Chapter 3

Throughout Chapter 3 Johnson tried to identify what difference is and what it means. Johnson states that we should not live in fear or act with hatred with those that are different. He says differences between people are fine until one group of people decides they are better than another. And by deciding this it makes a privileged group, which is something that encourages discrimination by classify others based on color, sex, race, or even being disabled. In this chapter Johnson come up with a point system that helps understand what some people believe are better traits then others do. He believes that Racism was created from when capitalism became relevant in society. It was started when white people believed that they were better than blacks. The origins of racism had more to do with the amount of money that one had before it became mostly to do with the color of ones skin. Capitalism is pretty much the separation of classes mostly based on their financial class. White males had the majority of the money and therefore felt superior to the poorer black males creating racism. Johnson raises a very valid point when stating that it is not difference that destroys us, but when a difference is decided to be inferior is when discrimination and racism can take over. The point system that Johnson had created came off as a bit harsh, with the points given or taken away for what race, sex, sexuality, or if you were disabled. These traits are shallow superficial views of how people are viewed through the eyes of someone he believes they are superior to others. I found it interesting how Johnson related capitalism to the creation of racism. It makes sense because with capitalism the people who were white upper class with money tried to become the only influence in society, excluding many poor people, mostly with the poor blacks. This dominance allowed white males to force a race into slavery that had virtually no money.

Race 1

Race played a major role throughout this reading. In chapter 3, Takaki says that in the English mind, the color black was “freighted with an array of negative images.” (pp.51) He goes on to mention many different words to show how the color black had many negative images such as sinister, wicked, and foul. But yet whites were said to be innocent and just plain good. Yet many times black and white’s were treated the same, one thing both black and white slaves shared was a condition of class exploitation and abuse. At the beginning there were both white and black slaves or they were also know as “unfree laborers” But it was only a matter of time before their race played a part in how they were treated. The black and white servants soon were separated and the whites were given special and better treatment. There were even laws that were put into place to give whites more privileges, for instance a law was put into place in Virginia stating that masters could furnish arms to all men except Negroes. Soon after that it got worse for the black race and a punishment that was often given to them was that they were required laborers for life. The black slaves soon became known as “property” and part of the slave owners estate which started in 1669. Another way that there was evidence that the black race became known as the inferior race was that you never saw a black man owning a white slave. As I read I was amazed. First off that there were white and black slaves I was unaware of this. But to be honest I think it makes the idea of slavery in America better. Meaning that there were both white and black slaves, therefore slavery did not start off as whites believing that they were more superior to the blacks. Yet it does not surprise me that sooner or later the white slaves got special treatment. I think slavery is completely wrong. I’m not saying it makes it better but to have both black and white slaves makes it seem better because then slavery was not just based of race. I want to know why it made a difference if the slaves were white or black, and why the white slaves got better treatment if they were both slaves. I would also like to know why in this days did race have such a major impact on society and just in normal everyday life? For instance what made these people so afraid of difference?

Damato Columbus and the Indians

I believe that the authors thesis was "These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable for their hosipitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in Renaissance Europe."(Zinn,3) The thesis meaning that the Indians were willing to share everything while the Europeans only wanted to take and control everything, with no thought about what it did to others. His argument was that history is always written and told from the winners point of view. That when writting history many times what actually happened is either left out or altered in one way or the other. He wanted to tell the facts about how Colummbus and many other explorers killed many people in their selfish search for gold. Zinn's main idea is to tell the truth about what happened from the Indians point of view to show that though Columbus is known as a great man in America for finding this great country, he killed or ordered the killing of millions of people, women and children included. One of the questiuons i wondered is why if Columbus was such a religous man why did he feel that the killing and enslaving of innocent men, women, and children was not a sin, or not part of God's work. The second question i wondered was why did they kill and enslave the indians when they were almost always willing to comply with what the Europeans wanted as long as they asked and did not take? Why not just live together and help each other? Throughout the reading i was amazed with what i read. In many of the text books that I have read throughout school there was little that was touched on about the mass murder and the genocide. I always found it ironic that America is the home of the free where every man/women is equal, that the Europeans killed the Indians who actually lived this way. That even the children were as equal as the men and everyone worked together for the better of the whole community. I also was curious about how they can be so religous and be fine with killing all of these people. I liked how the indians had no money everything they did was just to survive. Also, that in many books Indians are portrayed as barbaric and so far behind the Europeans at that time, though they were farming and figured out how to grow corn and other plants and goods at about the same time as the rest of the world.