Discrimination In Developing Countries By Analyzing Poems

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Discrimination can be described as having a prejudice ideology towards a certain group of people. Often it is based on factors that a person cannot control, such as their race and ethnic group. Rita Joe’s poem “I Lost My Talk”, Gord Hill’s short fiction comic “The ‘Oka Crisis’”, and the Facing History and Ourselves excerpt “Culture, Stereotypes, and Identity” illustrate the discrimination First Nations people faced when the Europeans attempted to integrate them into Western society. People of African descent have been outcast throughout history due to their skin color, illuminated by William Shakespeare’s play Othello, John Lewis’s graphic novel March: Book One, Langston Hughes’s poem “I,too, sing America”, and Maria W.

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Stewart’s speech “Why Sit Here and Die”. The Kite Runner, a novel by Khaled Hosseini, Chinelo Okparanta’s short story “Fairness” and Ashley Westerman’s “Can you still have hope when life seems so hopeless?” examine discrimination that occurs in developing nations within the Middle East and Asia.

By analyzing these texts, readers can perceive how discrimination has been accepted by society throughout history.

First Nations people in Canada were forced into residential schools and stripped of their identity by the government so that they could be integrated into the new Western society. In the eyes of white people, Aboriginals were viewed as uneducated savages and they made it their duty to help them, thus creating residential schools. From the 1870s, until 1996, First Nations children were removed from their families and spent their childhood “[a]t the Shubenacadie school”.

They learned English, practiced Christianity and were taught skills that the government believed were necessary in order to become successful adults. This has had an everlasting effect of the Aboriginal population because the “feeling of shame about [their] traditions and culture was taught to [their] parents as young children in residential schools”. Europeans believed that the culture and traditions that the First Nations people followed were wrong. They targeted their children because they were the ones who were going to carry on the cultural identity of their people. By forcing children into residential schools and telling them that their way of life makes them savages and then teaching them the correct traditions, culture, and religion, the government believed that the Aboriginals would eventually die off. Both texts demonstrate the European belief during that time period, that First Nations people were not educated. The government justified their actions to the Aboriginal people and the rest of society as an attempt to help the First Nations people. Their opinion was that the only way to assimilate First Nations people into Canadian society was by teaching them Western ideology through residential schools.

As a result of these schools, the rich Aboriginal culture and way of life was lost, displaying a disregard for the First Nations population. When students were introduced to residential schools, they were forced to forget the lifestyle they grew up in. “[t]he talk you took away” represents not only the literal loss of language but symbolizes the stripping of the identity of a certain group of people. The neglect towards Aboriginals is made even greater due to the lack of respect for their religious sites, exemplified by the plan “to expand a golf course into ‘The Pines’ a small forested area containing a Mohawk graveyard”. A graveyard is very important to a community, as it is where their family, friends, and other loved ones reside after living their life. Destroying it would be just like destroying a church. These texts expose the fact that the government did not care for the First Nations community. They stole their language and their culture, then replaced it with their own. Furthermore, the theft of the First Nations ability to grieve their ancestors demonstrates the Canadian governments blatant ignorance towards Aboriginal people. The residential schools and theft of lifestyle were all justified because they were done in an attempt to make the Native people a part of European society. The white population immigrated to Canada and imposed their ideology on a group of people that had been here for generations. It was accepted by the Europeans because they were in power. This is similar to modern politics where a majority of people in power are white men. They control regions even where they are the minorities, yet they make decisions based on their values, not the cultural values of the people they are governing. The people in power are able to make the choices for the entire population; that was true with the matter of residential schools and that is still true today.

People with an African heritage have faced discrimination based on race throughout history, especially in the United States. Racism has been a significant part of African history, as they were not seen as equal. In the past, a black person would be described as “an old black ram” demonstrating that they were visualized as a lower class. The black population was connected to animals, illustrating the thought of them not being good enough to be humans. Moreover, this belief was reinforced by post-secondary institutions in America, such as “Troy State […] where no black student was allowed.” Not allowing African students to go to the university, even after segregation was deemed unlawful, emphasizes the fact that they were not treated equal. The government said that a person could not be denied privileges solely based on their skin color, yet white Americans continued to not integrate black people into American society. Both texts illuminate the inequality that black people faced due to their darker skin. Society accepted the fact that black people were not given the same rights, such as the ability to attend university because they were looked down at and seen similar to animals.

Furthermore, in America, Africans were used as servants and slaves, supporting the assertion of them being considered lower class citizens. Black people were bought and traded by white Americans as if they were objects. Those who were kept as servants would serve food and then be “ to eat in the kitchen”. This symbolizes the segregation that occurred in America, because they were seen as minorities, therefore could not eat at the dining table. Their job was to work in the kitchen, do house chores, take care of the animals, do the farming, or any other task that the white community did not want to do. The African American society were not passive about the situation; they understood that they were being used for free labor and wanted “no more of southern slavery” Both of these articles display the discrimination of black people because they were used for free labor. They were segregated from the Caucasians, illustrated by them having to eat in separate quarters. Their reaction to slavery was evident as they wanted, at the very least, to not be sold like animals. Overall, slavery and inequality were socially accepted because African Americans were viewed as low class people. In America the idea of black people being bad was passed down, generation to generation. Caucasian children growing up were told by parents that black people are not equal to them and saw derogatory actions directed at the black community in public, such as slave auctions. This is similar to modern times where the reader might have learned growing up not to interact with homeless people. They are said to be drug addicts and criminals, even though must are just going through a hard time and find that self-medication is the only way to find relief. Children will believe anything that their parents teach them and grow up following those values. During the period of slavery, society believed that discrimination against black people was justified because it was one of the values they were taught as children

Similarly, minorities are discriminated against in developing nations because the are used as servants and not perceived as equals. Many developing countries still follow the caste system and therefore members of the lowest caste are often servants and laborers. Due to the imbalance in the social hierarchy, people are not given the same birthrights due to their occupation and what caste they belong to. In Asia, regions like Afghanistan do not provide education for groups such as the Hazara’s, who a predominantly known to be servants because “what use did a servant have for the written word”. A servant’s job is to care for the home they work at and help the family that hired them. These tasks do not require an education so what is the point of having one. Other privileges that are not given to minorities include using the same facilities as everyone else. In parts of Africa, servants are hired to clean the house, do laundry, and cook meals. At the end of the day, they are not allowed to use the bathroom which they spent their time cleaning and “must instead use the housegirls’ bathroom” . This illustrates that the lower caste is not worthy of utilizing the same toilet as high class citizens. Both situations demonstrate discrimination directed at servants in developing countries. They are not given an education or even allowed to utilize the same facilities. This is deemed alright by society in those countries because people do not have the chance to move up. They follow the footsteps of their parents and continue in the occupation that they had. If a child is born to a servant, then that child will grow up and become a servant. If they get an education, it would be useless because they cannot use it anywhere. By segregating the facilities such as bathroom, the people in power are able to assert their dominance over their employees. It displays that they are not worthy of using the same amenities.

Moreover, members of a lower caste are not seen as equals in third world countries, them being used as servants is just one example. People have their homes burned, get sent to jail, or even killed, “simply for being an ethnic and religious minority” in a developing country. This is something that they have no power over; people are not able to choose what ethnicity they are born into however, they are being terrorized because of it. Other examples include when a wealthy and poor person would grow up together, yet they would “never [be] thought of […] as friends” . The two could have spent their childhood together yet because of the caste difference the person of higher class does not see them as friends. These circumstances demonstrate how people are judged based on their social status. The way a person is treated is based on the family they are born into. If it is a low-class family, then those people are subjected to abuse and seen as unequal, therefore cannot be considered friends. In developing nations, the mindset is that the ethnicity of the majority population is the one that belongs on the land. This allows the discrimination to be accepted because it is deemed that the poorer community does not belong in the region. Overall, developing nations do not follow a concept similar to the American Dream, where everyone is given an opportunity to prove themselves and take charge of their own fate. Instead, these nations base how a person is treated on their occupation and family status, which is discriminatory. This concept is similar to modern day India, where the caste system is still followed. In the district of Punjab, majority of the population is of the Sikh religion however, not all Sikh’s are treated equal. They are treated based on their jobs. For example, the businessmen are seen as higher class compared to the farmers. This is comparable to developing nations within Africa and Asia, as servants are discriminated against by not receiving education or by being terrorized even though they might follow the same religion or have grown up together. This discrimination is accepted because of the believe that people cannot change who they are.

History is filled with socially accepted discrimination and by analyzing these texts the reader is able to identify assimilation against First Nations, racism directed at African Americans and discrimination in developing countries. During the late 1800s and throughout most of the 1900s, First Nations children faced to horrors of going to a residential school in order to receive a Western education. They lost their cultural identity because they were deemed savages by a society that invaded their land. The United States have a dark history of slavery and segregation through which the black community was used for free labor and viewed as a lower class. In developing nations throughout Africa, the Middle East and Asia, members of the lower caste in a social ladder and ethnic minorities are used as servants and terrorized for the sole reason of being a lower than the rest of the country. In all cases the hatred was accepted by majority of the population because it was either seen as being done for a good cause or the people being discriminated against were viewed as a lower class. Lastly, the factors that determined who is discriminated against are often ones that cannot be controlled such as race and ethnicity.