The relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed is not strictly divided, but rather one that is constantly intermingling. The oppressor is, often times, also the oppressed. Although oppression is dehumanizing for both parties, it is possible to become free. In order to become free, however, one must must fight for it.…
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”…
The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a group created in 1966. The group’s purpose was to teach African Americans to protect themselves from police brutality while interacting with police officers and they sought to bring about social change. The group tried to get change by “employing violent tactics” like marching on streets while toting guns. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had a program called the Counter Intelligence Program(also known as its portmanteau COINTELPRO).…
"We (the human race) are now in possession of a great deal of hard information about ourselves, but we do not use it to improve our institutions and therefore our lives."…
There have been many forms of oppression throughout history. While many forms of oppression have been eradicated, many forms still exist in today’s society. Concerning the forms of oppression that have been eradicated, the question that comes to mind is how these forms of oppression were dealt with and what led to them being eradicated. The process of dealing with oppression in turn brings to light another question in how successful are the resistors’ approaches in dealing with oppression. There are two main distinct approaches to oppression which are violent resistance and non-violent resistances. Since there have been many oppressed groups that have seen success from nonviolent resistances to oppression, the focus of this paper will be taking a stance in proving that the oppressed do see success in nonviolent approaches. In analyzing this notion, I will discuss the forms of oppression portrayed in the film Pride by Stephen Beresford and Angela Davis’s chapter “Class and Race in the Early Women’s Rights Campaign.” I will then discuss the resistors’ approaches in dealing with oppression and give my opinion of the most effective way to resist oppression which is a union of many forms of resistances coming together. Finally, I will discuss how much power really…
“The world is too dangerous to live in – not because of the people who do evil, but…
In the fifty years following World War II, African Americans made great strides in America. Now they did not come easily but the hard ships endured by those some sixty/seventy years ago have improved the quality of life for many African Americans today. Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, great black leaders stepped up to help secure equality for all races and equally voting rights among, among other things. Some of the more recognizable names were Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael, and Rosa Parks. They may have had different ideas and ways to end segregation but they all contributed to improving African-American life in America politically, socially, and economically over the latter half of the twentieth century.…
In the nineteen fifties black communities across the United States were suffering under the heavy burden of poverty. Unemployment, incarceration, drug use and numerous other conditions of poverty were all significantly more prevalent amongst blacks then whites. At the same time blacks across the country were struggling against the oppression of general racial discrimination and Jim Crow segregation in the south. From this turmoil a multitude of black rights movements were created to struggle for equality and better living conditions for blacks. On the forefront of this undertaking was the non-violent Civil Rights Movement led by Baptist Minister Martin Luther King Jr. and the “by…
The Ku Klux Klan was started as an underground terrorist group against the civil rights movement that freed the slaves after the American Civil War. (sun.menloschool.org) The Ku Klux Klan or commonly referred as the KKK would define themselves as a political party, one that they also call the White Rights Movement. Whites, according to the KKK are giving up their lives in a sacrificial manner for those who are not white. (sun.menloschool.org) The KKK was made up of both men and women. Having the first and second Ku Klux Klan affect society and the Freeman’s Bureau that would protect the rights of former slaves would impact society for years to come.…
Organized in the 1960s at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionist group pioneering a strategy of militancy. The Party's aims were to eliminate the discrimination challenging African-Americans in America since the time of slavery, and to protect their communities from police brutality. Inspired by contemporary radical leaders such as Malcolm X, the party recognized that in order to restructure American society so that civil equality was obtainable by all people, a much stronger opposition was necessary. Party members felt the passive resistance adopted by their predecessors fighting for equality proved futile, and therefore the Party endorsed new tactics of self-defense and violent resistance to secure their political and social rights as American citizens. However, the promotion and employment of open violence fueled the government with legitimate reason to battle for the Party's eradication. Regardless of its success in instituting innovative community reforms in African-American neighborhoods, during its short existence the Black Panther Party was never able to achieve its fundamental goal of eliminating racial discrimination and ensuring civil equality for all when battling against an America averse to change.…
“I have freedom,” you say? Do you really? Perhaps, in some ways, you do. But in the end, you’re just another puppet being controlled by invisible strings whether you know it or not. “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said. In society, man is “chained” and controlled by the government, by pressure of conforming to the social norms, by wealth and social class, and by one’s desires and emotions. Prior to birth, man is not restricted by such factors but that is merely a fleeting moment as he is slowly exposed to more and more of the world. I agree that “everywhere [man] is in chains,” but on the contrary, I believe man is already chained from the start—that man is never free. In the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, babies are “decanted” and conditioned to play out their predestined roles in the World State. As early as the embryonic stage, babies-to-be already have their fates determined for them. In addition to conditioning, a drug called soma that induces a false sense of happiness dominates these people’s lives. As long as there is society, there will be shackles.…
“Every man must must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”…
“We will be superfluous even to ourselves, we will grow older, a few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit, and most will be bewildered;--the years will pass by and in the end we shall fall into ruin.”…
After doing research to compare/contrast the two groups, the Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan, it opened my eyes. I realized that the new generation is oblivious to the existence of both groups and the similarities and differences in them. I researched the two different groups to see when the groups came into existence who were the members, why they fought for rights they thought they deserved and the group's involvement in violent acts and their remnants today.…
▪ “don’t make decisions based on wants, but based on needs” (decisions based on wants tend to result in catastrophe( include a possible real life example?)…