David Walker's Appeal

I thought our discussion of the David Walker piece was quite interesting because he introduced all the inconsistencies between the ideologies that most slave owners had as opposed to their actual practice of slavery. Walker uses multiple biblical stories to explain his plight that slaves in contemporary times are ethically treated more harshly because of the dehumanization they experience. An example of this is evident when Walker references a newspaper, which compares the Turks and their treatment of Greeks, calling them brutes, where the article stipulates it should be the other way around. Adjacent to that article, Walker looks at an article advertising a reward for escaped slaves. Along with Walker, I find it totally hypocritical to talk of barbarity in the form of races abroad and not consider the barbarity that slaves face in the United States. He is justified in his response to this newspaper and I agree that it is somewhat humorous and insincere.

I am also confused, I don't understand why Walker would base this appeal off of the U.S constitution. Why would he construct his appeal in the same manner if it resembles the writings of politicians who crafted the way the country was shaped with slavery during this time period? He constantly attacks Thomas Jefferson and he was at the forefront of American politics while the U.S. was being constructed, I guess I don't quite understand why he would follow their form of writing, while he seems to detest these men for their crafting of a document that allows slavery. The only reason that comes to mind is Walker's desire to show that he is just as well educated and depict that he can craft a similar document in response for others to read...

Class Discussion

This week in class the topic of racism has been brought up several times. The question of what is the difference between: "How racist am I?" vs. "How am I racist?" is actually a common debate that people have today. It's true that the the first question is asking more on how do you classify yourself as racist on a scale and everybody's scale is going to be different. But the second question goes much deeper than that. "How am I racist?" makes one really question how they go about their conversations, manners, and actions regarding someone and their race. It forces us to look within ourselves, explore and pinpoint the things that we may not have initially thought about but what could potentially come off as discriminatory to someone else. Also, the second question eliminates the idea of "no racism" existing, while the first one allows the individual to include in their scale the possibility of acknowledging and believing that they are not racist. In Silent Racism, Trepagnier makes it a point to tell the reader that pretty much everyone is racist since it can exist in many forms. It's important for people to ask themselves the second question. Not necessarily to change the way they act, but to acknowledge and remember that racism is still existent in its many hidden forms.

Sojourner Truth's Speech

In class on Wednesday we talked a little bit about the impact Sojourner Truth had on both the abolitionist movement, as well as the women’s right movement. We read in the Norton Anthology that women at the conference in 1851 were initially opposed to Truth speaking. I’m wondering what caused France Gage to allow Truth to speak, despite the protests of the other women present. I also wonder what might have happened if Sojourner Truth hadn’t have delivered her “Aren’t I a Woman?” speech.
It is very notable that a woman who never learned to read or write could affect so many people in such a positive, influential way. Her oratory skills and presence must have been truly astounding to overcome the obstacle of illiteracy. I think this may be why when Gage recorded Truth’s speech, she wrote it in the vernacular with which Truth delivered it. It allows the reader to hear Sojourner’s voice and picture her tall frame standing before those white women. It is also incredible that a woman who couldn’t read or write could make literary allusions to the Bible so accurately and effectively.
I am truly impressed by the way Sojourner Truth addressed the issues of women’s rights and abolitionism in the same speech, placing equal emphasis on each. Some of the women were concerned that if Truth spoke, she would turn the conference into an antislavery act (Norton, 247). But Truth clearly cared about both issues deeply, and expressed her concern, as well as solutions to the related problems.

David Walker's Appeal

Since I unfortunately missed Wednesday's class due to a stomach bug, I missed discussing David Walker's piece. I found this reading particularly interesting so I wanted to take a little time to share some thoughts I had about it. I apologize if I repeat anything that was said in class.

One of the reasons that I found this reading so interesting was how Walker supported so many of his arguments with references from the Bible. This is important because we have already read countless pieces where African Americans are mocking the "white Christians" who preach of one thing yet come home and tear families apart and treat human beings as less than animals. Walker adds to this, yet I think he is emphasizing that it is not Christianity that is to be mocked: it is the way that people call themselves 'Christians' yet do not actually live as them.

"..all true hearted Christians and lovers of Jesus Christ, must evidently see the judgments of God displayed....All persons who are acquainted with history , and particularly the Bible...that God made man to serve Him alone, and that man should have no other Lord or Lords but Himself...who can dispense with prejudice long enough to admit that we are men.." ending with basically saying that all who believe this, who actually follow the Bible and the true beliefs of Christianity, will see that slavery is wrong (230). Walker is saying that if people were actually 'true hearted Christians' and truly loved Jesus Christ and followed his example as Christians (which means 'little Christ') that they could never justify slavery.

I think that Walker is challenging people who support slavery yet call themselves 'Christians' to actually follow the word of the God they claim to follow, instead of twisting verses around to justify the cruelty of slavery.

I'd be interested to see what anyone else thought of this. Thanks!

Folktales

I noticed a couple of interesting things about the folktales that we read for Monday. The first thing I noticed was the repeated theme of the black slaves being able to fly away from their troubles. I had also noticed this with the songs that we looked at last week. I think this is of huge importance to the slaves that were singing the songs or telling the folktales. To them the idea of flying away (by either dying or running away) might have been one of the few hopes that they could cling to. Looking at these readings really drove that home to me.
The other thing that I noticed was a bit of a surprise to me. I had expected many of the folktales to talk about white men tricking, abusing, and trying to destroy their black slaves or the slaves outsmarting and tricking their masters. This was the theme of most of the folktales, but a couple of the stories seemed to say that it was the slaves' own faults that they were slaves. For example, the story where the black man choose to open the larger bag full of tools while the white man got a smaller bag with a pen and ink in it. The black man was forced to do the manual work while the white man could "figure". This really surprised me because I hadn't expected to see it.

Silent Racism

I think the classroom discussion on Monday was pretty controversial, which I expected it to be, obviously. I think that a lot of people had different opinions regarding the Silent Racism reading that we had to do for the class; when the experimental groups in Trepagnier's recollections happened to stumble upon an issue regarding race, some people in our class maintained certain ideals and opinions in reaction to those issues, while other people clearly begged to differ. I think that's what makes a classroom environment stimulating, especially in this racial context, because it's important to hear out other people's ideas about the world in a more structured and appropriate manner. Even I spoke out about how I felt in regard to a woman in the discussion, Katie, who voiced her opinions about race, and other people would definitely beg to differ. But I guess that's what makes a classroom so stimulating, like I said before. I'm sure we'll end up having a more controversial topic to discuss later in the semester, as material covers more topics about race and prejudice or discrimination. I also hope that we spend time analyzing texts more as well, rather than just focusing on Silent Racism. As the class has already probably realized, historical texts have a lot to say about an issue that has continued for centuries; I would like to dig further into those readings.

racism

This week in class we've been discussing racism quiet a bit. I think that racism is a precious topic that some people try to forget about. At the same time this issue is impossible to forget about because of all the historic events that occurred. The Sojourner Truth and David Walker stories are prime examples of how blacks were discriminated against back in the day. And yes there were millions of other cases of racism that happened after Truth and Walker.So the question is as a society how do we get pass this issue of racism? I personally don't think the world would ever be different when discussing race. As long as everyone's civil rights are the same then that's then most that can be done legally. I agree with the first two chapters of silent racism when Trepagnier talks about everyday racism and silent racism that occurs everyday because i feel like most people don't think it happens.Another problem with discussing racism today is the comfortably talking about the issue in front of the opposite race. I believe that some whites find it difficult to discuss racism in front of other minorities because of they feel guilty about the past. On the other hand i feel that some minorities are so caught up in racial issues that they forget its 2010 and everyone's rights are pretty much the same.