Blog 4

Throughout out the course, the question of what is human rights? Appeared several times. I have noticed it in two of my classes of which are Law and Human Rights and English 101. In Law and human rights we are familiarized with rightsw that we have as being human beings, where as in English 101 we have the opportunity of experiencing the life of those whose rights were clearly taken from them. The life of an African American slave. Linguistics gives us the opportunity to see how language was used to describe human rights, and how language was used to take human rights from human beings. It's a great learning experience to be in such a culturally diverse class, I myself am a Russian Jew all I have noticed it that we have so many different cultures in our class. I am fascinated to see how every culture is different, once again it is a great learning experience. I have learned an enormous amount of information about my classmates in LIB 110, many students hesitated to write about themselves on their blog...however as we progressed we came to a valid conclusion. Nobody is perfect, those around us may seem as if they are perfect, however once we have the opportunity to sit down and speak to one another culture nor religion comes into play. We are one. We realize that we are so close, we experience very similar issues. The most important part is that we do not hesitate to open up to one another, didn't you forget we are only human. It is natural for all to have some sort of issue, we are not perfect. As you can see I have learned quite a lot within this cluster. I am fine with the direction the cluster is leading to, the studies only bring us as humans closer to one another as well as giving us knowledge that will be necessary to live our every day life as civilized human beings. LIB 110 gives us the opportunity to express ourselves, rights that may have been taken from us or an individual that may be close to us....so don't hesitate to share...if you made it this far you are fine! We are only human and we are not perfect!

Conlusion DRAFT

Africans Americans may have felt as if they were at home while living in a slave regime. When someone is used to a certain lifestyle it is extremely difficult to adapt to a new life. Depression may play a major role. After following the same routine over and over every day, it was difficult to wake up one morning free and thinking what the day will bring them. After all many slaves predicted what may have happened throughout the average day on the plantation.  

Pre and Post Civil War -JRC

Pre and post-civil war lifestyle for African Americans did not have many differences. In fact some African Americans, who had something to offer during slavery, may have been safer pre civil war rather than post-civil war. Their masters favored them. However when it came to the uneducated African Americans who were only able to do physical work on the plantation were beaten severely, to the point where they may have been able to see death coming for them.  When it comes to violence pre and post-civil war, African Americans may have had some sort of hope. But a message was quickly sent to them, they have more horror to come.  It was once known as slavery where African Americans were being tortured and used, however post-civil war life quickly changed to African American being killed, with the use of lynching in other words hung. At one point whites looked at African Americans as something that can be useful, they were not even looked at as humans. However they have some sort of use in the average white family. As soon as the civil war ended it was quickly noted that these “things” no longer had any use in society. There was nothing they were good for. Now that they were granted the right to vote white supremacist set out on a hunting spree, accusing many African American males of rape and without any sort of mercy killing them in front hundreds of people. What was once a slave society was quickly turned into a sadist lifestyle, where white men, women and children experienced pleasure watching an African American suffer from pain.

Book for Prof: B & Jerskey

The name that was given to me on the 16 of July 1993 was Moisey. In other words Moses. I was born in the former soviet union in the country of Turkmenistan, which is very rich with oil. I came to the states at the age of two, however my older brother was born in the U.S. When my parents moved to the U.S in the 90's it was tough for them to adapt to the new lifestyle. It was very difficult for them to find a job, without a job they could not support an average family of four. Without any hope in the U.S in addition to my mother being pregnant with me, my parents decided to move back to the old country... back to what they called life. As time went by my parents felt as if they were in a sort of depression in the U.S and they claimed that was the main reason that they moved back to the old country. Of course someone would be forced to feel depressed without any sort of support, no job, no hope in the land of "opportunity". In many cases people back in the country spoke about America so highly, calling it the land of opportunity. My parents were able to live the spoken theory. In about 96 my parents decided to give it another try, see what the land of opportunity throws at them this time.. my father is a brother of five others. Two older sisters, two older brothers and then comes the little guy who I favored most. My uncle Joseph. As my father came to the states for the second time with a hundred dollars in his pocket, my uncle offered him a business proposition... establishing a car service business. Keep in mind my father had a hundred dollars in his pocket. His older brother applied most of his money to the business.

 As my father was working, my mother was a stay home mom. Typical Russian wife, taking care of the kids and cooking. It was time for my older brother to begin elementary school unfortunately he was not doing well. My mother being a very smart and determined woman could not find the skill to aid my brother...she was not familiar with the English language. This led to my parents hiring a tutor, Ms. Koval..she was recommended by one of the counselor's in school. Ms.Koval was a great woman who was a great help to my family in every way. She was aware that my mother was not able to speak English well, in fact she did not know how to speak at all.. just a few words here and there. Ms. Koval offered my mother to apply to Long Island University, my mother was surprised. Without knowing any English she went ahead and applied. Her hope in living the American Dream rose, but were quickly brought down. She was denied, luckily she was determined and applied for the spring semester. ACCEPTED! However she was a bit intimidated, knowing that she could not speak English. As she was accepted, she had barely any sleep for the next seven years. She would have a school book and a dictionary on the side, defining each and every word. Soon she became one of the best students in class, and chose to major in Pharmacy.. Her determination pulled her through pharmacy school, and has made her a successful pharmacist.

Rights were not really taken from my parents, my father had the opportunity of working at the same time my mother was provided a great education. They came to the states to attempt to live the American dream. We as people were granted our rights, and allowed the opportuity to get an education. Language was a major issue that my family came across.

Joy wouldn't feel so good if it wasn't for pain

In the book, A Red Record, by Ida B. Wells, she describes many ways that African Americans were neglected...however they were a sort of "pleasure". We can look into page 77 in A Red Record, Wells describes the idea of sadism, anarchy however both connect to constitutional equality. White men felt a sort of pleasure in both watching African American's getting hurt and sometimes killed and inflicting pain on them. White men did feel joy nor pleasure if they had not experienced an African American experiencing pain. At the time when lynching was taking place, a significant amount of African Americans were killed by the use a rope. The government neglected the voice of African Americans, it was as if the government did not exist when African Americans were being killed. We can look into page 78 to see examples of anarchy. Both sadism and anarchy are linked to constitutional equality, we can look into page 77. Constitution says we are legal in rights and should be protected regardless of race color social rank or sex.

BLOG 3 Cry of rape is made..."Find a black man for me!"

In the book southern Horrors by Ida B. Wells as well as edited by Jacqueline Jones Royster, many stories of slave life are shared. In 1892 a survey was released. This survey showed the amount of people lynched throughout the past three years. As of a result 728 African Americans were lynched for various reasons. Within an eight year period 728 people were killed used the same technique...these African Americans not only shared a similar lifestyle as a slave they shared the same death. Will Lewis a young boy was a young boy who was accused of being drunk in about 1891. A couple of white folks accused him of being drunk and "sassy" to them. Was he really drunk? Alcohol may just have had the best of him, when supposedly acting "sassy". "A white woman's word was taken as absolutely in this case when the cry of  rape is made, and he was freed" (Royster 60). This quote clearly applies to Will Lewis' case, the government took the white mans word for the African American being drunk and "sassy" in other words they believed he was acting recklessly towards the white folks. Now keep in mind that slavery was just abolished and society was in radical reconstruction. Many whites were unhappy with the newly found freedom of African Americans, therefore they took matters into their own hands. Moreover forming their own government or law, in other words they though this was a justification for their violent acts against African Americans such as lynching. It was clear that every white had the intention of having every African American hung, in other words lynched. It is safe to say that many stories on the white individuals behalf have been falsely told. At the time a white man was considered more important as to any African American.

Assignment number two: Pre & Post Civil War

                Slavery, it wasn’t just hard work. Slavery was combined with forced labor and abuse. During the forced labor regime of white supremacists, slaves were considered property . They may have been compared to a bird, sitting in a cage waiting for the right moment for someone to open the cage and quickly fly away into the open.  Some slaves stated that their life with the white people wasn’t as bad as others. They were treated with respect; in fact they believed that they were family. When looking into specific passages from When I was a slave narratives, edited by Norman R. Yetman, we notice that many slaves had different sorts of labor, or “forced labor”.

Pre-civil war work culture, we can look into an interview which took place in Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. M.S Fayman was interviewed by an individual whose first name was not provided, however we do have a last name; Rogers. Fayman was eighty seven years of age.  Fayman was a kidnapped slave. She was kidnapped from private school. Fayman states she was never considered a slave by her master; she was not forced to live in a forced labor regime. In fact he saw her more of a teacher rather than a slave. She taught the French language to the children of her master.  If Fayman did not see herself as a slave, does not mean that she did not live under the white supremacist culture. She had no other choice. If slavery was not practiced she would have never been teaching the French language to the children of her master. In fact she would probably have had a job where she was paid for what she had to offer.  

                During her life as a slave, she had most privileges of the household. However she was never permitted to leave the plantation. “ I had all privileges of the household accorded to me with the exception of one- I never was taken off nor permitted to leave the plantation”(Yetman 37). This quote clearly describes that throughout slavery, slaves were living under the white supremacist culture. They were not family. They were property.  The civil war began in 1861 it stretched throughout 1865.  Fayman waited seven years after the civil war to visit the plantation where she was once a slave.

Defining Human Rights

Human rights, well when it comes to the rights of humans, we may think of rights such as freedom of speech and so on. Human rights are rights that humans are born with. The second that a human takes a breath on earth they are obligated to certain rights..now if they are obligated does not mean they do do have these rights. Some governments do grant these rights some do not. Towards the book I would like to the story behind the life of an immigrant. In others words the story of my life.. the story of my family attempting to live the American Dream that we all seek.

Contradiction

 Benjamin Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson stating his opinion on slavery. The letter was written on August 19th 1791.When looking into Benjamin Banneker's letter to Thomas Jefferson, he states that all Christians are brothers and sisters all are family, "however diversified in situation or color, we are all of the same family and stand in the same relation to him" (Banneker). In this quote Banneker refers to G-d. I believe an argument can be set to this someone may argue that the reason that Banneker said this was just to convince Thomas Jefferson in order to free all slaves. An individual may argue that it is not possible scientifically for all to be related and state that Banneker is a liar and is going against reality. Has he lost his mind? However all Banneker is attempting to do is set a good example and have Thomas Jefferson feel the "emotion" of his example.