Takaki's chapeter ten is mainly discussing how the Japanese came back into the free world and out of isolation. They came to Hawaii which then led to the United States for the same reasons most immagrants do, to start a new life: "But they, too, were pushed here by external influences"(246). Since taxes were so high for Japanese farmers, they had to sell there land and most moved easterly in search of money and prosperity.
Many Japanese farmers had to sell there land because they couldn't afford taxes anymore, so they moved easterly (246-247). "In one year a worker could save about eight hundred yen- an amount equal to the income of a governor in Japan," and that is why so many people wanted to make there way over to Hawaii (247). In most peoples mainds in Japan "Money grew on trees in America" (247). The United States wanted more women imigrants because it would keep the male ones in line, and both the States and Japan didn't want what happened to China happen to they as well. The term "picture bride" was said now becasue marriage in Japan was based on families, so they sent pictures of the bride and groom before they met overseas (248). Japanese women had more rights then chinese women. Family is everything in Japan, it was said to have three children "one to sell, one to follow, one in reserve" (249-250). The one to sell was a girl and she would be soon wed and in another family, the one to follow was the oldest male and he got married first, and the one in reserve was if something happened to the first son (250). People working in the canefields were soon discriminated against when Hawaii became a state. There supplies and most everyting else were lowered. Since many men left for the UNited States for more jobs the women were stuck back in Hawaii in the fields and were whipped if didn't work hard enough. There whole people were exploited to work on fields and they stereotyped they greatly. "Blood Unions " were formed to strike and stop work in the fields of Hawaii, but Filipinos were just imported to Hawaii and it then broke the strike. Then soon they went on strike too (2858-259). Other forieng people were then imported like Koreans as strikebreakers. But for everyone, the conditions were horrible for both living and working. "Over the years, a plantation dialect devoloped called pidgin English" (264). It was a mix of all the languages of imigrants. In the United States the Japanese were the racial minority by only having 2 percent of the population. They worked on railroads byt many became farmers. The only land that they could farm was desert because they were dicriminated against. So many Japanese people had to turn the desert into a prosperous farm land. And everything went somewhat fine for both the Japanese people excluding some hardships and Americans, untill the day of december 7, 1941.
Do you think the Japanese people could have done anything different in their oppresion?
How would you feel if you were a Japanese person and one of the first to be over in the UNited States? Do you think you'd be able to live like they did?
I personally liked this chapter of Takaki. I always like to read his work and find it very interesting and hard to put down. I find some of the other readings we do boring and repitious and i never seem to feel that way about Takaki. I couldn't imagine how it was to be a Janpanese man in this time of hardship and dirscrimination. I think i would have probably worked on the rail road because i don't think i would have gotten into the farming business. I feel bad for all the discrimination and sorry that i couldn't do anything for them, but happy that they are prospering in the United States now like they set out ot do in the first place.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Dwight McBride: Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch
The aurthor's thesis in this article is pretty clear. McBride tell his readers why he strongly dislikes the compnay Abercrombie and Fitch, because it is build upon racist views and beliefs; "[. . .] A&F's legacy of an unabshed consumer celebration of whiteness, and of an elitet class of whiteness at that, in the face of a nation whose past present are riddled with racist ideas, politics, and ideology, is not entirely new" (64). Dwight McBride gives detail in his article on how A&F's started, and how it turned into the company it is today, that targets young white males and guy males.
McBride first tells his readers that "in the mid-1980s [. . .] succeful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products" (59). We then find out how he came about to notice A&F in certain guy bars and places wherever he went. It was A&F target market that he notcied was guy white men and how he never saw advertising with people of color in them. He starts explaination with the history of Abercrombie and Fitch. There first store open in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie and it was originally a outdoors store to supply the outdoors men. Ezra Fitch later became a partner and the store turned into Abercrombie & Fitch (62-63). After Fitch ran Abercrombie out and made the store into a huge outdoor supply store where some very famous named shopped at such as, Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and Winston Churchill. McBride then points how even back then the store was for white people; "It is not surprising that the cothier we know today developed from a company with early roots in exploration, adventure, and cultural tourism catered to the white upper classes" (64). They then filed for bankruptcy in 1977 and wasn't started back up untill 1988. But it wasn't untill 1992 when Abercrombie hired Micheal Jefferies and Bruce Weber when the company became popular. They started advertising to "glamorize the hedonistic collegiate lifestyle" (65). McBride then tell's his readers "the danger of [Abercrombie's] marketing scheme is that it depends upon the racist thinking of its consumer population in order to thrive" (66). McBride goes on to point out more racist things about A&F like few minority workers, models, and store policy guidelines. People have filed major complaints about A&F and even some white employees feel uncomfortable working there.
Do you feel like Abercrombie and Fitch is the only store that does this?
Have you ever bought anything because it was a brand name product, even though it was more expensive? why did you feel you needed that one instead of the other?
I personally didn't like this article very much at all. I can undrstand where Dwight McBride is coming from and i agree with most of his points. I agree that Abercrombie and Fitch goes after young white males and guy people as a target market. They have some boarderline policies that could be considered racist and controversial too. But i don't feel like they should be sued over those views. And i'm not backing up A&F because i wear there clothing or becasue i like their clothes. I back them up because i'm a business person and i give them credit for finding a niche in todays market and are making a lot of money off of it. They are using the United States free-market system to their advantage. They aren't the only company that does this either, McBride mentions Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic, but what about brands like FUBU, Sean Jean, and Rockawear. Those company are based for the African American people and McBride never even talked about any companies like that. They have their niche towards African Americans but it isn't uncommon to see a white person wearing those clothes; just like it isn't uncommon to see a minority wearing A&F. I give A&F for finding a niche and keeping it up over the past year since they came back in 1988. I just think McBride isn't happy to see a company make money off of his aparent sexuality and him not liking the clothes.
McBride first tells his readers that "in the mid-1980s [. . .] succeful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products" (59). We then find out how he came about to notice A&F in certain guy bars and places wherever he went. It was A&F target market that he notcied was guy white men and how he never saw advertising with people of color in them. He starts explaination with the history of Abercrombie and Fitch. There first store open in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie and it was originally a outdoors store to supply the outdoors men. Ezra Fitch later became a partner and the store turned into Abercrombie & Fitch (62-63). After Fitch ran Abercrombie out and made the store into a huge outdoor supply store where some very famous named shopped at such as, Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and Winston Churchill. McBride then points how even back then the store was for white people; "It is not surprising that the cothier we know today developed from a company with early roots in exploration, adventure, and cultural tourism catered to the white upper classes" (64). They then filed for bankruptcy in 1977 and wasn't started back up untill 1988. But it wasn't untill 1992 when Abercrombie hired Micheal Jefferies and Bruce Weber when the company became popular. They started advertising to "glamorize the hedonistic collegiate lifestyle" (65). McBride then tell's his readers "the danger of [Abercrombie's] marketing scheme is that it depends upon the racist thinking of its consumer population in order to thrive" (66). McBride goes on to point out more racist things about A&F like few minority workers, models, and store policy guidelines. People have filed major complaints about A&F and even some white employees feel uncomfortable working there.
Do you feel like Abercrombie and Fitch is the only store that does this?
Have you ever bought anything because it was a brand name product, even though it was more expensive? why did you feel you needed that one instead of the other?
I personally didn't like this article very much at all. I can undrstand where Dwight McBride is coming from and i agree with most of his points. I agree that Abercrombie and Fitch goes after young white males and guy people as a target market. They have some boarderline policies that could be considered racist and controversial too. But i don't feel like they should be sued over those views. And i'm not backing up A&F because i wear there clothing or becasue i like their clothes. I back them up because i'm a business person and i give them credit for finding a niche in todays market and are making a lot of money off of it. They are using the United States free-market system to their advantage. They aren't the only company that does this either, McBride mentions Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic, but what about brands like FUBU, Sean Jean, and Rockawear. Those company are based for the African American people and McBride never even talked about any companies like that. They have their niche towards African Americans but it isn't uncommon to see a white person wearing those clothes; just like it isn't uncommon to see a minority wearing A&F. I give A&F for finding a niche and keeping it up over the past year since they came back in 1988. I just think McBride isn't happy to see a company make money off of his aparent sexuality and him not liking the clothes.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Frank Wu "Yellow"
I believe what Frank Wu is tryin to tell his readers is best portrayed in one of his opening sentences; "The lives of people of color are materially different that the lives of whites, but in the abiding American spirit we all prefer to beleive that our individualism is most important" (415). He is trying to say that people in the United States live different lives even though they tell themselves that they don't.
Wu explains to his readers that he is an Asain American, but is treated very poorly; "I am who other portray me to be rather than how I percieve myself to be" (415). He believes and I agree that "the inalbity to define one's self is the greatest loss of liberty possible" (415). He also tells his readers that people "cannot overcome the stereotype of group identity" (415). He points out in America, when whites are mistreated poorly by other whites, they shake it off. But when a minority is mistreated they bring it upoin them being of that race, because they have no clue if it is really because that or not (416). Wu has had several cases were he is judge by the color of his skin being yellow, and he thinks it is in many cases, hard to fit in in America. He tell his readers that "race is moe than black and white, literally and figurativly" (416). He is trying to prove the act that Asians don't really have a part. He goes on to tell that American means white minority and that withour the rest of the non-white minorites, the equasion is imcomplete (417).
When you see an Asian on the street, do you see an immigrant/tourist or do you automatically see an American?
Do you think that Asain's are mistreated more or less than African Americans in todays socitity?
I personally didn't like some of the things frank Wu was talking about. I felt it more of a paper giving off steem that was build up, more than the fact that Asian Americans are mistreated. I can see where he is coming from though, saying that race isn't just and can't be just black and white. But i also don't like or just didn't understand it properly how he degrated what an American is. We have always called ourselves a melting pot of cultures and races, so that includes Asians. He is saying that American doesn't include everyone. I can see and feel how he felt about the newspaper article but that just doesn't mean we think or them intirearly a different people. I think of Americans as a person who is a citizen of the United States and that is what he should know that most people do too, and not just the thought that they are in the middle of a black and white affair.
Wu explains to his readers that he is an Asain American, but is treated very poorly; "I am who other portray me to be rather than how I percieve myself to be" (415). He believes and I agree that "the inalbity to define one's self is the greatest loss of liberty possible" (415). He also tells his readers that people "cannot overcome the stereotype of group identity" (415). He points out in America, when whites are mistreated poorly by other whites, they shake it off. But when a minority is mistreated they bring it upoin them being of that race, because they have no clue if it is really because that or not (416). Wu has had several cases were he is judge by the color of his skin being yellow, and he thinks it is in many cases, hard to fit in in America. He tell his readers that "race is moe than black and white, literally and figurativly" (416). He is trying to prove the act that Asians don't really have a part. He goes on to tell that American means white minority and that withour the rest of the non-white minorites, the equasion is imcomplete (417).
When you see an Asian on the street, do you see an immigrant/tourist or do you automatically see an American?
Do you think that Asain's are mistreated more or less than African Americans in todays socitity?
I personally didn't like some of the things frank Wu was talking about. I felt it more of a paper giving off steem that was build up, more than the fact that Asian Americans are mistreated. I can see where he is coming from though, saying that race isn't just and can't be just black and white. But i also don't like or just didn't understand it properly how he degrated what an American is. We have always called ourselves a melting pot of cultures and races, so that includes Asians. He is saying that American doesn't include everyone. I can see and feel how he felt about the newspaper article but that just doesn't mean we think or them intirearly a different people. I think of Americans as a person who is a citizen of the United States and that is what he should know that most people do too, and not just the thought that they are in the middle of a black and white affair.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Kindred
Kindred was personally a very good book to read. It really did a good job at potrying the thoughts and feelings an African-American women of present day would do back in the days of slavery. Dana was an African-American in her late twenties to early thirties that worked for an agency that employed her to do odd jobs for people. He worked there and wrought books in her free time trying to get them published and make a great profit. She had a husband (Kevin) that work the same agency job just for extra cash really, becuase the book he made sold. Dana realizes that when she gets dizzy and passes out, she wakes up in the 1800's and a boy by the name of Rufus Weylin needs her help. Dana realizes that Rufus is an ancestor even though white, and must save his life everytime she is transported back to his era of time.
There are many situations and events that occured in this book that are related to the things we have read in class. Dana learned very quickly about the Jim Crow laws that every black person must follow. They weren't directly called the Jim Crow laws in the book, but that is the name i learned them by. She learned that she had to either call a white man "sir" or "master" when talking to them directly. And the fact that you could get beaten at anytime when talking to a white person; if they thought you were talking back to the harshly or unproperly. Dana began to fear all white people and knew they were all dangerous, even little Rufus becasue he grew up to be almost as worse as his farther. Dana stood her ground though when comfronted by a white person, that too was a Jim Crow law. Just like we read in class, Dana found out how easy it is for a black person to be sold away from there families and be beaten. Another Jim Crow law was to stay inside at night when you are black because you look suspicuos otherwise. Dana knew that already but really had to boey it in the South. Free blacks could easily turn into slaves when whites tore up there papers and sold them back into slavery. It was the fact the slaves had no freedoms and couldn't even look at some white people without getting beat up or hanged in some cases. Dana also learned that black people weren't allowed to read books or know how to write, they were considered dangerous and whites didn't like it when blacks were smarter than they were.
This book also is related to the short time we talked about in class about nuses. Alice, a relative of Dana's, hung herself after she found her whole family was sold away. It just proves the fact that when people think of hangins and nuses, they also think of African Americans. It is a sad thing to think about actually because we related a group of people to a public display of horror.
But all in all, the book was very good and was very much worth the time it took to read it. It didn't even take that long because it was pretty easy to read. I love the whole thing and i'm so glad that we had to read it for this class. I have enjoyed most all of the readings but this one was the one that had my attention the most.
There are many situations and events that occured in this book that are related to the things we have read in class. Dana learned very quickly about the Jim Crow laws that every black person must follow. They weren't directly called the Jim Crow laws in the book, but that is the name i learned them by. She learned that she had to either call a white man "sir" or "master" when talking to them directly. And the fact that you could get beaten at anytime when talking to a white person; if they thought you were talking back to the harshly or unproperly. Dana began to fear all white people and knew they were all dangerous, even little Rufus becasue he grew up to be almost as worse as his farther. Dana stood her ground though when comfronted by a white person, that too was a Jim Crow law. Just like we read in class, Dana found out how easy it is for a black person to be sold away from there families and be beaten. Another Jim Crow law was to stay inside at night when you are black because you look suspicuos otherwise. Dana knew that already but really had to boey it in the South. Free blacks could easily turn into slaves when whites tore up there papers and sold them back into slavery. It was the fact the slaves had no freedoms and couldn't even look at some white people without getting beat up or hanged in some cases. Dana also learned that black people weren't allowed to read books or know how to write, they were considered dangerous and whites didn't like it when blacks were smarter than they were.
This book also is related to the short time we talked about in class about nuses. Alice, a relative of Dana's, hung herself after she found her whole family was sold away. It just proves the fact that when people think of hangins and nuses, they also think of African Americans. It is a sad thing to think about actually because we related a group of people to a public display of horror.
But all in all, the book was very good and was very much worth the time it took to read it. It didn't even take that long because it was pretty easy to read. I love the whole thing and i'm so glad that we had to read it for this class. I have enjoyed most all of the readings but this one was the one that had my attention the most.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Eyes on the Prize:Awakening 1954-1956
The film Eyes of the Prize was a very informational film about how African Americans strugaled to gain freedom in the 1950's. Its main purpose was to inform people about history in the south and how it affected the rest of the country. The film also said that it was made and the events that happened because it was ordinary people doing extrodinary things back then.
Emmit Till was the boy who's situation most famously started the movements. Emmit Till was a fourteen year old boy that went down to Mississippi to pick cotton with his friends. It happened August 1, 1955; Emmit Till was walking out of a store in the deep south when he turned to a white girl and said "bye baby." He was told afterward it was a stupid thing to say and to leave now. Mose Wright was Emmit's uncle and witnessed two white men come and take Emmit away with them. Emmit's body was found a couple days later in the Talahassee River beaten horribly and had a bullet in his forhead. His open casket funeral created an uproar throughout the south and caused many people to stand up in non-violent protest. There were serveral protest such as Rosa Parks standing here ground and staying seated in a white persons place on a bus. There was also a lot of protests that sat down at white cafe counters and refused to leave and waited to be served. Those black people were beaten and verbally assulted for there doings and were thrown in jail for 30 days. The Mongomery Improvement Association made it right for blacks to be served and for them to go to the same school as whites. But what plade the most important role in all of this was the music at the time and students, because without out both of them, nothing would have been done and Emmit Till's generation did a great job fixing the problem that he was killed from.
What would have happened if the revolts happened in todays time and the easy abilitiy for fire arms would have been around?
What if Emmit Till Would have left the south and lived, how long would it have taken for the revolts to occur then?
This film was very informational and opened my eyes alittle more to the horrors that African Americans had to deal with. I really like the movie and found it very interesting. It makes me wonder what my parents or grandparents role was in all of this. I can only hope that it was to help the needy and display their best interest to help who they could. I know that if i was around back then, i would help everyone i know and wouldn't let anyone pursuade me. It makes me happy to know that a group of people stood up and pushed for what they believed in because it doesn't happen to often like that.
Emmit Till was the boy who's situation most famously started the movements. Emmit Till was a fourteen year old boy that went down to Mississippi to pick cotton with his friends. It happened August 1, 1955; Emmit Till was walking out of a store in the deep south when he turned to a white girl and said "bye baby." He was told afterward it was a stupid thing to say and to leave now. Mose Wright was Emmit's uncle and witnessed two white men come and take Emmit away with them. Emmit's body was found a couple days later in the Talahassee River beaten horribly and had a bullet in his forhead. His open casket funeral created an uproar throughout the south and caused many people to stand up in non-violent protest. There were serveral protest such as Rosa Parks standing here ground and staying seated in a white persons place on a bus. There was also a lot of protests that sat down at white cafe counters and refused to leave and waited to be served. Those black people were beaten and verbally assulted for there doings and were thrown in jail for 30 days. The Mongomery Improvement Association made it right for blacks to be served and for them to go to the same school as whites. But what plade the most important role in all of this was the music at the time and students, because without out both of them, nothing would have been done and Emmit Till's generation did a great job fixing the problem that he was killed from.
What would have happened if the revolts happened in todays time and the easy abilitiy for fire arms would have been around?
What if Emmit Till Would have left the south and lived, how long would it have taken for the revolts to occur then?
This film was very informational and opened my eyes alittle more to the horrors that African Americans had to deal with. I really like the movie and found it very interesting. It makes me wonder what my parents or grandparents role was in all of this. I can only hope that it was to help the needy and display their best interest to help who they could. I know that if i was around back then, i would help everyone i know and wouldn't let anyone pursuade me. It makes me happy to know that a group of people stood up and pushed for what they believed in because it doesn't happen to often like that.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Ethnics of Living Jim Crow
I believe the authors main point he is trying to get across is that there were several rules for black to know of in the old South. They were the unspoken Jim Crow rules of wisdom that an African American must know “if he wants to eat and live” (29). The authors thesis is hard to find and pick out of the story he is telling but I feel it is when he talks about all the white folks things as symbols; “through the years they grew into an overreaching symbol of fear” (23).
The chapter starts off on how he is loved what he had, which was a run down house and a front yard full of warm cinders. He learned his first Jim Crow rules at an early age when he was in a “war” with the white boys across the railroad tracks. (22) One of the boys threw a broken piece of a milk carton that slashed his neck and caused him to get stitches and a spanking from his mother. As his mother spanked him, she “impart[ed] to [him] gems of Jim Crow wisdom. I was never to throw cinders any more. I was never to fight any more wars. I was never, never, under any conditions, to fight white folks again. And they were absolutely right clouting me with the broken milk bottle” (23). He learned more unspoken rules of wisdom throughout his later years as well. First, to speak carefully to whit people because it makes sure the white man knows he was the superior. He learned that a black person can be tricked into sticky situations in which every answer he would give would be wrong. (25) And as a black person he was told to” stay in your place if you want to keep working” with the white man (25). He learned that if a black person didn’t pay there bills, they’re punishment was, death, severe beating, and rape in some cases. And white people got away with this because the police were white at the time. He also learned that black people had to be careful after dark in white neighborhoods. They were looked at to be suspects and could possibly be beaten for it (27-28). He couldn’t look at certain white folks and had to laugh at white jokes when they expected you to. Some black people were even forced into marriage (28). If caught causing trouble or thought to e causing trouble, a black person could be killed out of hate and even in some cases, self defense (29). He finally learned that a black person must lie and steal sometimes just to live. There was a long list of things that a black person couldn’t talk about with a white person; and there were only two real things they could talk about together without starting an argument, sex and religion.
There were so many little rules that black people must know, do you think that there were any just off the wall ones?
Who do you think came up with most of these Jim Crow rules of wisdom?
Richard Wright did a good job portraying to his the readers the ways he learned the unspoken Jim Crow rules. I knew must of the things already but I think it is different to here actual stories of it happening. I can’t believe people got away with so much brutal things. Richard Wright had a rough life growing up in the Deep South, and is lucky to be wise and alive today to tell his story. I really like this chapter and I found it easy to read.
The chapter starts off on how he is loved what he had, which was a run down house and a front yard full of warm cinders. He learned his first Jim Crow rules at an early age when he was in a “war” with the white boys across the railroad tracks. (22) One of the boys threw a broken piece of a milk carton that slashed his neck and caused him to get stitches and a spanking from his mother. As his mother spanked him, she “impart[ed] to [him] gems of Jim Crow wisdom. I was never to throw cinders any more. I was never to fight any more wars. I was never, never, under any conditions, to fight white folks again. And they were absolutely right clouting me with the broken milk bottle” (23). He learned more unspoken rules of wisdom throughout his later years as well. First, to speak carefully to whit people because it makes sure the white man knows he was the superior. He learned that a black person can be tricked into sticky situations in which every answer he would give would be wrong. (25) And as a black person he was told to” stay in your place if you want to keep working” with the white man (25). He learned that if a black person didn’t pay there bills, they’re punishment was, death, severe beating, and rape in some cases. And white people got away with this because the police were white at the time. He also learned that black people had to be careful after dark in white neighborhoods. They were looked at to be suspects and could possibly be beaten for it (27-28). He couldn’t look at certain white folks and had to laugh at white jokes when they expected you to. Some black people were even forced into marriage (28). If caught causing trouble or thought to e causing trouble, a black person could be killed out of hate and even in some cases, self defense (29). He finally learned that a black person must lie and steal sometimes just to live. There was a long list of things that a black person couldn’t talk about with a white person; and there were only two real things they could talk about together without starting an argument, sex and religion.
There were so many little rules that black people must know, do you think that there were any just off the wall ones?
Who do you think came up with most of these Jim Crow rules of wisdom?
Richard Wright did a good job portraying to his the readers the ways he learned the unspoken Jim Crow rules. I knew must of the things already but I think it is different to here actual stories of it happening. I can’t believe people got away with so much brutal things. Richard Wright had a rough life growing up in the Deep South, and is lucky to be wise and alive today to tell his story. I really like this chapter and I found it easy to read.
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