Last Tuesday was the first day
that I joined my Violence in American Art & Culture class, in discussing
Slave and Citizen. I thought many of the passages that we went over together
throughout pages 1-52 were very interesting. As we analyzed quotes and tried to
translate it in a language to better understand what Tannenbaum was trying to
explain, I realized there were a lot of statements that actually made sense and
can be applied to in today’s world. One such example is, “The shadow of slavery
is still cast ahead of us”, suggesting that slavery was still going to exist in
the future, even after the Emancipation Proclamation or 13th amendment.
I feel like this statement also has a deeper meaning; the underlying root of
slavery such as hate will also linger in the minds of those who feel a sense of
superiority over others. Just like we were talking about in class, the end of
slavery failed morally to free the white man because it still exists in his
mind. I think this is absolutely relevant even now in certain places; the prejudice
against other based on the idea of “race”. One thing such as a law can’t change
the way people feel or think about others.
On another note, I realized that the
major claim we pulled out from the text and our discussion is the following
line; “For in Brazil the Negro and especially the mulatto, had an access to the
culture and a role in social life unknown in the U.S.”. Basically, I feel this
means that although slavery exists in different parts of the world, the actual
system of how it operates differs. One claim which supports the major claim that
I found complex and interesting was a concept in science and religion. I think
on page 46, I realized how one religion or beliefs can be interpreted in different
ways. On one hand, the British believed science above Christianity and race is
biologically unequal, while the Spanish believed everyone is equal and have
souls.
As I take it all in, I believe
the fundamentals of human nature are the basis of what we discussed. The idea
that some individuals are better than others is obviously something that has
always been in history as we can see.
