takaki chapter 6

Takaki 6

In Takaki’s 6th chapter, entitled “Emigrants from Erin,” the lives of Irish Americans is discussed. At first, Irish people were treated like trash. They were forced to do heavy labor and were considered not white, similar to the blacks. They were considered bad because they were un-American. The Irish people had to cram together on immigration boats and were forced to live in harsh conditions. Takaki even mentions that 20% die during or slightly after the trip. That number is high for people looking for a better life. That means that so many Irish people were let down. Not only did 20% die but they did not receive good lives in America. The women were maids and servants while the men did hard labor in fields or whatnot. Later on however, Irish people began to pick on the non-white people to try to get higher status and more power. They would claim that since their skin is white, they should be treated white. And that came to be when most of the Irish began to adapt the American religions.

So how can one race go from being not white to white in a short time, when skin color does not change. This is because whiteness is not a physical characteristic. It is purely an image set by the media that you can be non-white while being white skinned. This can be seen today with Rednecks the rednecks are separated by class and can be considered white. As someone once said, there’s white, and then there’s white trash.

I felt that this chapter was very beneficial to me because I could finally relate myself to the subject. I was finally reading about how someone can be oppressed for being Irish. I have some Irish in my bloodline and I would like to know that at one time, my ancestors were able to overcome diversity and I was able to develop enough to be attending a University and live in a middle upper class home. I thank the Lord for all of that but it was a nice read to be able to see that my family was not in the same situation that I am right now and also that they were able to become sweet overtime