Friday, June 28, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Racism is an Old and Outdated Ideology Get over it Find your Life
Looking into your past may help you to understand your future
Racism is an Old and Outdated Ideology
Get over it
Find your life
While researching my family tree, I realized that my
ancestors lived in a society engulfed in violence, fueled by racism and any incident
could ignite this social fire. I knew then, that I had to understand historical
violence. In 2005, I returned to college and received my Bachelor in Human Services,
focus: Violence Prevention and Intervention. With my specialized degree, I have
acquired a profound understanding of individual, community and historical
violence. Violence is a multifaceted social issue. However, racially motivated
violence has a traceable origin. The origins of violence is afflicted and
delivered within the confines of race, gender and class.
During a gloomy period in America’s history, People
of Color, from West Africa and the West Indies, were kidnapped from their
homeland, shipped to America and forced into slavery. The institution of
slavery was a physical laborious task for slaves that produced wealthy
planters; additionally slavery was an indoctrination of a belief system that
labeled slaves as sub-human.
Racial categorization was used as a tool to
dehumanize, ostracize, and disgrace, members of the so deemed sub-human race.
This conceptual device of classifying human beings into sub-human inferiors was
formulated politically to justify the institution of slavery. The crime of
declaring People of Color as inferior sub-humans became an accepted belief
system. Adopted slave laws, stated that slaves were the human property of their
slave owners. The philosophy of People of Color deemed as human property,
culminated into the desensitization and dehumanization that escalated into
unspeakable atrocities.
For the duration of the Antebellum Era, the Civil
War, and into the Reconstruction period and through the Roaring Twenties, until
her death on August 25, 1925, Mariah suffered through the brutally of southern
violence. People of Color, were branded with negative derogatory labels, like
nigger and darky. Mariah knew that she could not change the cognitive behavior
of society. However, she provided her family with a therapeutic and a spiritual
framework, simply, she bestowed upon them self-esteem and self-worth. She was
determined that her family would not live under the umbrella of slavery.
Although, Mariah lived in this social order, where
she was confronted with barriers of race, class and gender, she refused to
wear, or accept the labels of the inferior Negro. Mariah’s
departure to transcend from human property to a human being was met with
opposition as she and her family channeled through the violent Reconstruction
Era. However, a human bond between master and slave was formed as she gained
the respect of an affluent White community.
As the matriarch of her family, Mariah, was
unwavering as she attempted to sail through the iniquitous institution of
inequality. She defended her property against the Ku Klux Klan. She had seen
the lynching of several people within her family circle. Despite the violence,
she told her children to believe in God, get an education and to grasp the
ideal that they were American citizens. She remained steadfast in the hope of
attaining the American dream.
Where is the America that Mariah dreamed of? It is
2013, and we are continually confronted by cases of inequity. Racism is an old
and outdated philosophy that was used to justify slavery. It is time for all
human beings to embrace our unique differences; we have to become a culturally
competent society. We are diverse by language, culture, ethnicity and other
entities however, we share one common bond we are all human beings.
For the most part, People of Color are socially
powerless, economically deprived and often times they are the victims of being
socially victimized by stereotypes. Since, race is the first identifying characteristic;
People of Color are confined in a systematic definition of racial identity.
Historically, People of Color were deemed as inferior sub-humans and were
tagged with negative caricatures and nonconstructive stereotypes which unconsciously
define how minorities are viewed and treated within a racially conscious society.
In order for society to change, we first must
recognize that inequities and disparities continued to exist. We can contribute
to humanity by simply confronting racism. This is what I would say to a racist,
“Get over it and find your life.” People who are fulfilled and busy with their
life do not have time to participate in negativity or hold on to a violent
belief system, such as slavery.
Monday, June 10, 2013
My Mission is my Project
My Mission is my Project
In 2005, my mother passed away and of course, I was broken. And as I attempted, to gather the scattered pieces of my mind, body and soul, I realized that I had not fulfilled my mother's wishes. This realization, only added to my grief, for I had promised my mother that I would research the stories of my third great grandmother, Mariah.
Mariah was born a slave, witnessed a brutal slave massacre, however, she used her "voice" to fight for equality. So, for the next seven years, researching the stories of Mariah became my mission.
We, my co-researcher and I, have proven all of Mariah's stories. Now, we have made a documentary/trailer entitled "Human Property The Story of Mariah" based on my book entitled "Human Property Hanging in the Family Tree, Yields a Harvest."
I have placed the video on Kickstarter, with the hope of funding this project. Here is my mission and if you believe in my mission then please donate a dollar, pass it on, like it on YouTube.
Thank you for your support.
Ann Lee
Kickstarter
YouTube
http://www.buzzfeed.com/annlee/human-property-the-story-of-mariah-5v0z
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