Author: Ashley

Sean Wilentz writes an article called “American Slavery and ‘the Relentless Unforeseen”. In this article he writes mostly about history and focuses on anti-slavery unlike Hannah-Jones who put her experiences in her writing. He states “In France, Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws destroyed ancient justifications for slavery, which inspired and emboldened antislavery religious sectarians and budding philosophes across the Atlanic world”. Here we get to see the origins and picture how antislavery expanded. I found this part very informative because I never knew that religious sectarians were inspired by antislavery, since there were very few people to stand up for slaves. Later we get to read how abolitionist John Woolman a major figure in the awakening of antislavery was able to start a small group who would spread awarness of the evil in slavery. By the mid 1770’s american colonies saw the unjustice in slavery. As we continue to read we get to see why Wilentz wrote this article. He wrote this article in order to argue with an audience who has the mindset of salvery was destined to end. He states “Slavery’s defeat was not inevitable. Nor, obviously, did white supremacy die with slavery.” He also states “More and more in these pessimistic times, we are learning once again, and with a sense of justice, that the United States and its past are rooted in vicious racial slavery and the lasting inequities that are slavery’s legacy”. This reminds me of what we talked about in class “ if people or the United States is racist”. If we think about it, the evil written in the United States was there from the beginning. And it would take a long time to undo the evil written in the constitution.  One thing that Wilentz did that Hannah-Jones didn’t do is talk about each other’s work. It seems that Wilentz disagrees in how Hanna-Jones wrote her article. He states “ The project’s lead essay, for example, by Nickole Hannah-Jones berates our national mythology for “conveniently” omitting “that one of the primary reasons the colonists decided to declare their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery.” I feel like Wilentz sees the 1619 article as a self interest writing because he uses the word “berates”. And also feels like Hannah-Jones information is only showing one perspective.

From reading the article “Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass” we see the point of view of Federick Douglass an African American who was the first slave to get education and gain freedom. In this specific writing we get to see his earlier years of being a slave before he runs away from his owners. We see how in his early year his mistress would show him how to read. But once she saw how much power she had over him she would deny him reading in the house. So Federick would ask the homeless white kids to help him read and in return he would give them bread. What got me thinking was when he wrote “You will be free as soon as you turn twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Haven’t I as good a right to be free as you have?” These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free.” What shocked me about this was these white kids felt like they couldn’t relate to Douglass. In this context they make it seem like these kids believe that African Americans weren’t even human. As Douglass finally learned how to read fluently he was confronted by reality and as he read even more books he saw how freedom looked even farther than it was at the beginning. He even wrote that he envied his fellow slaves for their stupidity. Douglass then soon decided to learn how to write before running away. He would go to a shipyard and would see how the ship carpenters would write letters on a piece of timber for abbreviations. He would then copy them on a board fence and would use chalk as a writing utensil. This article is in the same category as Hannah-Jones and Sean Wilentz because all these three articles are trying to show how African Americans help build this country but also the hardships that they faced and how they too had dreams. They all just focused on expressing different points. For example Hannah-Jones solemnly focuses on how African Americans were more involved in making this country and how some politicians at the time like Thomas Jefferson who said “every man is created equal” still had a child slave. Sean Wiltenz focuses more on arguing with an audience that believes that slavery was destined to end.

The ongoing coronavirus has affected many countries. Countries such as Italy who have shut down and refused to let anyone come into the country or leave. Here in New York schools have closed down and many people aren’t working. A once crowded city looks deserted. Coronavirus did exist before this whole world epidemic, this disease just affected animals instead of humans.This became a worldwide epidemic because  a certain person in China ate a bat and they didn’t realize that bat had the corona-virus. And due to this the person walking freely they were able to infect other people and it started to escalate. I remember when the corona-virus was just affecting China, I never imagined it to spread to many other countries making it a threat. This whole situation to me is weird. Not seeing as many people outside my block, not hearing the train passing everytime makes me realize how I just want my normal everyday routine to come back. There’s been 30,000 cases in the United States. This virus affects people 60 and older. Younger people can still be affected but they have more chance in surviving than older people whose immune system is weaker. Many hospitals in New York are full of coronavirus patients and need even more space for new patients. This reminds me of a movie called I am Legend with Will Smith which was shot here in New York where Will Smith plays the only survivor in trying to come up with a cure of a worldwide virus and the people with the virus are walking zombies. This situation reminds me of this movie because everything in the city is so quiet and I’ve been stuck in my house for 3 weeks without going out. Me and my family are taking precautions when we go out only for necessities and wearing masks and gloves when we go out and to wash our hands when we come back.

 

    In the article “The 1619 project” the author Hannah Jones brings up many points in how African Americans have contributed and technically built this country in her writing. She makes me realize so many things about slavery that I never thought about. In the beginning she shows us a piece of her childhood and elaborates on how she used to think when she saw her father putting up an american flag in their front yard. She thought how could her father, a man that has seen full hand how society has treated them, still believe that this country was theirs. She was taught in school that her people had made little contributions to society. Soon she realized how much of an impact African Americans had on making America. African Americans made railroads, helped produce cotton and even helped our famous leaders such as George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. She continues to explain how the supposed “We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’’ This did not apply to the one-fifth of the country. Yet despite the hardships and being denied the freedom African Americans believed in the American creed. Many Americans tried to justify slavery, in Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence, he tried to argue that it wasn’t the colonists’ fault. Instead, he blamed the king of England for forcing the institution of slavery on the unwilling colonists and called the trafficking in human beings a crime. Yet neither Jefferson or most of the founders intended to abolish slavery they just let it continue. As I read this article I was surprised by the new information and inspired in how these African American males would go out and serve their country despite being treated harshly. I believe that the United States and people are evil but I do not think that society is evil. I say this because people are racists not society. Society as a whole is stable; it’s neither good nor bad. And the United States is evil because our laws have been written in a corrupt way. It would take many generations to completely change America. We would have to start from square one again. And because no one wants to do the work everybody just lets it be governed like it was 401 years ago. My role is a citizen. I should be doing more to help this country but the fact is like everybody I’m busy with my own that I don’t have time to be thinking on how I can help improve this country.

 

When I read the chapter “Aguantando” in Junot Diaz “Drown” I felt sorry for Yunior. He grew up without his father in his critical years. And like every kid they start to imagine what this person would be like. He states” I did not think of him often. He had left for Nueva York when I was four but since I couldn’t remember a single moment with him I excused him from all my years of my life.” Here we see how Yunior is a naive kid. He believes that his father will come back so he just forgives his father as long as it means that he’ll be able to see him. Rafa would not tell his brother the truth that their father has abandoned them and when he sends his letters there all lies. What surprises me is that the mother keeps believing her husband lies. He keeps saying he’s coming back, so she goes way beyond for his return like planning a party, getting her and the kids new clothes, but he never shows up. Through the end of the chapter Rafa, Yunior, his mom and their grandpa go see a movie and they are nicely dressed. Here they meet a man and he starts to have a conversation with his mother. When they finished his mother said that this was the place where she and their father met. Here Yunior starts to imagine the day when his father would return and how it would be an amazing moment for the first time his father would get to meet his youngest son.

The next chapter, “Drown” presents and interesting perspective on homosexuality from Yunior’s perspective. We see that Yunior has a best friend named Beto. He and Beto have a close friendship. It seems that Yunior has more trust in Beto than his father. Yunior and Beto would shoplift and even though his mother never noticed it his dad did and warned him “you have to be careful cause I’m not getting you out of jail.” Even after the warning he would continue to do it. As the relationship continues it seems that it’s taking a different turn that makes Yunior uncomfortable. At a point in the chapter the two are watching a porn movie and in that moment Beto makes a sexual move on Yunior. This causes Yunior to leave the house shocked at what just happened. It seems that Beto continued to make moves on Yunior. Yunior would never tell Beto he wasn’t into that maybe he said no to Beto cause he still wanted to be friends with Beto. When Beto left for college he left a book for Yunior. Yunior threw it out without opening it probably as a symbol of the end of their friendship.

    The chapter “Boyfriend” is told from an unknown narrator but I believe that it might be Yunior at some point in his life because he has talked about past girlfriends. He talks about how a woman that lives in the same apartment building as him. This chapter is his perspective of a woman and her boyfriend’s relationship. The boyfriend tells her he needs space but all he is doing is cheating on her. She tries everything in order for him to stay with her. In the end he never called her or visited her after that. Yunior then decides to invite her to his apartment and all they do is talk. After that they acted like complete strangers only saying hi to each other when they’d pass the hallways.