegade team traveled to the tribe's Brighton Indian Reservation for a parade in which they would be honored, that took place on Feb. 18 2012. Allen Durham had this to say about his experience visiting the reservation, "In order to preserve the dignity of our portrayal of Osceola and Renegade, we normally don't make any appearances outside of Florida State football games," said Durham, who portrayed Osceola while he was a Florida State student. "But certainly with the Seminole Tribe requesting it, we were absolutely honored and most definitely said 'yes' to this very special request."

I think this is a case of the best way to handle earning the right to to use a mascot that involves sacred traditions of another ethnicity's culture.

Stand Your Ground and Richard Combs

As the nation is still reeling from a number of highly publicized police shootings that resulted in, what many consider, the unjust deaths of black civilians, (now) former Orangeburg, SC officer Richard Combs was indicted in the shooting and killing of Bernard Bailey during an interaction over a traffic ticket.

Bailey
(source)

Combs
(source)

Media outlets have exploded recently over events involving the deaths of a number of black citizens. In August, unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed at the hands of a white officer. Despite controversy over whether the shooting was justified, a grand jury failed to indict him. Recently, NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo was not indicted for using an illegal chokehold on unarmed black citizen Eric Garner, resulting in Garner’s death. Despite video evidence, a grand jury also failed to indict Pantaleo. There have been a number of highly publicized shootings of black civilians in the news, including 12 year old Tamir Rice.

(source)

Unfortunately, the death of Combs took place in May of 2011. Many such incidents were not as highly publicized. Many still aren’t. However, recent events combined with, what one may hope, is a growing awareness of injustice and racial disparity in the US Justice System have lead to greater and greater public attention of such incidences. That being said, despite public pressure, the failure to indict Pantaleo left many pessimistic.

(source)

As such, the indictment of Combs stand in contrast to recent trends in such cases.

Combs, apparently, had gone to city hall to contest his daughter’s traffic ticket. The Associated Press writes that:

When he showed up, the chief tried to arrest Bailey, a 6-foot-6 former prison guard.

Prosecutors said Bailey marched back to his truck, and Combs tried to get inside to turn off the ignition. The two briefly fought, and Combs shot Bailey, 54, twice in the chest.

Combs tried to claim a “stand your ground” defense, saying he got tangled in the steering wheel and was scared for his life should Bailey drive away. 

Apparently, Combs’ indictment is one of three this year alone wherein white officers shot unarmed black men in SC. The state has a past of civil rights violence, and racial issues that have carried over very blatantly into the present.

Comb’s attempt to enact the “stand your ground” defense is a prime example of why many feel the laws are dangerous and possible contributors to racial injustice. The ability to shoot somebody based on “fear” is subjective, the idea that a person’s first reaction to being scared is to shoot a terrifying one. Combined with racial stereotypes that provoke discomfort and nervousness, or general dislike, this could easily lead to a number of racially fueled deaths, such as in the case of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.

One resident of the small town stated that people may develop a more aggressive attitude about the case, should Combs not be found guilty of murder.

Sources:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/allegations-of-police-misconduct-rarely-result-in-charges/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sc-cop-charged-murder-unarmed-man-shooting-27362718?page=2

http://thetandd.com/news/judge-no-stand-your-ground-defense-in-shooting-ex-eutawville/article_8e06fc66-7b60-11e4-b9a8-1ba299f9a3f8.html

Is race too offensive to be taught?

This year, Alan Barron, a middle school history teacher, resumed his job after being put on administrative leave due to his controversial method of teaching race. During one of his classes, he showed the class a video of white entertainers putting on blackface for their theatrical acts. A school administrator observed his class and took offense. After Barron was called to the main office, he was taken out of school. He spent two weeks in an administrate gulag, which is a place where you are discouraged from expressing your opinions. This is because his teaching methods went against the education bureaucracy. During, an interview however, Barron pointed out that as a history teacher, sometimes you need to teach things that happened that are offensive. He named off Racism, the Crucifixion, wars, and Japanese-American internment during World War II as things that were offensive, but also as things that all happened, noting “You don’t skip history because it might offend.” And apparently, the parents of the students he was teaching agreed. After the students reported to their parents what had happened to him, they got upset because they all knew he was a good teacher and didn’t want to see him go. One mother, whose daughter and husband were black, and whose father was from Iraq, said that she wasn’t offended, and that Barron shouldn’t have gotten in trouble for showing something that happened. This led to the idea that schools are just ignoring certain parts of history that might offend. After all the parents got together to protest, Barron was allowed to return to teaching.

All of this really makes you wonder- why did the school want to skip over parts of history that might want to be considered offensive. Like it or not, the students need to learn that some bad stuff has happened in the world at some point, and it’s better for them to learn it early so they can better prepare themselves for taking on the world later in life. We can’t just act like everything in life is perfect no matter how much we want to believe it. I don’t think it was right for the teacher to be sent to the gulag because he was just doing his job. I hope this is something that doesn’t happen that often, because people shouldn’t get in trouble for teaching events that they had no control over.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-06-05/news/ct-kass-met-0605-20140605_1_history-school-administrator-segregation

Black Performer in France:Josphine Baker

Josephine

Josephine Baker played a huge role in both American and French Music. She was a phenomenal woman who broke down racial barriers and assisted in expanding the need of Black musicians around the world.  Unfortunately, Baker had given up on America because of the racist laws in the South and the Music industry's ignorance regarding African American artists.  Baker grew up in St, Louis Missouri in the early 1900’s beginning her career as a performer. She toured with circuits around the South which was a hard time for African Americans living in the South. After joining a musical group that performed in Paris France, Baker loved the fact that she was  free to walk the streets  of  Paris without facing any form of racism from her French counterparts(Kear,1996)

Her career also  skyrocketed in France when she was offered both singing and acting contracts playing the main character in numerous French movies and musicals. 

Baker with French fans

Compared to the lesser roles that she was given in the American film industry, the French industry made Baker a superstar in numerous movies. One French movie that gave its first leading role to a Black women was Zou Zou, where she falls in love with a white male character. This was a surprise to her because she would never have been given this role in the racist American film industry. Ultimately, Baker was in love with the French and she even assisted the French Resistance by smuggling secrets written in invisible ink on her sheet music during the Second World War. As a result, she became the first American-born woman to receive the highest French military honor, the Croix de Guerre. When asked about the difference between France and the United States, she stated, “The French people adopted me immediately, they all went to dark beaches to get dark like Josephine Baker” In this example Baker is illustrating the fact that France was a better place for her to live as a Black women because her skin color and race was not looked down upon (Kear,1996).

As she continued to play a huge role France's musical and film industries, "Place Joséphine Baker" in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris was also named in her honor.  Her name has also been incorporated at Paris Plage, a man-made beach along the river Seine "Piscine Joséphine Baker". Bakers's experiences in France, reflected that of many other African artists who were welcomed by  the French with open arms compared to the racist attitudes they  faced in United States.

http://www.biography.com/people/josephine-baker-9195959

Kear, Jon. "Venus noire: Josephine Baker and the Parisian Music-hall'."Parisian Fields (1996): 56.