takaki ch 10

Takaki ch 10

Takaki’s tenth chapter, “Pacific Crossings: Seeking the Land of Money Trees,” describes life for Japanese and Japanese-Americans during the early 1900’s. Takaki shows that the Japanese migrant workers were treated very poorly and were paid about four dollars less per day than the Portuguese workers doing the same job. This angered the Japanese laborers so they went on strike on the main Hawaiian island. The Japanese workers from other islands sent funds to the strikers so they could survive. The landowners then hired other Asian groups to work creating social classes within the different ethnic groups. They wanted to keep the ethnic groups separate so they would not join up and revolt, much like the Eastern Americans, with indentured servants and slaves. The chapter then explains how the Japanese people joined with the Filipino people to make the Hawaii Laborers’ Association, which allowed for more power to go to the Asians; however, they were still not allowed to become naturalized citizens. The chapter then goes on to describe that life in California was much more intense. They had to deal with hot weather in the desert and cold weather in the mountains. Even the American-born children were not treated as equals, even though they completed more school than the average American, two years of college.

One question that I think would lead to a good discussion is why did the Filipino accept the smaller, dirtier shacks than the Japanese when they were from similar backgrounds, and almost similar numbers? I would say that they did this because of the way the white men ordered them. Since the Filipino people came to Hawaii later than the Japanese, the white men forced them to act as an inferior race to the Japanese. This was to control the workers more by making the Japanese feel superior over the Filipinos so they would not socialize.

I think it is interesting that the workers were able to form a common language, called Pidgin English so they could communicate with plantation owners, and other workers. This common language was very useful for the uprising of the Asians to get equal wages with the European workers. Since they had the language other than the home language they did not only view themselves as a Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Filipino, but also as a migrant worker trying to be equal with everyone around them. One other thing that shocked me about this chapter was that even in a society where women were welcomed to have jobs, they were still forced to do all housework and were not allowed to go to sleep before the husband. I was shocked when I heard that women did equal amounts of fieldwork on top of the housework such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. I was also feel bad that the plantation owners did not even refer to the laborers by name, but instead a number. This would be very hurtful to me if I were only looked at as a number and not an individual. This is similar to the social security number or the Bowling Green ID number, although they are used for different reasons.

ethnic notions

Ethnic Notions

In the movie Ethnic Notions, black stereotypes were shown from both pre civil war and post civil war. The stereotypes were explained to the extent of how they began and what time they originated. The movie showed how slaves were portrayed to be happy servants who would do anything for their master. Images such as Uncle Ben’s rice and Aunt Jemima cluttered grocery stores. After the civil war; however, black people were shown to be violent people who needed to be put back into slavery. Also in this movie, films were shown that represented the black characters. The characters were made by having white men or women putting soot on his or her face. Even if a black person were to play a black person in film, he would have to darken his face and place white marks around the lips to look like the mouth is enlarged. In one skit during the movie, a bunch of black people are shown shooting craps in an alleyway.

One discussion question that I would propose to a class would be Why did the white society feel so threatened that they developed rude stereotypes towards black people. Personally, I think it was because the white people knew that there isn’t much difference between white people and black people, merely looks. At that time, the black people were less educated, because they were forced to be. They had the same capacity to learn but were simply forced not to.

Overall, I thought that this movie portrayed some very mean things. It stated how harmful these stereotypes were, but they were bad to see. I felt uncomfortable watching these coming from an area where there were few to no black families. I was very familiar with the stereotypes, although I didn’t know where they came from. I can not believe that stereotypes would be created how they were just so people could further the privilege that they had.

takaki ch 3

In Takaki’s third chapter, “The ‘Giddy Multitude’: The Hidden Origins of Slavery,” the origins of slavery are once again explained to the readers. The chapter is titled this because in it, the word “giddy multiture” is defined, and some hidden origins are shown. A giddy multitude is “an unhappy social class built from indentured servants, slaves, and landless freemen, both white and black.” Takaki says that the hidden origin of slavery is the transition from white to black workers that worked merely due to timing. The growth of black population combined with the increasing rebellion by the white workers. This chapter is very similar to Zinn’s in the sense that it shows that Africans were better slavery candidates at the time period in which they were enslaved because the Native Americans knew too much about the nation. It is stated that Negro slaves produced more tobacco than the indentured servants by significant amounts. It also explains how the slave owners feared for a revolt from the whites grouped with the African slaves. One important example taken from this chapter was when Takaki mentions Thomas Jefferson’s viewpoint on slavery. He says that the only way for conflicts to be eliminated in white society would be to have more whites own land than work for another white man.

This chapter is merely a review for me although it includes different examples than I have previously known. I was shocked to hear that everyone thought that if whites did not have to work so hard than our society would be better. They did not even think that the African slaves would feel anything towards the work that they had to endure. I would also like to know how the white people were able to get slaves from African when they did not use force. This would be hard to imagine that the African kings would sell people to white Americans to use as slaves. It was redundant to read the same basic idea that was assigned for the last reading although it sticks in my head more when it is reiterated by multiple assignments dealing with the same topic. Origins of slavery is a sad thing to read about although if taking a proper historian view, one needs to take themselves back to the viewpoints of the people in that time period. Africans were thought of as animals then. Whipping race horses is still not considered harsh in today’s society, so back then it would not be considered harsh to whip an animal.

Zinn ch 2

In Zinn’s second chapter, “Drawing the Color Line,” the beginnings of slavery are shown and Zinn states that American slavery is the basis for racism today. The reason racism in America and racism in Africa are different, Zinn states, is that the Americans treated the black slaves cruel and when Africans had slaves it was comparable to servants in Europe because they were treated like people who had to work, instead of animals. Zinn also says that there isn’t a country where racism has been so important for so long. Zinn says that the reason Americans enslaved Africans instead of Native Americans is that when we first began slavery, the natives gave a much higher resistance due to their numbers. When the rich whites began to think that the poor whites were going to side with the slaves to help with a revolt, the rich whites started giving white indentured servants benefits after the time served was up. This helped to prevent the uprising because the poor whites no longer disliked rich whites due to jealousy. The poor whites were also given reduced sentences compared to what they received before to halt a revolution effort.

I was shocked to hear that racism here is more than in other countries. I did not realize that America was the highest racist country. It sort of puts me into place realizing that all other countries have gotten over the difference of looks while as a whole, America hasn’t. It shows me that I have to step up to help other races get over the glass ceiling they experience in the working world. I think to myself, how can one country who has a high influence on other nations set an example to smaller, less powerful nations that racism is okay. Racism is not okay and we, as a nation, need to show other nations that looking at someone, not by their skin color, but by their actions. If one person everyday was changed to think this way, it would be beneficial, but more people to need change their mindframes than that.