we are all slaves one way or another..

We are all most familiar with the concept of slavery meaning to be in power of another man...a black man. As we’ve learned quite a lot about in American studies and literature about the personal experiences of every role being played in the whole process of slavery. We’ve also learned of how it evolved and affected other political situations such as cessions, voting rights, and discrimination. The most recent example was the video we watched in studies called Slavery and the Making of America. We’ve seen the experienced of a teenager and how she coped with the situation of her owner having interest in her, a jealous wife, and chance of liberation coming her way. We’ve been able to feel empathy for all of the types of slaves in every situation, whether it’s a teenager, a mother with a child, or a middle-aged man. But aren’t we slaves to things ourselves? We are slaves to time, slaves to money, slaves to opportunities, slaves to job, a slave to our own wills. Don’t we have times where we feel trapped? Helpless, powerless…it’s what we have to encounter with in order to keep moving on in our journey through life. However, we may think that we’ve eradicated slavery, but these are the types that cannot be created nor destroyed. 

America's women from today and yesterday

All over the world we’ve seen women being oppressed. However, in America, we expect equality for all. Women in America started to demand liberties equal to men’s in the late 1700’s. Starting with Abigail Adams, which we learned about in American studies. When she saw that congress struggled to work cohesively to resolve their political and economical problems, she suggested that a woman needed to settle the disputes.  She says that, “All men would be tyrants if they could”. There needs to be a balance. Women have the gift of helping men make the right decisions because they think of others due to their motherly traits. Men have the ability to execute but don’t have empathy. This is why they say, “Behind every successful man, there is a strong woman”.  We’ve seen over the years women have been fighting for their rights. Not only white women, but African Americans too. Today we say all men are equal. Which means all colored men and women, children too. However, women today still don’t have all of the rights men do. For example, today a female doctor gets paid less than a male doctor. Which is the same case with most salary paid jobs. The right to be equal shouldn’t have to be earned, but given.

Colonization..not new but never gets old..

Im sure you all have at least some knowledge on what the term colonization means. Maybe in other forms or just by everyday news headlines on your TV or trending twitter feeds. As we have learned in American studies, colonialism has two imperatives:"go away" or "come work". There are also three ways in which colonialism can exist. this includes: geography, cultural, and economical. There are many examples today, that illustrate the "go away" imperative. The Palestinian/Israeli conflict, Isis in Syria, Ukrain&Russia, and etc. All of these have a manner in which colonialism is presented. In the Palestinian Israeli conflict colonialism is shown through physical geography.

palestine after Israelites occcupation

An example of colonialism in an economical manner would be the Ukraine Russian conflict. where Russia adjusts its economy by banning all McDonalds as a form of rebellion to America's refuse to aid them in their conflict. (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/mcdonald-s-forced-to-scraps-salad-in-russia-over-food-import-ban/506754.html)In American Literature we learned that the "Go Away" imperative was used by the Puritans in form of isolation. Isolation is an important factor that separates the Puritans from the rest of the colonists. We've read examples from sources like John Winthrop and Mary Rowlandson, which make isolation a clear and important aspect of Puritanism. After all, we mustn't associate with the devil..

Recently we've observed a later form of colonialism  shown by the Europeans on the African slaves who used the "Come Work" imperative. They influenced the African culture which led to identity confusion like in the reading of Equiano. No matter how much we think colonialism is in the past, it is the one part of history that keeps repeating itself.