The British came to the "New World," with their own cultures and ways of living. When the British showed up at the New World they found people that did not have the same cultures and ways of living. The British instantly watched the new people to see how they lived. After watching over the new people for a little bit the British decided that their ways of living were those of "savages."
The British based this racialization on the fact that the Native Americans would kill animals, how they dressed and the fact they were not well educated. The British believed you should be educated and you should farm for your community. They did not believe you should kill animals and convert to cannibalism. They believed killing animals and wearing their skins were a form of savagery. The British thought it was wrong to not wear proper clothing and to not educate your young properly. Instead of adjusting to the Native Americans culture's the British decided that the Native American's needed to follow their culture's or "else."
The British pushed the Native American's out of their land if they did not adopt to their culture's. Usually while they were pushing out the Native American's it turned into a blood shed battle in which the Native American's lost. The British had weapons that the Native American's could not stop or match up with. This made it easy for the British to force the Native American's out of their lands. The British soon realized that they needed to use some of the cultures that they outed the Native American's for.
Shortly after the British came to the New World they realized that the Native American's did not fit into their culture. Since, the Native American's did not fit into their culture the British decided to make a harsh decision. They decided to force the Native American's out of their land or to convert to their culture's. This did not go over well with the Native American's, which made little battles break out. The Native American's were wiped out by the British as we know today.
Today this racialization still exists. It is not as big as it was then, but people still fear people that are different. Mostly the fear now though is all based on the color of a persons skin. People still do not understand the differences between people of different color. Since, we do not understand people of different race one race became dominent. We know that white people became dominent. Even though we are supposed to be passed racism we still are not. Black people still are frowned upon and do not get the same rights of white people. This all started because of racism formed from the British.
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I don't think that all the racism we "inherited" today comes from the British, but I think the British certainly planted the metaphorical seed. Racism comes in all different places from all different people--in South Africa, whites and blacks/non-whites (Asians, etc) are segregated. Some Australians are racists against the Australian natives, the Aborigines. Just playing devil's advocate.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marilyn's comment. Racism happens all over the world and all races are subject to it. The British did have a lot of influence toward racism in America but because America is a nation of immigrants people from different cultures who come to America may also bring with them their own racist tendencies toward other races.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Raciscm has some sort of presence, big or small, in all cultures. In terms of our culture the treatment of Native Americans by the British is just one of the easiest and most well known example for a majority of people. Also along these lines were the White/Black struggles of the 50's and 60's and dozens of others when it comes to immigrants.
ReplyDeleteAlso, citing that the struggle between the Native Americans and the British "wiped" the Native Americans is a bit overboard in my opinion. While their numbers were significantly reduced, and ultimately their culture was "shocked", they were not wiped out.
The british is part of the reason that rascims is a constant struggle, but this battle was also going on prior to the British and The Native Americans. Ronald Takaki also discussed how in 1000 BC the vikings persucuted and exterminated the Irish due to the fact they were different and darker. Rascims still does exist and is a shame that since 1000 Bc to 2009 we are still battling with accepting people and thier skin complexions. As "civilized" people there comes a time in your life when a person should not let allow history to be apart of thier life as they should allow history to change thier life. Just because a person is a few complexions darker or thier culture conducts themself differently does not justify for them being inferior and perscucuted against.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the racism we have today has been with us since our beginnings, and unfortunately may be an innate attribute of human beings. I do agree that some of the racism experienced today was shaped by the British relations centuries ago, racism takes many forms in many places around the world. Also, with the increase of technology, this racism can be worse and even more detrimental in the present than ever before. Instances such as the Holocaust, the Arab-Islamic, the Arab-Palestinian, and the ethnic cleansing previously in Serbia and in present day Darfur. These events represent the destruction that racism and the inability to understand and coexist with each other can cause.
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