Sudan Freedom Walk by Hisham

The Sudan freedom walk is an organized coalition march to promote public awareness of the problems which are effecting the region of Dar fur ad Southern Sudan. Both regions continue to suffer massive loses in both economic stability and political upheaval; genocide against the local population which threatens to disrupt their society; and the continued oppression of the Sudanese people who have been forced from their homes to live in concentration camps. This march held on may 5th is one of the many attempts to put an end to this deviance of war criminals who hold their continued position of power


Preparing myself i made way to the location of Sudan freedom walk Chicago which was to take place directly in front of the government federal building. What better way to insist action towards the adoption of a Dar fur peace agreement: by challenging the lack of action and confronting the UN by organizing the march directly in front of a government building the message is made all the more clear... the politicians of the united states are urged to take the necessary actions to heal and stabilize the institutions of Sudan


I noticed the crowds of people who had gathered around each with their own banners and signs to display their messages of disapproval to the on going violence, or hand written signs with pleas for help and the need to give aid to the people of Sudan. off to the other side was a line which had been set for the donations drive; participants were urged to give a minimum donation of 5$ and would be awarded a Sudan freedom walk bracelet.. I donated myself but i personally am not very fond of bracelets so i had to pass


When the time had reached 11am the organizer of the march presented himself to give a brief introduction to the nature of the march and answered any questions that the crowd were curious to. After he had finished he then went on to present the guest speaker who was a member of the group 'The Lost Boys': an international group created to resettle refugee boys from Sudan to the united states who had been orphaned during the second Sudanese civil war. The guest speaker who traveled to Chicago had arrived to tell his story; of how at the mere age of 6 he had been taken in as a slave by oppressors and remained as a slave for the next 3 years. He hoped that with this march society would not allow such a thing to happen again to other children who continue to struggle against oppressors and genocide


Marching down the path into the city i noticed the large number of families who were participating in this social event. Parents marched side by side with their children to emphasize their strong bonds of family and to illustrate the important role that children were to serve for our future. The sky was slightly cloudy but all in all it was a fine day for a long walk. At the the front of the line the organizers of this march walked up ahead with the guest speaker proudly walking forward whilst carrying the American flag. Many of the participants displayed their cries of outrage over the situation in Sudan; by staying near the road to brandish their signs so as to appeal to any of the passing cars that made their way and headed along the road. a few members even held up a sign which proclaimed loudly to honk if you were against genocide... while i approve of the message it was a tad reckless to try and head into the middle of the road to get the message across. safety was of course a priority which is why a number of police officers had been called on duty to escort the large crowd of marchers; their assigned role was to delegate traffic and to make sure that the marchers could safely cross and to put any incoming traffic on hold.

we continues to march for about an hour heading towards the lake. by now some of the marchers had lost their gusto but they still showed their support by randomly cheering encouragements and shouting the phrase 'save Dar Fur!' . finally reaching the end of the lake the marchers were instructed to turn around and head back the way we had come. we marched on heading back to our goal with a large section of elementary school children breaking off from the group as it was time for their to head on home. finally after arriving back to our starting line the and the organizer went to give a small speech to encourage us to appeal to any of the senators for them to improve their foreign policy. The guest speaker also urged people to act now, as the people had turned a blind eye and nothing was done until it was too late in previous tragedies like Rwanda. we were urged to spread public awareness and to appeal once again to anyone we could; he finally ended his talk about how he was grateful to everyone and how they would continue to hold marches all around the country until Darfur was healed

The Privilege Walk (May 16, 2007)

Privilege Walk

The privilege walk demonstration concentrated on the situations individuals of today’s American society have endured. Participants are lined up in a single straight line standing shoulder to shoulder without speaking to one another. They are then asked a series of questions which they interpret any way they choose to. The participants answer by stepping forward or backwards before the actual race begins. Once all questions are asked and all steps are taken, the race begins no matter how far ahead an individual is or how far behind an individual is. Who so ever reaches the finish line first is the winner. The questions that were asked referred to experiences and advantages or disadvantages that each individual might’ve been subjected to with or without their consent. Some questions included:
“If there were more than 50 books in your household while growing up?”, “If you were able to marry the person you loved by law?” and “If your ancestors were forced to come to the USA not by choice?”
Other questions ventured off to what type of activities occurred in the neighborhood you were raised in to the fear of being abused because of your gender. Many questions were focused on issues that as a child growing up would have no control over.
There was only one time when all participants were standing shoulder to shoulder after the demonstration had begun. The person who was closer to the goal ended up winning the race which means that they would have a greater chance of being successful throughout life in society. The person who was the farthest from the goal line was probably discouraged before the actual race began because of the amount of distance they were from the person in the lead and for the odds being against them in winning the race. The last place individual represents a large majority of people in society that are discouraged to succeed and end up failing or giving up. Every individual that participated was a part of American society one way or another. If the race would have included individuals from 3rd world countries, then there would have been more people that would have been in the far back. Perhaps they would have been farther than anyone that is apart of the American society.

This demonstration was performed to provide participants with an opportunity to understand the ins and outs of what privilege really means. By definition, privilege means an advantage, right, or benefit that is not available to everyone. It also simulated who was more likely to be successful in today’s society. This display actually illustrated the saying of “Your cards are already dealt to you before you are even born”.

Chicago Fair Trade presentation

Nathan Wieser

Chicago Fair Trade Presentation

The Chicago fair trade presentation that took place in class last Wednesday focused on the fair trade of coffee. The fair trade federation says “fair trade is a system that not only aims to pay fair wages, but also to support participatory workplaces; ensure environmental sustainability; supply financial and technical support; respect cultural identity, offer public accountability, and educate consumers about the choices that they can make in their regular shopping habits.” The Chicago fair trade works to educate people on fair trade and the role it plays in reducing poverty globally. They also help to increase the number of stores that offer fair trade products throughout the Chicago community. Coffee is the second largest imported thing on the market only behind oil. Many of the farmers are making no more the 11 cents per kilo of coffee. They are not able to live off such small wages. The work that centuries of farmers have put into the crop is unmatched. The Chicago fair trade works to raise awareness so that more people will spend the extra dollar to support a good cause and help support the farmers that make such a product necessary. Coffee is not the only fair trade produce available. The Chicago fair trade is now raising awareness about many other products such as clothing, sugar, rice and many more. With the support of the Chicago community fair trade will be able to grow and farmers in third world countries will have more funds to support their families dramatically increase their economic status.

I, Rigoberta Menchu 15-End

I had to read chapters fifteen to the end of the book of I, Rigoberta Menchu. Reading these last few chapters was hard enough now having to write about it seems harder.
The book was so personal. We were let into her life and what she went through growing up and just for the supposed thing we take for granted freedom. The freedom to live on their land. They were cheated and tricked into signing documents that they had no idea about what they were for.

I say it was hard to read about because of all the death. The last few chapters hit with hard details about death. First death expressed in the view as defending ones freedom and for a just cause. Her father had always talked about dying for what was right and fair. To give one's life just in order to see future generations not live the way they have to live right then and there. The age old saying, it is better to die free, than to die a slave is what comes to my mind when reading about what Rigoberta’s father felt. The Indian people used every means of survival. They made or converted everyday items into weapons so they were able to fight and defend themselves. The details of each death were pretty chilling. It was very vivid and graphic. To have written or described it any less though would have been something of a insult to these people's death and the cause they fought so hard against. Reading though about people being hacked to death and then just tortured as cruelly as they were before being set on fire and left to burn, there’s just a feeling of how could anyone ever do that. Like Rigoberta even talked about how dogs where no exactly sacred but they were a living being and to kill them was horrendous enough. To kill people, that is inhuman.

Families were broken up not only by death but just in working hard for freedom. Family members were often separated from one another to either make sure not all of them were caught at the same time or just that each family member had a certain job to do. Even the youngest was put to work. Actually no, not was. She wanted to work and wanted to help fight for her people. That shows brave and courage beyond her years. The book shows really how this woman has not broken down though so much in her life has seemingly gone wrong. The courage and bravery of her life and her struggles makes freedom seem so much more important than what people today have forgotten about.

Black Gold Review by Belva

Coffee is truly Black Gold for the coffee traders and buyers. However, the coffee farmers in other countries live in poverty. Ethopia is the largest producer of coffee, and the children of most of the coffee farmers do not have schools in their villages to attend to get an education. There is a coffee Co-op in Ethopia, and through this co-op coffee is sent from Ethopia all over the world. Sun dried coffee is the best coffee, but they are getting regular price. Supply of coffee on the world market used to be regulated. This collapsed in 1971 and farmers of coffee are paid an all time low.

The coffee co-op buys coffee from 101 individual coffee farmers. Farmers of coffee felt that one person controlled the market. They are usually paid around 8 cents per pound of coffee. Retail sales of coffee has increased from 30 million to 80 million, however coffee farmers are still paid around 8 cents per pound. The International price of coffee is established in New York and London at the Board of Trade. After about six chains the coffee reaches the consumer.

Workers who pick the coffee beans get paid 50 cents a day. Coffee trees grow to full size in 4 years, and the beans grow on the coffee trees the 5^th year. These people are trapped in the hardship of their lives and live and die in poverty. Some of the coffee farmers could not afford to buy a pair of shoes, something we take for granite. There were recently Theraputic Feeding Centers set up because the people are suffering from malnutrition. There are 7 million people in Ethopia dependant upon emergency food aid. Food aid usually consists of raw wheat that they make into flour.

Independent coffee exporters buy low from the farmers and sell for a big profit. The social problem here is lack of money for food, education, and clothes. The poverty is so bad that they have 15 family members all living in one house because there is no money to build, or buy another house. Please consider this the next time you purchase coffee and buy Fair Trade Coffee.

I, Rigoberta Menchu

Chris Kitahara
Alias “Sushi”
Soc 105
5/5/07

My Name is Rigoberta Menchu. I am 23 years old. This is my testimony. I didn’t learn it from a book and I didn’t learn it alone. I’d like to stress that it’s not only my life, it’s also the testimony of my people. . . . My story is the story of all poor Guatemalans. My personal experience is the reality of a whole people.

-Rigoberta Menchu

These carefully chosen passages open I, Rigoberta Menchu, and are the first we hear from Rigoberta as she begins to retell her life story. In these few phrases, Rigoberta manages to make it clear that she is a not speaking out only for herself, but is simply a representative of her community. Born and raised in Guatemala, Rigoberta and her family split their time between the highlands of Guatemala, known as the Altiplano, and low country plantations, or fincas. Fincas were horrible places for the Indians to be living and working, the owners, “ladinos” were people of Spanish descendent and made up the dominant class in Guatemala, vastly controlling society, business, and the government. Malnutrition was rampant and the workers were routinely sprayed with toxic chemical pesticides as punishment for not completing tasks. After the death of her brother from starvation at the finca a flames of anger and frustration were ignited inside young Rigoberta and she began to yearn for change.
After accepting a job as maid in a mansion in Guatemala City she is further empowered to fight for the rights of her people after meeting rebellious spirit and friend Candelaria. Returning to her small town she learns that her father has been jailed because he refused to work with the landowners . Alongside her brothers and sisters, she fights to free him. Shortly after the same landowners begin to claim her small hometown of Altiplano, and it is at this point that the Indians, using makeshift weapons first begin to defend themselves. Led by her newly freed father, they form a Committee called the Peasant Union Committee, and begin to stake their claim in the politics of the powerful ladino government and business owners.
After the creation of this working group, Rigoberta and her comrades find themselves much more at risk, and consequentially, both her mother and brother are tortured and murdered. Her father was killed later on a protest to Guatemala City while storming the Spanish Embassy. After the death of her parents and brother, her younger sister decides to continue the fight, joining a guerilla army, however Rigoberta chose the diplomatic route, believing that activism is her calling. She renounced motherhood and marriage and embraced her work as a revolutionary in Guatemala and abroad. She retells her story in hopes that it will bring worldwide attention to the plight of her people, the wretchedness of their abusive militaristic dictatorship.

Motherhood Manifesto

The movie about the book, The Motherhood Manifesto shows how the 2/3 of all moms that work face huge problems today. Even though more hours are spent at work, women without kids will earn 90% of what a man makes for the same job. Even more alarming, a working mom will earn 70% and a single mom will earn 60% of the salary a man would make at the same job.
The movie takes a closer look at a single mom named Kiki who moved to Pennsylvania after her husband left them. She didn’t think it would be hard to find a job, but this was not the case. Every employer turned her down because she wasn’t married and had kids. Employers also rejected her because she was on welfare, and worse, offered her less pay because she had kids. Starting then and still to this day, Kiki fights for a law in Pennsylvania that says employers can’t discriminate based on marriage.
The relationship with mothers and newborns is an extremely important bond to form. Six out of seven women in the United States find themselves without any paid maternity and paternity leave. Selena Allen was a married mother with no paid leave when her son Connor was born six weeks premature. Even though her baby was in intensive care, Selena had to go back to work on Monday. However, women in the Czech Republic get two years paid maternity leave, putting the United States comparable to countries such as Losota, Swaziland, and Papa New Guinea.
The movie interviews business man Jim Johnson, who reorganized his business to let people work from home, keep flexible hours, and keep their jobs after having kids. Positive changes came in the form of small turnover, higher productivity, and even less space needed for his new building. Without open work shifts parents have to leave their kids unattended during the day increasing their chances of being involved in Juvenile crimes.
9 million children in America have no health insurance according to The Motherhood Manifesto. Families can’t keep up with bills for children with chronic illnesses and end up filing for bankruptcy. The Motherhood Manifesto offers the solution of giving health insurance to all kids, which in the end would save us money if they remained healthier when they were younger.
Women portrayed also struggle with the problem of childcare. They can’t find quality childcare at a reasonable price. Even so-so childcare can cost an average of $700 a month. A woman in Chicago who owns her own day care tries to provide quality childcare inexpensively. She even takes on mothers who can’t pay. She has joined a union of home childcare providers to try to help improve her life, since she doesn’t get benefits for her extremely important job.
Overall, women make the choice between putting food on the dinner table or being at the dinner table. Two women wrote the book The Motherhood Manifesto and started the website Momsrising.org where moms and concerned people can find action steps to take to try to change the way the United States treats mothers. Their final message is that voters need to unite in order to win this battle.

Blog Assignments for Spring 07

Stephanie Carcione The Motherhood Manifesto April 15th
Tracy Rausch The Andersonville Study on Retail Economics April 22nd

Malisa Komalarajun I, Rigoberta Menchu May 5th
Chris Kitahara I, Rigoberta Menchu May 5th
Belva Smith Black Gold May 5th
Nate Wieser Chicago Fair Trade presentation May 5th
Hisham Madani Sudan Freedom Walk presentation May 14th
Cassandra Savage Privlege Walk May 20th
Albert Chesnow Ecocide of Native America May 27th
Tiffany Bibbs Women, Race and Class May 27th

Ch. 7 Are Blacks Color Blind, Too?- Gordy

While reading the book Racism without Racists it’s easy to see how it could be an eye opening experience for some. The author, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva says that there are four main frames to color blind racism in the U.S. These are abstract liberalism, cultural racism, naturalization, and minimization. Some of the first parts of the book tend to be about a white person’s experiences with these frames, and how they come together unconsciously many times to form color blind racism. Many examples are given and interviews made to prove this point.

After discussing this in depth in previous the chapters Eduardo discusses in chapter 7, “Are Blacks Color Blind, Too?” What chapter seven does is look at the same four frames of colorblind racism; the only difference is he wants to show if or how black people use these to be prejudice. The information in the study was found by using the 1998 DAS survey. According to the author the results were relatively unsurprising. Most black people do not use the colorblind racist frames as often as white people. Out of the four frames all were used less than half the time and the only one over 25% was the abstract liberalism concept. Silva says “For example, the frame of abstract liberalism has shaped the way many blacks explain school and residential segregation.”

Throughout the chapter many personal interviews and real life examples are brought up to illustrate how blacks are affected not only directly but indirectly as well, through things such as the free market system and laissez faire racism colorblind racism persists. If you look at this concept closely it is the reason why blacks don’t completely abolish the ideology of colorblind racism. Something that was surprising when reading was that many times black people were just as likely to believe the racially defined stereotypes. All in all the chapter reflects that “blacks, for the most part, do not subscribe wholeheartedly to the frames of color blindness.” Also this chapter does a good job of showing that blacks are more straightforward and have more concrete answers when being asked racial questions. This chapter was by far one of the most interesting in the book because it gave me an idea of what it is like to experience these thing from a black person’s point of view.

Chamiyah - Chapter 6

Racism Without Racists Chapter 6

Are all Whites refined Archie Bunkers?

Most whites in the United States rely on the ideology of the color-blind racism to articulate their view and interpret interactions with people of color. And because whites believe discrimination is a thing of the past, minorities’ protestations about being racially profiled, experiencing discrimination in the housing and labor markets, and being discriminated against in restaurants, stores, and other social settings are interpreted as excuses. Does this mean that all whites are refine Archie Bunkers? Does every single white subscribe to the frames, racial stories, and style associated with color-blind racism? Obviously not. Racial has always transpired because of the joint efforts of racial minorities and white progressive.

Interview data from the 1997 Survey on Social Attitudes of College Students and the 1998 Detroit Area Study suggest young, working-class women are the most likely candidates to be racial progressive. These opinion-shaping agents also propagate the view the most whites, whom they classify as ‘middle class,’ are racially tolerant. Systems of privilege are defended by most of their beneficiaries in a variety of ways.

In this chapter Bonilla-Silva profiled white racial progressives. Bonilla-Silva found that young, working-class women are more likely than any other segment of the white community to be racially progressive. They were more likely to support affirmative action and interracial marriage and understand discrimination is a central factor shaping the life chances of minorities in this country. Most also admitted that being white is an advantage in this country. Although these respondents were substantially different in their views from most whites in these two studies, many of their views denoted the influence of color-blind racism. All these respondents, though to various degrees, have been influenced by the grames of color blindness and, hence, on some issues had exactly the same views as most whites probably children of interracial couples would face.

Aderonke - Chapter 5 Racism without Racists

In Chapter five of Racism without Racists, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva talks about the level of residential segregation and personal associations whites and blacks. He also talks about how whites explain their social segregation in the society. For most of the people interviewed in this book, isolation begins as a kid in school with people they interact with and it’s continues to college and work place. He defines this phenomenon as “white habitus” a racialized, uninterrupted socialization process that conditions and create whites’ taste, perception, feelings, and emotion and their views on racial matter. (Silva, page 104)

Silva uses surveys to show how whites will rather socialize with their own kind than others of different color or social background, claiming that they never had the opportunity to meet one, or live with them. Even whites who live in mixed neighborhood, he explains still do not interact with people of other colors. Whites in this interviews claim to have black friends, but after Silva reviews the interview, he realizes that it appears that they were just acquaintances and never good friends. For example, Emily one of the interviewees has a roommate who is black and she said they go shopping sometimes. Then she contradicts herself by saying “it’s not like am really good friends with them, but we do stuff together” (Silva page 111) so she doesn’t consider black girls as friend.

Many whites do not see segregation as a social problem; they believe it is a normal way of life for people of the same color to live together. They explain this by saying it is because they are comfortable with them. During the interview, some whites reversed the situation by saying that blacks are hard to approach and that they segregate themselves and that they do not want to socialize with whites. They use this as an excuse of not having black friends.

Lastly, the interviewer asks about interracial marriage. Some interviewees claim that they allow it, but still find excuses to oppose interracial marriage. For example, Sally, an MU student said she approves, but she is concerned about the kids and how they will have to deal with other kids and not be accepted by their community.

In conclusion, Silva’s studies shows that since a status differences between blacks and whites exist, white develop a “groupthink” norms and values that simplified their differences. So when blacks distant themselves from whites, whites believe more negatives believe about them. For example “blacks are lazy”. Despite the centuries we are in white led a segregated life and Silva understands that has attitudinal, emotional, and political implications. (Silva page125)

Nicole - Racism without Racists Chapter 1

The author gives an overview, a brief intro of what the entire book is going to be about. He says whites denounce blacks “for demanding the maintenance of unnecessary and divisive race-based programs, such as affirmative action. His argument is blacks and dark-skinned minorities lad well behind in almost every area of social life. Society is set up where minorities don’t succeed, from education to housing, “minorities are at the bottom of the well”.

Color-blind racism is a kind of racism that says, “These people are human too”. The fact a certain race is behind is because they do not work hard enough. Today it serves as the ideological armour for a covert and institutionalized system toward minorities. Whites can express resentment toward minorities, critize their morals, and what they believe in, work ethic, then claim “reverse racism”.

Whites and people of color cannot agree on racial matters because they look at race differently. For people of color think of racism as a system or institution and whites view racism as prejudice. There are three variations on scientists’ view on racism: Socially constructed academic achievement, and social categories.

The author goes on to explain the dominant race. He uses data sources and interviews to achieve his goal in describing the main components of color blind racism and explain their functions.

The Style of Color Blindness by Kyle Lindemann

That chapter of this book was interesting. It gave five examples of the most common styles used in conversation to avoid sounding racist. At first I was confused as to what this meant but as I continued reading it enlightened me to things I noticed in conversation everyday. The five main methods are as follows;

Avoidance: pretty self-explanatory avoiding any sort of racial oriented views or ideas during conversations.
Semantic moves: I’m not sure if this is correct but what I gathered was something like small bumpers or cushions before dropping the racially bent phrase.
Voice Projections: Dramatic change in tone or manner when talking about race related issues.
Diminutives: I didn’t know what that meant and I looked it up and the definition is as follows "a very small person or thing" So when stated small colorblind race talk I'm assuming he means like small racial slurs or stereo types in conversations.
Incoherence: when individuals are confronting with racial topics or issues they become completely dumbfounded and confused.

A scientist conducted a study with MU students and DAS respondents asking various questions concerning opposite race and documented the various responses breaking down what certain phrases in conversation would mean.

For example: the conductor would ask what races are your friends or who you hang out with and within a simple response the student would use racial slurs unknowingly or seemingly out of her time period as the book states like "colored people" or "Negros" this of course was not common for every response but came up on occasion. Another interesting fact would be how students would use buffers like "I'm not racist, but...." to justify the negative comment about to be made. Many students claim not to say racist things but then came out and openly admitted to telling racist jokes to their peers in non-public settings. Many other things noted by the doctor was the "I'm not black so I don’t know" act. And simply by using that phrase could claim ignorance on any and all racial topics and "unknowingly” say something that may be inappropriate without any negative repercussions because they didn’t know any better. My overall favorite idea of avoiding racial tensions in conversation is the "anything but race approach" and the "They are the racist ones." In anything but race people tend to avoid to social issue like interface marriages and put the pressure on what would the children think or feel when they grow up. Attempting to avoid the main answer as to why they disagree with interracial marriages. Finally the attempt at explain how they are the racist ones by demanding affirmative action, compensation for slavery, and "isolate" themselves from others out side of their racial group, is solely the opinion of the speaker and in turn ends up making the sound racist regardless.

Racism without Racists by Alaynna

"I Didn't Get That Job Because of a Black Man" deals with the subject of
color-blind racism's, and one of the most effect color-blind racism's is
storytelling.Storytelling plays a large part of communication. Through stories
people are able to present themselves, and to persuade the audience that "we"
are right. Stories are a normal part of social life, they are the central
component of color-blind racism. Modern racial stories are deleved into by
college students and DAS respondents. Their responses are put into two different
categories of stories; story lines and testimonies. Story line is defined  as
the socially shared tales that are fable-like and incorporate a common scheme
and wording. Racial stories are normally classified as story lines they are
the ideological. Testimonies, on the contray, are  accounts in which the
narrotor is a central participant in the story or is close to the characters in
the storry.  Only "fist hand" narratives are considered as testimonies.

The four stories analyzed was, "The past is the past," " I did not own
slaves," "If Jews, Italians, and Irish Have Made It, How Come Blacks have Not?"
and "I did not get a job because of a black man". All of these storylines help
"whites" to solidify their view points about African American, "blacks." If
"whites" were to take afirmative action they could insert "The past is the past"
or "I did not own slaves" to argue their view points."If Jews, Italians, and
Irish Have Made It, How Come Blacks have Not?" story line explains "blacks"
position in America. The story line " I did not get that job because of a black
man" seems more like an testimony. This story line is based on truth and
facts.

Testimonies are often used as rhetorical staements in interviews;
respondents not the interviewer tend to use them. The author organized
testimonies into three categories,namely, stories of interactions with "blacks";
good and bad, stories of disclosure of somone close who is racist, and other
stories. Testimonies of positive interactions with "blacks" are used for
self-presentational purposes. Stories from negative perspectives with "blacks"
are used to give negative views about "blacks."

Even though story lines are social products, the media reinforces
them. "Bad" behavior by "blacks and latino's" are prsented as normal, whereas
the same behavior presented by "whites"  are not. The media uses racial stories
created by the people and make them into things they are not.

I, Rigoberta Menchu Ch 24-end

These chapters begin with Rigoberta talking about the horrible ways in which her family members and compeñeros were tortured and killed by the Guatemalan landowners and soldiers. She first speaks of the horrors of her younger brother’s torture and death. The army captured him and accused him of being a communist. They kept him on the brink of death for days, torturing him in the most gruesome ways imaginable. Then, the families and community members of those who were being held captive and tortured were forced to come and watch them being further tortured and then burned alive. Her brother was just the first of her family members to be tortured and killed. Her father was killed with many others who were burned to death during their occupation of the Spanish embassy as an attempt to get the government to pay attention to their struggle. Additionally, her mother was kidnapped, raped, tortured, and left to suffer and die by the army for her work in organizing and leading the fight.
Throughout all of this, Rigoberta emphasizes the importance to the Indians of continuing to fight for their cause and lives even when others are killed doing so. She says that as long as the community can remain strong and organized, they still have hope.
Rigoberta also speaks about being a woman throughout all of these struggles. She talks about the differences between Indian and ladino women and the things her mother taught her about how to fulfill the role of a woman in the Indian community. She says that she has decided not to be married and have children, even though it is of great importance in the Indian community, in favor of making a commitment to her people’s political struggle.
She became a leader of the CUC and helped organize a strike of agricultural workers. This lead to the army bombing and setting fire to many communities and villages and an escalation of the struggle. Rigoberta became a woman being hunted by the army. She felt as though no place was safe for her to hide and was always on the run from the government. Eventually, it got to the point where she was forced to leave the country and managed to get out safe. She continued to get people behind the cause and to do work both from other countries and in Guatemala when the situation became safer.

I, Rigoberta Menchu: Chapters 15-23

These chapters cover many of the harsh conditions that Rigoberta and her people were forced to deal with and what they did in response to them. It begins by telling the great struggles that her father went through. Since her father is considered to be a father figure in her village, he felt that the safety and the future of the village rested in his hands. This was a responsibility that he took very seriously. He had many confrontations with Spanish landowners that tried to take their land away. He was constantly traveling and fighting in order to get it so that they could keep their land. He was captured once and beaten until he was near death. The people were forced out of their village several times, by soldiers, and their belongings were always destroyed when this happened. At one point, they signed a contract with the landowners believing that it meant that they would get their land and finally be left alone; but this was a trick because it only gave them their land for two years before they would be bothered again.
They spent a lot of their time learning how to defend themselves from attacks by the soldiers. They employed a variety of tactics including throwing stones, hot water and setting up traps that they had previously used for animals trying to eat their crops. They planned escape routes into the mountains incase of a sudden attack on the village which had to be used on several occasions. Several of the women in the village were raped by the soldiers and a few of them became pregnant with their children. They felt that these children were evil and could not bear to carry them because they had the soldiers’ evil blood in them. A friend of Rigoberta was brutally killed with a machete because she would not have sex with the son of the owner of a finca.
They believed in the Bible as a great source of guidance for how they should conduct themselves. They managed to get a few guns and grenades but did not know how to use them. They also could not ask anyone how since none of them could properly speak Spanish. It was during this time that Rigoberta decides to start learning Spanish from the nuns and teaching it to young children in the community in order to teach them and empower them.

I, Rigoberta Menchu chapters 8-14

In reading the book I, Rigoberta Menchu, I was struck by the immediate cultural differences between us. I felt very much taken outside of my normal comfort zones and forced to look at situations from a point of view I have rarely considered. Rigoberta grew up with many more spiritually significant rituals than I did, beginning with the ceremony that took place when Rigoberta turned ten. She was explained that now she was to become a woman, and that soon it would be her responsibility to have children. This struck me as very different because in our society a ten year old girl would not certainly not be burdened with this type of responsibility, even hearing of sexual acts would be cause for uproar in our society. Furthermore, she was told that she would be expected to perform more duties as a responsible member of her community, and in return she did some of her father’s duties. In American society a ten year old girl is still seen as a child, and her responsibilities are slim to none.
When Rigoberta describes buying food and supplies at the market it is very different from what we are used to as Americans living in a large city. She describes that the trip to the market is a full days walk, and that people only go when is absolutely necessary, and only purchase what is absolutely necessary, such as food and soap. Many times one person from the village would go to the market and get supplies for the whole village. When we think about living in Chicago, we must realize that all the things we need to survive are available within relatively short transportation periods. Between the busses, trains, taxis, bycicles and other personal means of transportation, it would be unheard of in our area to go for such long stretches of time without a trip to the market (in our case, a mall or supermarket), and when we do go to only buy that which is necessary for survival.
I was struck when Rigoberta describes her job as a maid for a rich family. She talks about being treated like less than the dog, being given less to eat than the dog, and looked at as a filthy commodity not worthy of any respect. When she talked about how her father came to visit, poor and dirty, and how the family would not let him in the house, I was appalled. It is shocking to think that we can so easily overlook the beauty of a culture we are unfamiliar with and treat them so poorly when things such as customs and language form a gap between societies.

Chapter 2: Human Systems, Environment, and Social Science

The chapter, Human Systems, Environment, and Social Science explains the background and evolution of society today. It begins by describing sociocultural systems. These are unique to humans because, although some animals have social systems, they lack culture. Sociocultural systems are a combination of interdependent institutions such as organizations and individuals that commonly interact together.
Humans are a unique species because, although they exist in the natural environment and depend on it for survival, they live in a world constructed by human technology and cultural symbols. Cognized environment is humans’ view of the environment, however inaccurate it may be.
Humans did not always have a skewed view of the environment however. For three quarters of human existence, the world consisted of hunter-gatherer societies. During this time, humans hunted animals for meat and foraged for edible plants. They depended directly on nature for survival. Agricultural societies followed, in which humans learned to cultivate crops and breed animals. The Industrial Revolution came when humans began to invent various technologies to assist in the cultivating of crops. This led to the more modern view of the world as something to be taken advantage of rather than valued.
The chapter then goes on to describe the evolution of sociocultural society into what we have today. It describes the process of devolution, where climate changes, human growth, and the destruction of natural resources that supported life such as edible plants and animals forced humans into the agricultural period. Technological advancements followed during the industrial revolution, which shifted the economy from production for use to production for exchange.
The chapter ends by explaining that environmental issues are also social issues because of our ever-changing and skewed views of the environment. Humans today need to be reintroduced to the value of the natural resources around them, rather than be wasteful consumers with no appreciation for where their possessions came from.

Blog posting due dates- Winter Quarter 07

Leslie - Enviro and Society Chap 2 - Jan 29th
Richard - I, Rigoberta Menchu Chap 1-7 Feb 5th
Dean - I, Chap 8-14 Feb 5th
David - I, - Chap 15-23 Feb 12th
Laura - I Chap 24-2nd Feb 12th
Nicole - Racism Chap 1 Feb 19th
Amy - Racism Chap 2 Feb 19th
Kyle - Racism Chap 3 Feb 19th
Alaynna - Racism Chap 4 Feb 19th
Aderonke - Racism Chap 5 - Feb 26th
Chamiyah - Racism Chap 6 Feb 26th
Gordy - Racism Chap 7 Feb 26th
Antoinette - Ecocide Mar 5th
Joanna - Women, Race Class Chap 12 - Mar 5th