Forever the colored have been oppressed and seen as
non-human, since the time of the pharaohs in Egypt. But there was a point in
time where the “planets were aligned” and the time was perfect for the voices
of the colored to be heard by everyone. The states were separated; there were
the union states and the confederate states. There was a time where a war was
dedicated to slavery and has always been remembered. It was the bloodiest, most
time consuming, and confusing war in American history. Even though the union
fought for the end of slavery for their own convenience, it gave excuses for
the white and black to unite. From this moment on it gave the blacks leverage
to unite using different techniques. The most effective one being religion.
Under religion, they were all the same. The emancipation movement started with
the first church. Once all blacks were united and understood where they stood
and what they needed to do, they started communicating to the people of the
union. They made them realize that not only blacks are being deprived of rights
but also the whites. Basically following the philosophy of “divide and conquer”.
Newspaper articles and books were being published about this. It got to a point
where women were taking a stand alongside with the black men. I believe that
when one door opens, many others will open too, which is basically what happens
here. From blacks’ rights, it evolved into women’s rights.
So do you think that uniting against a common enemy (in this case white patriarchy) unites minorities and gives them more strength in numbers? It sure seems to me that oppressed groups tend to stick together to gain rights.
ReplyDeleteZoe, you do have a point. But I think that Zeena also has made a strong case: every step forward for one oppressed minority can be turned into a step forward for others, and the reasons to deny liberties grow more tenuous every time. The recent Hobby Lobby decision from our Supreme Court mobilized a wide variety of groups, all of whom could see clearly that increased oppression against one group could easily become a platform for broader oppression.
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