If you made it past my long first post, thank you so much and welcome to my second blog post. My assignment this week was to read another 57 pages of Race. This section was more history-focused, so it wasn't as exciting to read as the first section, but it was still easy to understand like I said in my first blog post. If you're reading along with me, let me know your thoughts about this section.
In this section, Aronson explains some ideas that people had in the medieval days and in the 1800s. Christians in the medieval times believed that "blackness was associated with sin" and "dark skin suggested that these were particularly demonic people" (pg. 74). He describes how people like Bartolomé de Las Casas, the first priest to be ordained in the Americas, believed that Africans were meant to be enslaved because of the "curse of Ham," Ham being Noah's son. Ham's son Canaan was cursed by Noah because Ham looked at his father while he was drunk, asleep, and naked. Confusing, I know. Noah cursed Canaan to be "a servant of servants" of his "brethren" (pg. 100). Back then, Ham was misread to mean dark, brown, or black, so Canaan was also assumed to be black. Christians in the Roman Empire used the curse of Ham to explain why most of the slaves they saw were African, by saying they were Ham's sons: "what is so must be because God wanted it that way, and the reasons were spelled out in the Bible" (pg. 100). Some Christians use the Bible to excuse their horrible behavior, but not all do.
The misreading of the Bible supported slavery and made it so it could continue for much longer than it should have. When people started to question slavery and wanted to introduce new rights for blacks, slave owners turned to the Bible to show how slavery was what God wanted, and some even said that slavery was helping the Africans. Bishop Stephen Elliot of Georgia, a bishop in the 1800s, commented that "thousands, nay, I may say millions, who have learned the way to Heaven and who have been made to know their Savior through the means of African slavery" (Ray). Many people agreed with Bishop Elliot and continued to support slavery. They were not helping the Africans by making them Christian, they were stripping away their culture because they thought it was inferior.
Some people today, even in New Hampshire, still think that black people are inferior and "demonic," like the people in the medieval times and in the 1800s. There is even evidence of this belief in the state of New Hampshire, a primarily white state. In August of 2017, an 8-year-old biracial boy in Claremont was playing in his yard when older white teenagers started calling him racial slurs (Hauser). The older boys put tire swing ropes around their necks and then told the boy it was his turn (Hauser). When he got up on the table and put the rope around his neck, one of them climbed up behind him and pushed him off the table, leaving him hanging there (Hauser). This attempted lynching hit close to home for me because it happened in a town not too far away from where I live and go to school. It is crazy to me that Aronson writes about this kind of racism and prejudice occurring in the medieval times, but it is still happening today. By reading Race, I have become more aware of the prejudices and racism that occurs throughout our country, and if you are reading it, you probably have too. We, as a country, need to learn from the mistakes that we have made in the past, and understanding where those prejudices come from helps us do that pinpoint the problem so that we can work on it.
People in Claremont gathered to protest racism.
A disclaimer before this post is done, I've only been to church a handful of times. If anything that I have said is offensive or wrong, please let me know, because I want to be correct. I do have pretty strong opinions for someone who hasn't read the Bible.
Works Cited:
Hauser, Christine, and Katharine Seelye. "New Hampshire Investigates Wounding of
8-Year-Old as Possible Hate Crime." The New York Times, 13 Sept. 2017,
www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/us/biracial-boy-lynched-new-hampshire.html.
Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.
Ray, Noel. "How Christian Slaveholders Used the Bible to Justify Slavery."
Time, 23 Feb. 2018, time.com/5171819/
christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.
Hi Lily!
ReplyDeleteI thought your connection to the tragic event that happened in Claremont was a perfect example in showcasing the truly messed-up thinking that many people still share in the modern day. While reading the part about how Europeans truly believed that people from other places were descendants of the Devil with many eyes and deformed bodies, I obviously thought it was crazy, and I wondered how any reasonable person could think that. However, your blog post showed how we are still portraying people of color that way. Maybe they aren't considered deformed creatures anymore, but they are still considered inferior to some, even so much that they are targeted and lynched. Your blog really brought that to light.
Great job!
Thank you so much! The whole circumstance is definitely crazy to me as well. It's hard to believe that people still think that people of color are inferior to them, so I was very surprised to hear about the boy in Claremont when the news broke out. When I read the section in the book, I was reminded of that incident.
DeleteHi Lily! This post was really interesting to read. I'm honestly probably going to end up reading this book when we're done with this unit, because it seems fascinating. It's crazy that you were able to find such a horrific similarity between modern-day and past racist behavior, but it goes to show why this book, and this unit in general, are so relevant to our current society. The biblical interpretation aspect is interesting as well, and I think that alone has lots of ties to modern-day. Have you found any other major similarities in racist behavior that stood out to you in this reading?
ReplyDeleteThere have been a lot of similarities, which is surprising given how long ago the medieval times were. There is another major similarity between the treatment of Jews by the Christians back then, and the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. This book has really opened my eyes to how much our society hasn't changed when it comes to race.
DeleteI found the information in the book about the religious beliefs that you talked about incredibly interesting. It really goes to show how mistranslations and lack of understanding of the text can become extremely dangerous when wielded by those who seek to use religion to further divide others.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I think that the connection you drew to that incident in Claremont really strengthens this post. I remember how upset I was when I heard about it, and it really opened my eyes to how prejudiced many people still are.
A nice link to more contemporary events. Do you think there is something similar to the biblical teachings that influenced or are influencing boys like the ones in Claremont to act as they do? What do you think is the present-day equivalent of the biblical teachings?
ReplyDeleteI do think that there is something similar influencing boys like the ones in Claremont. I think that the present-day equivalent is the ideas conservative politicians have about race. Recently, a lot of big politicians, like President Trump have been known to broadcast racist messages. He was endorsed by David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan and he endorsed Roy Moore, who once spoke positively about slavery. Both of these instances spread the ideas of racism because President Trump is so well-known. I believe that seeing people who express some racist ideas in the media influences people, like those boys in Claremont to act the way they do. If you were wondering where I got my examples from, I got them here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/15/opinion/leonhardt-trump-racist.html
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