Category: American history

The faces of collateral damage and friendly fire are generally not seen. However, this was not the case with 9-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, On June 8, 1973. To give background on this photograph, Associated Press photographer Nick Ut was outside Trang Bang, about 25 miles northwest of Saigon, when the South Vietnamese air force mistakenly dropped a load of napalm on the village. As the Vietnamese photographer took pictures of the carnage, he saw a group of children and soldiers along with a screaming naked girl running up the highway toward him. This image is called ‘Napalm Girl’ or ‘The Terror of War.’ Terror of War is undoubtedly a suitable name for this photograph as it is one of the most horrifying black-and-white pictures of distress. Not only does this photograph reveal the agonies of war in general, but it also demonstrates that the Vietnam War was not as glorifying as portrayed. It was a devastating incident that destroyed the lives of hundreds and thousands of people, especially of innocent civilians.

The signifiers in this image like smoke, soldiers ‘ uniforms, crying children, and barren land with wild grass indicate that the setting in a terror-free village is one of war, violence, and terror. What catches the addressee’s eye, however, is the children’s suffering and the girl’s nakedness, the most painful aspect of this message, which is not only the most painful detail of this text, which not only toys with the emotions of the audience but bruises it. First of all, the children’s facial expressions grab the viewer. The boy closest to the screen has the most intense physical pain pictured on his face. However, their expression of Kim terrorizes the onlookers as she appears to be crying and screaming, signifying acute physical pain. Kim’s body postures and the boy in the foreground are identical in that their limbs have been spread out, which indicates pain from the chemical burns caused by the napalm bomb.

The apparent long shot of the photograph is used to promote understanding, hence the whole group of people is kept in view to facilitate this. Furthermore, the angle of the camera is straight on; the addresser Nick Ut is taller than the children, thereby setting them in a subservient position since he will be looking down on them. Lastly, the colors of the photo consisting of black and white, which signifies a sense of realism and the absence of color which will now prevail in the lives of the war victims.

My personal take on why this image is so impactful is the portrayal of children; children signify innocence and show how, in the face of war, everyone was impacted both physically and mentally no matter age, race, or gender.

This iconic picture is a sign. It symbolizes pain and terror and represents the horrors of war and the truth of the Vietnam War, where every individual who was part of Vietnam, whether the reporter or the civilians, was impacted. In other words, this photograph psychologically increases the public’s social and moral consciousness through its disturbing characteristics. Through this photograph, the truth of the Vietnam War is ultimately the opposite of what was shown to the world, making it a very significant piece of historical evidence.

​“Between the World and Me” is written by a journalist, educator and writer; Ta-Nehisi Coates. This book is a form of letter written to his son Samori about what is like to be a black man in America. The author starts by telling his personal story about growing up as a black man in Baltimore and how dangerous was his surroundings. Coates mentions about Queen Nzinga and her bravery stories, which inspired him. Coates attended Howard University, which he refers as “my Mecca”.

Coates read lots of book and he usually stayed at the research center, where his grandfather worked. By seeing different people in university, Coates felt less worried about racism. The author started to get more involved in books and finding new vocabulary words. During the university time, he learned about the black history and tackle his unfit understanding of black history. Coates started to figure out how black bodies lacked value and respect in America and can be killed or destroyed in any random act. Coates attended poetry reading and met lot of young writer like him. Coates struggled everyday about his identity and blaming him for not doing anything to change the society. Sometimes he felt like taking break, but he thought about Malcom, which was his favorite writer. He felt classroom was like a jail and library was the only place for him because it was open minded and full of various information. He started to more and more involved in reading and writing during that phase.

During his school time, he met Samori’s uncle Ben, who had a same thought about like the author did. the author found library as a place of freedom compare to the classroom. Coates started to feel uncomfortable by his knowledge and started to think more beyond the Howard. After various of research, he reveled that many people were considered part of black history but in the lowest number possible. Coates felt very hard to believe on the fact that he saw and felt like there is a lot of struggle being in a black body. The author started to participate in different lectures, poetry reading and book signing events. He stared to write poetry which he considered as bad poetry and presented at open mics in local café, populated by older and wiser people than him. He talked about Dream that thrives on generalization, on limiting the number of possible questions. Coates started to learn about how certain things can hurt him as he moves forward. During this poetry time one of the older poets introduced him to an artist like Bubber Miley, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, C.K. Williams, Carolyn Forche, which pulled the energy from the void.

The author felt mentioning their names because they played a big role in his life. Coates also mentions about the lines from Robert Hayden’s “Middle Passage”, the author was real touched how he could bring joy and agony without literally writing the words. The author admires the works done by Hayden because he learned the craft of poetry. The author describes poetry as not only simple transcription of notion but beautiful writing that can touch millions of hearts. He thinks that poetry is the way of processing he thoughts until the slag of justification. Coates wrote lots of poetry which came up from different places including small things which came from his families and cities he is been through. The poetry carried a lot about the truth of black body, and the cruelty faced by most black people. The author was also in shocked after the dead of his friend, which made him even more conscious about the surrounding he is living in. Coates also mentions about of the little chance that dreamer will make slowly and will see changes in coming up days. Coates followed as the poets and followed his dream and argued about the current situations. He also learned to live in the disquiet which he felt in Moorland-Spingarn in his mind.

He was not really impressed by the society dealing with the black people and how judgmental they can be. The author wrote this book as knowledge to his son, so that he can understand the reality of the world towards the diversity.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese began bombing Pearl Harbor. At the end of the second wave of bombing, the United States had “five sunk battleships and eight damaged. Three destroyers, three light cruisers, three smaller boats, and 188 aircraft were destroyed. The casualty count was 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians and 1,178 people were wounded” (The History Place, 1997). I believe these numbers would have been higher if it weren’t for heroes like Samuel Fuqua, Peter Tomich, Doris Miller, Edwin Hill, and Phil Rasmussen.

On December 7, 1941, ieutenant Commander Samuel Fuqua was on board the USS Arizona eating his breakfast when the air raid sirens went off. He ran to the deck of the boat and there he was knocked by a bomb that exploded near him. After he regained consciousness he took control and started putting out fires on the ship. While fighting the fires from the first bomb another bomb went off. This time it hit the ammunition magazine. “More than 1,000 men were killed” (Andrews, 2015). This left Fuqua as the oldest surviving officer aboard the ship. At this time he ordered an evacuation of the ship. He and two fellow officers were the last to leave the ship. Once in the water, the three men took over a passing boat. The began grabbing surviving men that were in the water. Fuqua was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics at Pearl Harbor.

At the same time the USS Arizona was hit, the USS Utah was struck by two torpedo strikes. Water began to flood the hull of the ship. Chief Watertender Peter Tomich was inside the ship’s boiler room. He ordered his crew to evacuate the ship. Then by himself, he secured the boiler room. This stopped a likely explosion from happening. “The ship sank with Tomich and 57 other men still on board” (Andrews, 2015). He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for saving many lives that day.

Doris ‘Dorie’ Miller the cook and laundry attendant and Navy boxing champion was stationed aboard the USS West Virginia when it was hit by bombs and torpedoes. Dorie ran to man his battle station. When he got to his station it had been destroyed so he started carrying injured sailors to safety. He also helped carry the ship’s Captain to a safe area after he had been injured. After that, Miller started helping the machine gunners by handing them ammunition. Although Miller had no weapon training, he still began using one of the machine guns on the ship. He helped to shot Japanese fighters that were coming onto the ship. Later he recalled “It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine…I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us” (visitpearlharbor.com April 8, 2019). He continued shooting until he was ordered to abandon ship. For his actions on this day he was presented the Navy Cross. It was the first time a Navy Cross had been given to an African American. In 1943, Miller was later killed along with 645 other crewmen when the escort carrier he was stationed one was torpedoed.

When Wheeler Field was bombed that morning Second Lieutenant Phil Rasmussen was still sleeping. Still, in his pajamas, he ran to the airstrip and was able to find a P-36 fighter plane that hadn’t been hit. He and three other pilots took on 11 Japanese airplanes. “Out of those 11 planes, he was able to shoot down one and damaged another one before his plane was hit with 500 bullets. He was then able to dodge another plane that tried to hit him” (wearethemighty.com, April 14, 2019). He was able to land his damaged even though it didn’t have brakes, a rudder or a tail wheel. He was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery and went on to retire for the Air Force in 1965.

Chief Boatswain Edwin Hill was stationed on the USS Nevada. On that day the ship was was lined up with other battleships at Ford Island on what was called ‘Battleship Row’ (visitpearlharbor.org, April 14, 2019). The ships were trapped to where they were moored. Hill and a few others went ashore to cut the moorings all while being shot at by the Japanese. Hill then jumped into the water and swam back to his ship so help fight off the attack. He instructed the less experienced sailors to take cover. During the second wave of bombing the USS Nevada was hit by a bomb as Hill was trying to drop the ship’s anchor. He was killed but with his actions, the ship was able to be grounded and prevented from sinking and blocking the harbor’s entrance. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took the United States by surprise on the morning of December 7, 1941. After the two waves of bombing, the damage had been done. This damage and devastation could have been much worse if it weren’t for the heroics of our military. These heroes put their lives on the line to protect their fellow military personnel and their country and save many lives and damage to the military fleets and planes.

To understand Mass incarceration, I have to understand the term and have a understanding of its back ground after doing some research this is the information I gained. Mass incarceration is an issue in the world. Incarceration is messed up in America. We sent to people to prison for breaking the law, and to deter others from breaking the law punishment deterrence. But America is better at punishment than correction, todays prisoners are tomorrows neighbors. America has about 4 percent of the world people and about 25 percent of the world incarcerated people, we have the highest incarceration rate in the world. $1% of American juvenile and young adults have been arrested by the time they turn 23. Children as young 13 years old have sentences to die in prison. And our prisons violate international standard, solitary confinements increase instability and violate in inmates and it considered by international law to be torture. But in America prison are not regulated by anyone except the prison’s officials.

For a citizen It’s very difficult to get a job in America but it’s even more difficult to get a job with a conviction on your record. Convicts are ineligible for welfare student loans, public housing and food stamps. Convicts are often socially disconnected from social and family support and structure. So, in addition they have very suicide rate and homelessness.

After gaining doing some research I learned information I did not know such as convict were unable to obtain home, public housing, and welfare in general. – Student loans and food stamps. My next question I needed to research before trying to tackle mass incarceration is what exactly welfare is, and why can’t convicts receive it.

After watching this documentary to I learned that rate of documentary is so high we are no longer incarcerating the individual America is incarcerating a whole social group. The rate of incarceration now is about five times higher than it was historically. Nowhere in the world incarcerate as much as we do, we’ve seen extremely high rate of exposure to the criminal justice system for African American men. For African men born in the 1970’s who were growing up through the American prison boom of the 1980’s and 1990’s, the chances they would serve time in the state or federal prison if they dropped out of high school is about 70 percent. Were about at the point its 1 in 9 of African American children who have a parent in prison. Kids who experience parent incarceration have behavioral problems, depressive systems, acting out, diminish school achievement, it also said its very risky that incarceration becomes an inherited trait.

To get a better understanding of mass incarceration I needed to understand these terms and see how they related. – Blue Wall of Silence & Police Suicide, Dirty harry Syndrome, Repeat Offenders, War on Drugs and Undercover Investigations.

Blue wall of silence are terms used in the united states to describe the unwritten rule that police officers are not to report on a collogues errors. Police error can be misconduct, police brutality, or crime. When being questioned about another officer wrong doing the officer would claim ignorance and report they haven’t seen anything. This is an example of police corruption and misconduct. Officers who engage in discriminatory arrest, physical or harassment and selective enforcement of the law are considered to be corrupt. Police participate in this act for personal matters. These are all considered illegal offenses and are ground for immediate suspension.

Officers are unable to report fellow officer who participate in illegal offenses due to their unwritten law of their police family. Officers who do not lie in court may sometimes be threatened and ostracized by fellow officers. Meaning some officer falsify reports, arrest, to cover for an illegal arrest or search and make up fabricated stories when testifying before a jury.

Next term is the Dirty harry syndrome, it is a term used to describe a police officer who is reckless. This officer takes the situation into his own hands and disregards practices and policies.

When searching the database, I found that among united states today there are over 23000 investigations for excessive force, over 3100 investigation for rape and over 2300 investigation for police misconduct such as domestic violence. This information proves we have a corrupt and dirty justice system.

This information five some facts that is related to how the united states is the world biggest jailer. 2.2. million people are imprisoned in the us more than in any country in the world. The united states have more prisoners than china who more of a population. When you count the people, who aren’t just incarcerated but on probation or a on parole, the number is at almost 7 million. That is 1 in 35 American adults caught up in the prison system. And for people of color its even wort one out of every 3 African Americans born today will go to jail at some point in their lives.

How did the place which defines itself by the name land of the free, put so many citizens behind bars? It wasn’t always like this, back in the 1960s our incarceration rate was the name as Europe, and the crime rate are the same as the western world, so crime rate isn’t different. The reason why America has so much people in prison is because, America is tough on crime policies. Over the past few decades a number of very harsh policies have been enacted in state and federal legislature, a lot was to do with longer sentences and three strikes law.3 strikes law mean if you get in trouble 3x regardless of how petty the crimes are you have to be in prison.

In Germany on six percent of the people convicted gets locked up compared to America 70 percent. The average sentence in the United states in 3 years that is 3x longer than in Germany. Harsh drug laws are also a problem, the 1986 anti- drug abuse act instituted a mandator minimum sentence of 5 years without parole for possession of 5 grams of crack. Overall black and white people use drugs at the same rate, but black men are 12x more likely to go to prison on drug offenses. Finally, when it comes to our prison population mental health also plays a role, about half of all incarcerated suffer mental health problems. For 10 to 25 percent of prisoners some suffer from serious mental health illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Drug and alcohol are also a dependent and instead of getting help many mentally ill people cycle through the system over and over again. But it’s not just drug abusers who fall victim to this cycle, being convicted of a felony, their sentence and punishment can follow them long after their time is served, it can make getting housing, assistance, job even harder, and also losing the right to vote. In Florida and Virginia both key states in national elections more than 1 in 5 black people are disenfranchised.

The prison boom hasn’t been so bad for everyone private prison cooperation like correction corporation of America are actually profiting from it, the correction corporation of America made 1.6 billion in revenue in 2014 alone this is all part of what is called the prison industrial complex and when 1 in 35 Americans caught up in it you have to ask just how free are we.

CCA and GEO are two private prison corporation that are for profit facilities, they claim to be the good guys, but they are the bad guys. The CEO and workers are over payed and have connection to politician and they spend a lot money 1 million dollar each year lobbying federal government issues like homeland security appropriation. In 2016 GEO group subsidiary contributed 225,000 to a Pro trump super Pac and an addition 250 k for the president inaugural committee.

Private prison has a profit motive to lock up more innocent Americans, they do so make money. They make money by imprisoning innocent people for. Petty crimes such as marijuana talking away their freedom and liberty for profit. private prison does not care if the people are guilty or innocent, they care about maximizing profit. They agenda is to imprison more Americans right or wrong. As a CEO your job is to maximize profit, if you’ not doing so for a profit corporation you’re fired. So logically they invest millions of dollars to buy corrupt politicians to support their agenda.

References

1. ‘Mass Incarceration | American Civil Liberties Union’ . n.p., 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 3 Sep. 2019.
2. ‘Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019 | Prison Policy Initiative’ . Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 3 Sep. 2019.
3. ‘Punishment’s place: the local concentration of mass incarceration’ . n.p., 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 3 Sep. 2019.
4. ‘Rethinking Public Safety to Reduce Mass Incarceration and …’ . Team Warren, 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 3 Sep. 2019.
5. ‘Why American Prisons Owe Their Cruelty to Slavery ‘ The New York …. Bryan Stevenson, 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 3 Sep. 2019.
6. The History of Mass Incarceration | Brennan Center for Justice. (1970). Retrieved on September 3, 2019, from https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/history-mass-incarceration.
7. Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner. (1970). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019 | Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved on September 3, 2019, from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html.
8. ‘Crime Is Down, Yet U.S. Incarceration Rates Are Still Among the …’ . n.p., 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 3 Sep. 2019.

Between the World and Me gave insight into the mind of Ta-Nehisi Coates, where he discussed in-depth, his perception of race throughout history. This book was written to his son, Samori, to inform him about his African American history, and lifestyle. It gave him the ins and outs, and the dos and don’ts of his race. Ta-Nehisi Coates delivered his son life long lessons on how to treat himself and protect himself. This books ultimate goal was to dive deep into understanding the racial flaws within our country and attempting to portray where America went wrong during our history in terms of race.

The American Dream flaunts the idea that our country was based on equality, and if you work hard enough, you can be successful. This idea to many individuals is very appealing and seems achievable. However, Coates’s interpretation of the ‘dream’ describes our country not to be built on equality and democracy, but rather on cruel and inhuman treatment of African Americans. He explains that people are so blindsided to the fact that we built our country on a ‘government of the people,’ this motto fails to include the black’s and instead violently abuses their race. This is a significant concept that shows that African Americans have been mistreated from the start, and as much as people believe our nation has changed and departed from racism, there are still racist acts seen today.

Throughout the book, you are reminded of the idea that growing up in a black body is substantially different than growing up in a white frame. This message is, in my opinion, is one of the most prominent concepts. From a young age, Coates experiences things that a white person may never experience. Being held a gunpoint, he realizes that the ‘dream’ is a much further reach for him than it is for white people not only because of his wealth but because of the constant discriminatory practices he faces that one with a white body will never. He argues the school systems for blacks are condescending and make him feel somewhat trapped. He feels this way because he thinks they are giving him learning opportunities that he will never be able to follow through with because he isn’t given the same chance as white people. For example, when he learns french in school, he assumes he will never get the opportunity to use that language and travel to France. Not until he goes to Howard University does he genuinely dig into the history of his race. He realizes that all black people are different, and thinks that the reason why black people are not cruel to white people is simply that they are better people. At Howard University, he is greatly influenced by the people he meets. He meets a series of three women, the last being his wife who all teach him valuable lessons of love.

Coates, never sugar coates anything to his son, he tells him the truth because he believes he needs to prepare his son for the realities he might face. A concept throughout the book that shows significance and consequence is the safety of your own body. The book always reminds you and alludes to the deaths of innocent black people. The murders of these people continuously seem to have no consequences for their actions. Coates explains that, unfortunately, even though white police officers murder innocent black people and never seem to be punished, our society seems to be ok with it as this flaw appears to repeat itself regularly. When Coates met with Dr. Jones toward the end of the book, she appeared as though she composed herself very well, given the awful circumstances. She was surprised and shocked by the fact that the son’s killer never got charged or a consequence of any sort, it baffled her mind to understand that such inhuman actions have no consequence. She lobbied with the idea that no matter how successful her son was or how much he accomplished, his death was inevitable, and that was the harsh reality due to racism.

Coates gave the readers his in-depth perception of the flaws within American society dealing with race. I was significantly impacted by the harsh reality of racism and how it is still largely in effect today. There is absolutely no reason that the color of their skin should define a person, yet that seems to be the case nevertheless. The fact is that for peace to come to our nation; we need to correct our bias first, which ultimately is ignorance.

Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015), Coates writes a letter to his fifteen-year-old son, Samori, to inform him and share his experience of racial hegemony in America today. Coates letter to his son is the version of “the talk,” the talk parents’ needs to have with their kids. This talk isn’t so much so of the typical talk that parents give about sex and etc. more so a preventative talk to inform Samori what it means to be black in today’s society. Coates states, “That was the week you learned that the killers of Michael Brown would go free. The men who had left his body in the street like some awesome declaration of their inviolable power would never be punished. It was not my expectation that anyone would ever be punished. However, you were young and still believed. “(Coates, 11) this letter, or “this talk” was triggered by Samori’s emotional reaction to the announcement that no charges were brought against the officer who killed Michael Brown. Coates states, “And destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include frisking’s, detaining’s, beatings, and humiliations. All of this is common to black people. And all of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible. (Coates, 9) As readers, we can sense Coates tone through this letter. “I would have you be a conscious citizen of this terrible and beautiful world. —” (Coates (108) Through Coates’s tone, we can sense he’s scared, hurt, angry, and frustrated. Coates’s vulnerability and his concerns are not only for his son’s future but also the future of America. Coates makes it clear that he did not write this letter with ill intentions towards white people; his problems are not with them. However, for him, to us, to the rest of the world, it is an eye-opener, to give them insight on racial hegemony that the black society is facing.

“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates, 15) with this letter “Coates demonstrates by going into great detail on how America is relentlessly “destroys the black body.”(Coates) “Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body — it is heritage.” (Coates,103) He wants to know why this happening to our black bodies is. They are destroying our black bodies and then refusing to recognize the oppressive behaviors that caused them to be destroyed. Coates is trying to tell us, yes black bodies are being destroyed, but this is a way for America and their oppressors to keep the whites on top and keep the blacks at the bottom. With this Coates’s goal is trying to challenge the understanding of America on why blacks keep on facing racial hegemony. Coates mentions America as “White America” throughout his letter, he renames it because of the white hegemony that is happening. He believes this white hegemony is in full effect and our black society is not aware of what is happening to them, although, it is happening to only them. Readers have to understand that even though this letter is for his son, he is also speaking to the black community as if were his kids as well. “If we don’t move soon, we are all going to die.” (Coates,21) Coates is showing us with this quote he is making a vital point. Any black person; rich or poor, powerful or powerless, educated or uneducated, doesn’t matter who you are, if you are a person of color and don’t wake up and realize what’s going on amongst themselves losing black lives to racial hegemony will become something of the norm. “This officer, given maximum power, bore minimum responsibility. He was charged with nothing. He was punished by no one.” (Coates, 80)

From early history, blacks only identity was being a slave. Fast forward today, the way they are under scrutiny and how they are being viewed as a threat is what causing them to be dehumanized. What Coates points out is what people tend to forget is that America’s success was built from the destruction of colored people. The destruction is what leads to dehumanization. Moreover, this reflects onto Coates point where he sees how the white society denies the humanity of blacks to try and maintain its fake dream, as he likes to call it. Coates calls it “The American Dream,” “I have seen that dream all my life. It is perfect houses with nice lawns. It is Memorial Day cookouts, block associations, and driveways. The Dream is treehouses and the Cub Scouts. The Dream smells like peppermint but tastes like strawberry shortcake. And for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies.” (Coates,11) What Coates is saying is that “The American Dream,” has its nice houses with nice lawns and white- picket fences. He goes on to explain that black people will never get to experience this dream due to racial hegemony. Something we can all relate to what Coates was saying, growing up and seeing kids living the perfect American Dream. Those living the dream have nothing to worry about, as opposed to, us black people who are constantly worrying about being killed senselessly. The ones living the dream have nothing to worry about, their worries consist who will be their date to the senior prom, who’s going to be captain of the cheerleading teams. Unlike blacks, their worries involve of day-to-day fears as being beaten to death from people who undertook a sworn promise to protect us “The law did not protect us. And now, in your time, the law has become an excuse for stopping and frisking you, which is to say, furthering the assault on your body.” (Coates, 18). Coates considers “The American Dream” is a role that is damaging American Society which he insists it’s a just a cover-up for racial hegemony that is happening today. Coates states, “To awaken the Dreamers, to rouse them to the facts of what their need to be white, to talk like they are white, to think that they are white, which is to think that they are beyond the design flaws of humanity, has done to the world. (Coates, 146) With this quote, Coates suggests that “The American Dream” wants to have this narrative, while on the other hand is completely ignoring certain facts. To believe this façade that our American society is totally normal, that our society is not dehumanizing our black bodies. For that exact reason, people tend to ignore any signs that challenge this belief which ultimately leads us back to dehumanizing our black bodies through racial hegemony.

Dehumanizing is defined as an inner process that members of a particular group of people declare over another group of people. It views the others as less than human, which means denying them of any moral respect. Nazi’ seen Jews as a group that didn’t deserve any moral respects. In the event of the massacre, it affected millions of lives of Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals. The Nazis’ objectives with the holocaust were to hurt, destroy, deprive, and essentially dehumanize, the lives they disregarded. Primo Levi, a chemist, writer, and most importantly a holocaust survivor wrote his memoir If this is a man (1993) to give his experience of the Auschwitz concentration camps during the holocaust. In his memoir, Levi exposes the Nazi of their inhuman actions, and ways of dehumanizing their prisoners. He provides details of his experiences and goes above and beyond of going over his story.

The Nazi’s plan of dehumanizing Jews and other prisoners successfully started an anti-Semitism which was the blueprint of getting rid of any European Jews’ moral rights and freedom. The Nazis announced that all Jews needed to barred from the rest of society; Which led to a widespread of getting rid of them, which helped to set the stage up for the genocide. During the time of the massacre, The Nazis developed different techniques on ways dehumanizing their prisoners that required the Jews to suffer painful conditions. Levi explains the painful experience where they were ripped from their homes and being transported to the concentration camps. They were transported onto cattle cars. Although the cattle cars are meant for animals it showed the level of respect the Nazis has for the Jews. Deliberately not giving proper transportation, it challenged the importanance of Jews existence. Another way Nazis dehumanized their prisoners was when they were given a tattoo. “I have learnt that I am a Häftling, prisoner number 174517” (Levi, 27) the purpose of the tattoo symbolizes that each prisoner who received one has lost its identity. ‘We are the slaves of the slaves and our name is the number which we carry tattooed on our arm.'(Levi,27) Levi believes with this tattoo, that is with him forever, he is not a human being with any value. They are no longer human beings, they’re objects.

Levi’s gives an outlook into the lives of the victims of the holocaust. Readers of Levi’s work can sense his skills on how to handle dehumanizing. Levi states, “But because of this way of eating on our feet, furiously, burning our mouths and throats, without time to breathe, really is fressen, the way of eating of animals, and certainly not essen, the human way of eating, seated in front of a table, religiously. Fressen is exactly the word.” (Levi,26) Nothing is less dehumanizing then not giving someone food, and letting them suffer through starvation. Levi state, “As soon as the cold, which throughout the winter had seemed our only enemy, had ceased, we became aware of our hunger” (Levi,74). Levi is explaining to us the painful circumstances that he and other victims went through. He puts aside his own anger and pain to write out this memoir. “Thus, in an instant, our women, our parents, our children disappeared. We saw them for a short while as an obscure mass at the other end of the platform; then we saw nothing more.” (Levi,32) Just picture having your loved ones being taken away as fast as having your identity being taken away without any thinking twice about it. This is what Levi and other prisoners went through during the Holocaust.” Levi says, “Then for the first time we became aware that our language lacks words to express this offence, the demolition of a man.” In a moment, with almost prophetic intuition, the reality was revealed to us: we had reached the bottom.” (Levi,21) Levi mentions the word “demolition of a man” meaning the destruction of a man, the breakdown of a man. These words Levi is using is telling us is vital. Levi survives through a demolition of a man; he takes us readers to an understanding of what that is. Levi states, ‘The obstacles preventing the realization of both these extreme states are of the same nature: they derive from our human condition which is opposed to everything infinite…” (Levi, 17) “They poison every lasting happiness; they equally assiduously distract us from our misfortunes and make our consciousness.” (Levi 17) With this quote, Levi explains how the Nazi ways of extermination of the prisoner’s humanity. Nevertheless, Levi does show some certain moments that led to positivity. He describes how those exact moments gave him the strength to push through each instant of dehumanization. Despite being a victim of the holocaust, Levi writes this memoir without any anger, hurt, resentment to paint the picture of the massacre. It is meant to serve as a memoir to the millions of people forcefully went though as a subject to dehumanization. Levi’s preface states, “it should be able, rather, to furnish documentation for a quiet study of certain aspects of the human mind.” He mentions the word documentation. And that is exactly what Levi’s memoir serves as. His description of the event is documented evidence noting each victims’ voice that ever suffered during the holocaust.

Both Coates and Levi gave the world a look at dehumanizing one group through racial hegemony. Although, Coates’s letter was to his son about the ongoing racial hegemony that is happening today and how he is scared for his son’s future, and the future of America and Levi’s memoir shared his experience at the Auschwitz concentration camps during holocaust, both serves a purpose of giving us insight on the world of dehumanization & racial Hegemony. In a phone interview, Coates states, “There are two burdens of racism in this country. The first is the actual burden you know, sort of socioeconomics that we see all the time, wealth gap, life expectancy, death rate, those sorts of things. But then there’s another portion of this that folks ask you to accept, and that is the notion that somehow this is not really tied to our long history really our 250-year, almost 400-year history of policy directed toward African-Americans. That somehow this is our fault, or partly our fault. Between the World and Me is my complete rejection of that idea. It may well be our responsibility, but it certainly is not our fault. Prince Jones bears no fault in how he was killed. None. Absolutely none. He was not just killed by the officer; he was killed by the heritage of this country.” (Coates, “All Things Considered) The tragic death of his friend Prince Jones was never talked about, and the police officer who was responsible for his death never was held accountable for his death. This struck Coates hard because first, that was his friend, secondly, he was killed with no remorse. Coates letter is a scream for help that America needs to stop dehumanizing the black society. Before Levi’s life was cut so short, he recorded a broadcast documentary by the (Italian State Television, Rai, in 1983). Levi was asked,” In the concertation camps one would adapt to anything?” Levi replied, “The ones who adapted to everything are the one who survived. But the majority did not adapt to everything, and died.” Levi’s compelling words just prove his testimony on his memoir. He took his situation for what it was. Certainly, he and millions of Jews were victims of the massacre, where the suffered through cruel tortures. Nonetheless, what Levi did was he adapted to his new world, which led to survival, which led him writing his story for the world to comprehend and understand the dehumanizing that took place.

Work Cited

1. Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Text Publishing Company, 2015.
2. “Https://Www.npr.org/2015/11/21/456879598/Ta-Nehisi-Coates-on-His-Work-and-the-Painful-Process-of-Getting-Conscious.” Https://Www.npr.org/2015/11/21/456879598/Ta-Nehisi-Coates-on-His-Work-and-the-Painful-Process-of-Getting-Conscious, 21 Nov. 2015.
3. Levi, Primo, and Stuart Woolf. If This Is a Man: The Truce. 1st ed., Abacus, an Imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, 1993.
4. “Primo Levi, Back to Auschwitz (Part 2 of 2).” Primo Levi, 2010, inch.com/~ari/levi1.html.
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA7Xa2ANx2c

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said “You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is a certainty that it will go over very quickly (“Civil Rights,” 169). The most glaring problem with this statement is that countries are not dominoes. Domino Theory is the idea that if one nation falls to communism, others surrounding it will fall, and subsequently the nations next to those nations, and so on. The term “Domino Theory” was coined by President Eisenhower. It was used when referring to the spread of communism throughout Southeast Asia. After communism began to spread in Vietnam, U.S. foreign policymakers thought that if Indochina fell to communism, other Southeast Asian countries would follow suit. This theory was the United States’ justification for getting involved in the Vietnam War. However, after Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia remained unaffected. Domino Theory is now discredited and for good reason. Domino Theory came into existence due to the fear of Communism, and there was not much solid evidence to support it.

President Eisenhower held a news conference on April 7th, 1954. During this news conference, he was asked about the strategic importance of Indochina to the free world. He responded with three reasons why Indochina was important. The first reason was that Indochina produces tin and tungsten. Both of these were very important resources. His second reason was that the world could not afford to lose more people to communist dictatorship. His third and final reason was that if Indochina fell to communism, other countries near it would also fall to communism. He referred to this as the “falling domino” principle. It would soon come to be known as the Domino theory and would be used as America’s justification for entering the Vietnam War.

Domino Theory was the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy-makers’ national strategy of containment, which led to the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War. According to John Pike, “The national strategy of containment demanded the U.S. stop communist aggression into the countries of Southeast Asia.” This strategy was largely based on the domino theory. Communism was the enemy of the U.S., and policymakers wanted to protect the interests of their country. Therefore, it was necessary that the U.S. involved itself in the Vietnam War.

President Eisenhower popularized Domino Theory after he introduced it as the falling domino principle at his 1954 news conference. He believed the theory to be true and supported the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War. He deemed it necessary that the U.S. stop the spread of communism, especially in Southeast Asia.

Fear of communism was rampant in the U.S. throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. This meant that the domino theory caught on quickly, and it was instantly supported by the majority of Americans. The Vietnam War came, and the U.S. got involved largely due to the Domino theory. Preventing the spread of communism was at the top of America’s agenda.

Despite the efforts of the U.S., after the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnam fell to communism. However, no other Southeast Asian countries did the same. This negatively impacted the credibility of the Domino theory. If no other countries fell after Vietnam, then they were surely not like dominoes.

Domino Theory is not seen as accurate and has little credibility today. According to Milan Vesely, most critics today regard the Domino Theory as inaccurate. This, of course, proves President Eisenhower and his foreign policy-makers wrong. Their fear of communism drove them to create this paranoid theory which led to unnecessarily involving America in a war it didn’t have to be a part of. According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 58,220 American troops died during the Vietnam War. 40,934 of these were killed in action. We could have avoided these senseless deaths had America not entered the Vietnam War.

Throughout the makings of what is seen as the world today, struggles and disagreements that have led to wars have irrevocably been repeated and carried out in one way or another. As countries and their political and global power and influence have grown, so has their involvement in other countries, and so on. The United States of America is a nation that was born out of the need for freedom from a dominating country that was no longer serving them in a way they felt was just and fit. The United States was built on the idea that it would be the land of the free and the home of the brave. It has trademarked itself as a nation where one can come to and have all the opportunities deemed for creating a better life for oneself. The United States cherishes its constitution as one that inarguably delivers human rights to its people, with equity for all being included. All of this, but not limited to it, has granted the United States with a false sense of superiority and the role of a mediator in countries around the globe. The Vietnam War was a war that took place from 1955 to 1975 in Vietnam between what was then communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Although Vietnam was fighting for itself for freedom from France, the United States did not understand this at the time and was blinded by its fight against anything and everything having to do with communism. As a result, the U.S. alliance with South Vietnam and the Vietnam War, in general, serves as a perfect example of U.S. involvement in foreign affairs that was not necessary, and as a backfire, the lack of support for the war by Americans in the United States. The lack of popularity and support of the Vietnam War by Americans in the United States can be accounted for by the protest movement ambiance that overtook American society during the 1960s, the widespread media coverage of the war, and the growing mistrust by the public in the U.S. government, leading to the lost trust between American citizens and U.S. leaders.

The United States and its involvement in the Vietnam War were influenced by a number of factors, the Cold War in Asia being a main one. The Cold War was a metaphorical term used to explain the long-lasting tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after WWII, lasting from 1947-1991. This tension was due to the United States fear and thus the effort to “contain” communism from spreading beyond the Soviet Union. The U.S. feared that the Soviet Union would overpower and influence countries all over the world and that the world would be overruled by communism. Consequently, this led to a ripple effect of events that would happen due to the U.S. efforts of containment against communism, in this case, the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War being one of those events. The U.S. would not have deemed it necessary to intervene in the Vietnam War, had it not been because they thought the war was happening as a direct result of the influence of communism. Moreover, the Cold War can be countered as a direct influencing factor that led to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and all the events leading thereafter. The Cold War also just fueled the already inflated feelings of superiority and righteousness the United States took on. The U.S. took it upon itself to continue to get involved in foreign relations backed by the motive that they’d be saving the world from the greater evil that was communism. This was not overlooked by the American public, and soon, there grew a greater critique of the United States government and its involvement in the Vietnam War.

Tension in the United States was already growing during the 1960s. When history is retold, the 60s are remembered as a time flooded by protest movements from everything like the Civil Rights Movement, the Chicano Movement, the American-Indian Movement to the Gay Rights Movement and Women’s Rights Movement. Citizens of the United States were taking to the streets to protest the wrongly justified mistreatment of human beings in a country that claimed to be the land of the free and a place where all men are created equal. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses this very hypocrisy in his speech titled “Beyond Vietnam” by stating, “There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America…The only change came from America as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments that were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support. All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform.” Dr. MLK Jr. felt the need to deliver this speech to urge the American public to open their eyes and take a stand against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War being that it was only harming the Vietnamese people, nowhere near bringing the aid and peace that it was claiming.

Powerful protest movements in the United States during the 1960s accompanied by the now widespread media coverage of the Vietnam War due to television now being a more common thing in households is what really influenced the opposition to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Up until this point in time, people had been receiving their news through radio broadcasts or newspapers, but now that television had become something almost every household owned, there was more access to media coverage, and also a new form of it- visualized media coverage. People could now see images of what they were listening to, and as a result, the Vietnam War became the first war to be covered by televised news. In These Truths: A History of the United States, Jill Lepore includes a picture captioned, “Americans watched the war in Vietnam From their living rooms.” (Lepore, 620). Lepore is highlighting the huge role widespread media had in Americans’ opinion of the Vietnam War. They were now seeing real-life coverage of the horrific war, making it inevitable for people to feel removed from it since they were watching the unfoldings in their very living rooms. Although the war was not being fought at home, in a way it was being brought to people’s homes as they were watching firsthand all the cruel happenings and lives lost in the war. The American public was then, inevitably brought to the conclusion that the occupation the United States held in Vietnam, backing South Vietnam against North Vietnam, was unnecessary, and so the anti-war protests began along with the decline in the support for it. With a nation already trodden with human rights protests, protesting the Vietnam War, and the U.S. involvement in it, unquestionably came about almost as a given. Being that the American public had actual images of what they were fighting against, the sentiment against the war came strong and what had once been supporting the war, had become just a memory.

The growing mistrust by American citizens in the U.S. government along with powerful protest movements in the United States during the 1960s and widespread media coverage of the Vietnam War is what led to the lack of popularity and support for the Vietnam War in the United States. The Vietnam War was a war that lasted quite a long time and as a result, it saw multiple U.S. presidencies before it finally ended. This added to the dynamics of the American public is informed about the advancement of the war and as a consequence the exposure of the false reports being made. When Lyndon B. Johnson came into the presidency in 1963, he was not immediately clear on what his stance would be on the Vietnam War. When he did finally decide to continue U.S. occupation though, he chose to steer from telling informing the public with the complete truth. In These Truths: A History of the United States, Jill Lepore writes, “He [President Johnson] lied about American involvement, and his administration lied about the war itself…Johnson deliberately hid the cost of the war.” President Johnson failed to give the American public something that should be the easiest thing to deliver while holding a presidency, and that is the truth. This shattered the blind trust the American public had had in its leaders and their decisions on foreign relations in an irrevocable way being that now the whole U.S. government had been put into question by its citizens. Furthermore, in a “Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement,” John Kerry states, “Each day to facilitate the process by which the United States washes her hands of Vietnam someone has to give up his life so that the United States doesn’t have to admit something that the entire world already knows so that we can’t say that we have made a mistake. Someone has to die so that President Nixon won’t be, and these are his words, ‘the first President to lose a war.’ John Kerry is a Vietnam War veteran giving a firsthand retelling of what the U.S. military presence was really like in Vietnam. Kerry confirms that the U.S. occupation in Vietnam is completely unnecessary not only through just his mere opposition to the war itself but also by his clearly and outrightly calling out President Nixon’s selfish, egoistic motives behind his reluctance to withdraw from the war.

In conclusion, the Vietnam War was a war that was magnified by U.S. interference when it could have been left to play out on its own. The United States distorted perception of itself as a global power needing to go about prying its hands into foreign affairs that could have gone without them led to its inevitable involvement in the Vietnam War. Mass media coverage, protest movements, and the loss of trust of U.S. leaders by the American public fueled the Vietnam War’s lack of support by citizens in the United States, marking it as one of the most unpopular wars in U.S. history.

Mass incarceration can be defined as the incarceration or imprisonment of a large number of people. According to the Prison Policy Initiative blog (March 2014), the current rates of mass incarceration in the U.S are as follows: Local Jails has 721,654 inmates, Federal prisons 216, 362 prisoners and state prisons have 1,362,028 of prisoners. To have a better understanding, those in local jails are awaiting for trial while federal prisoners are in there because of drugs, weapons and immigration offenses, etc.; However, those in state prisons being the number of prisoners alarming are there because of murder, robbery, assault, public order, etc. Hence, those numbers make U.S the country with the highest number of prisoners.

Even though the number of people that we have in actuality in prison has reduced, the statistics still show very disproportionate numbers. So the question to ask will be, are we overusing prison for not too serious offenses? Or is crime increasing among the states? Most of the time when we talk about crime or prison most people think the main reason is drugs; however, statistics from March 2014 mentioned above show the opposite. There are more serious offenses like murder and assaults going on out there, but as drug use/sale is becoming controversial we constantly attribute crime to drugs.

The effects of mass incarceration don’t only affect those behind bars, but also the rest of society outside. It’s not only about the inmate himself but also his family and society in general. Most prisoners face very critical situations when they get out of prison, because they paid for their crime but they will still be labeled as criminals making it almost impossible to reintegrate in society as a non-offender. Most prisoners depending on the crime committed are restricted from having driving licenses, not access to about 60 percent of jobs and education, housing and even prohibited from voting in federal elections. Hence, how as a society are we expecting prisoners to change and stay out of crime? The lack of access to resources put offenders at more risk of committing crime again, they feel incapable of surviving without a decent job, and not even get government financial aid for school and housing.

Most people refer to prisons as the pill that cures most ills because of the incorporation and the reinforcement of new drug laws more people are going to prison. Non-violent crimes associated with drugs are now seen more serious, and therefore handled with more precaution and severity. Consequences? Community starts paying higher taxes because prison budget increases; including health care, food, electricity, etc. in prison becomes more of a problem because the more people get locked up, the more the more prison spends to keep the prisoners in decent conditions.

On the other hand, families are considered to be the most affected by mass incarceration (Lynch, J. P., & Sabol, W. J. 2004). Assuming that it leads to a lot of single mothers raising little kids by themselves in poor and dangerous neighborhoods, increasing the possibility in those young males to become criminals. Sometimes its not by choice, they have to protect and defend themselves from others getting involved in gangs, drug selling, dropping school and just live by the street settings. In the case of the mothers they usually become more afraid to interact with other males in the community as well as unstable for the simple reason that she has to play the role of mother and man of the house; holding up the responsibility of leading the kids towards a better future and assuring to afford all their needs.

Moreover, most services and benefits that non-offenders have access to are been cut down. They cut budget for financial aid, for housing programs like NICHA, EBT food stamps, welfare and others in about 60 percent. On the other hand for those who don’t have access to the mentioned programs the costs are being increased. Is that fair? Not really, because it’s not fair that non-criminals have to be limited to access a good education or living conditions to pay for someone else’s violations of the law. As a solution many specialists in the flied have suggested to lower the time in prison for less serious offenses, so that way we create a kind of balance between mass incarceration and budget.

It’s highly believed that the accessibility for rehabilitation programs for inmates have also impacted the way they reintegrate in our community. Lately our law enforcement system started paying more attention to drug crimes and hence the punishment is more severe. Drug crimes were seen as part of our lives at some point. People got used to be around the drug business that they even forgot the risk and seriousness of the situation, until now. Some cases depending on how serious are treated by parole and probation, but for our community that’s about the same as being in prison, because for a little slip on following the rules people get locked up again. As a heterogeneous society some people happen to believe that some offenders behaviors can be fixed through therapy, training etc. But others are certain they will never change. So they blame the law enforcement because they think that police officers are just looking for people to lock them up for fun. That’s when they then mention the option of rehab instead of prison.

Another impact of mass incarceration in community is the race disparity among prisoners. According to Prison Policy Initiative Blacks represent 40% of prisoners, followed by Whites with 39% and Hispanics with 19%. Why are statistics so disproportionate? Well watching the news or reading the newspaper its almost clear that Blacks are much more likely to commit serious crimes than Hispanics and whites; however, lately society has increased the believe of racism in CRJ system against people of color (Martenten 2012). Which doesn’t make any sense, because most of the time enough evidence is found to incriminate them. On the other hand, it’s very possible that economic status along with education and morality play an important role; therefore, they are more likely to break the law in comparison to whites with higher education and economic stability. The media has been selling a bad image about cops arresting blacks or stopping them for no reason. It’s highly believed our community should be aware and better educated about what is really going on and stop labeling CRJ system of discrimination against blacks without getting informed about the reasons behind why crime rates among blacks is so high.

Moreover, white-collar crimes committed by Whites are seen as being more powerful and therefore slide in our CRJ system. Our community is very skeptical about race disparities among prison rates. Many people believe that those who have money and power define crime and therefore its consequences. White people are constantly blamed for those big bank hackers, millions of lawsuits for entrepreneurs business on the low and so on. Hence, they see that law enforcement send a lot of poor people, low social status to prison while the powerful ones mostly whites are kept secret and sometimes not even punished. Most of our Hispanics and Blacks feel that whites run America and therefore their crimes are less important for cops and judges.

Even professionals get judged based on mass incarceration and law enforcement trust. As future CRJ professionals we are constantly criticized because Hispanics/Latinos and Blacks are not known to be successful in the law enforcement field. Yes it’s true that being part of a racial group with high rates of crime and imprisonment it’s challenging but that doesn’t mean it defines who we are and what benefits we can bring to law enforcement future with our knowledge and dedication. Some people say that we are working in this field to deal with the problems of our own people. We know that because of lack of education and understanding of the system it seems challenging to access CRJ system and stand out but because we come from a criminal race and community doesn’t mean we will constantly break the law. Even families disagree with their kids to be part in what they call a slacking system that takes advantage of poor families of our own race.

Nonetheless, when those inmates come back to their neighborhoods and try to form part of the community as a non-offender creates a lot of fear and speculations. People start thinking that they will keep themselves engaged in criminal behaviors and therefore attract other young kids to do the same. Do people commit crime by choice? That’s a pretty much controversial topic because in one end yes people should be able to rationalize about what’s right or wrong and make the right choices; however, the community setting such as poor crappy schools, lacking of resources, careless parents, drug selling like candies in every corner and peer pressure are some of the reasons that might get young males of our community to associate with those reintegrated offenders to our community. However, it is not rational the way that our own people mostly blacks and Hispanics label others only by their mistakes, yes you automatically lose trust in some people but a second chance to reintegrate shouldn’t highlight how judgmental we are as a society.

Besides the economic impact of mass incarceration, the emotional and moral damage is even worse. Just by the fact of been labeled as a criminal prevents many people with criminal records to have a normal life. Not getting access to a decent job to afford their families’ needs, a house and even a driver license it’s very hard to get used to; most of them believe they don’t even have any autonomy anymore. And more over those kids growing up without their parents, missing the family support makes their lives harder to deal with. Therefore, mass incarceration has become a huge impact in our community and working along with the CRJ system and implementing fairness would be such a good help in order to give prisoners the chance to change their future

The government is weaker now than it was as a democracy at the end of George Washington’s final term as president. Over the years, the government has parted ways with some of George Washington’s views, such as his views on international relations, partisanship, and constitutionalism.

George Washington believed that the United States of America should not rely on foreign powers. The goal was to keep the U.S. as neutral as possible when it came to warfare because Washington feared that the supposed ally would make enemies and drag the U.S. along with them. Throughout the years, the United States has become reliant on foreign powers. The country relies on Canada, China, Japan, Germany, and Mexico. These countries supply about fifty-eight percent of the United States’ imported goods. The reliance on other countries has made our country weaker. If all trade and imports were to suddenly stop, the U.S. would be forced to make its own products. The process would be very expensive as would cause a rise in prices which also raises wages to keep up with inflation.

Washington believed partisanship did not belong in the U.S., he believed it would lead to the “ruins of public liberty.” Washington thought that unity was needed for a democracy to survive, he believed that political parties would divide and destroy the young United States. Today, the political parties view each other with more anger and fear than at any other time in history. Non-Republicans highly disapprove of Trump and his actions while Republicans make up a large part of his support. If the United States were to get rid of the labels and stereotypes that are our political parties, the people would have to focus less on hating each other and more on things that actually matter such as abortion or gun control. The people would stop worrying about having to fit into a certain political party and be able to vote without bias. Each individual would be able to pick and choose which issues they strongly support or disagree with.

Washington made it well known that he believed the people should support the law of the land at all costs. Immigration was more welcomed at that point in time, as it should have been considering the United States was founded by immigrants coming from England. In the Constitution, there was a restriction on citizenship and naturalization. Citizenship was limited to white people but there were no other restrictions on nonwhites. There was a lengthy required residency in order to obtain citizenship but this was a restriction on naturalization, not immigration. The only time a resident of the United States was deported to their home country as if they were considered dangerous to the peace and safety of the U.S. or if the United States was at war with their home country. In today’s government, Donald Trump has imposed a travel ban that prohibits issuing travel visas to citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries. He has attempted to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a program for those brought to the country as children, that provides two years of deferred action from deportation and allows them to be eligible for a work permit in the U.S. The United States is a country because people chose to migrate from Europe. Native Americans were really the only residents in the Americas until about sixteen hundred when English settlers came to the place we now know as Jamestown, Virginia. Without immigration, the United States would have never become the country we know it to be.

Since George Washington’s final farewell as president, the United States government has gone completely downhill. The major reliance on foreign powers, the constant partisanship between the political parties, and the unconstitutional reaction to immigration are all reasons why our government is in dire need of help.