Journal #15

After reading "Border Patrol State", my biggest qualm with it is first of all that the Border Patrol is setting up checkpoints so far from the border.  95 miles away is ludicrous. The likelihood they actually catch someone that far from the border is slim.  It is also unbelievable that they stop people based on their color.  In Arizona, Latinos and Native Americans make up about 35% of the population.  If they detain and/or search every "brown" person, they would be doing so to about every third car.  And then there was the incident of Michael Elmer who shot a man in the back and hid his body yet was acquitted of murder on a self-defense claim.  Hearing about these kind of things happening in my own back yard, as I'm sure there are instances of such things in Texas as well, almost makes me ashamed of our government.  Its true that these are illegal immigrants, but they are still people and deserve to be treated as people.  If an officer shot an American citizen in the back, hid his body and then admitted to it in court he would be in jail for a long, long time.  By letting this man walk we are dehumanizing our Latino neighbors.  

I really like when Silko calls the situation of borde crossing as "the great human migration".  Describing  it as a force of nature that cannot and should not be stopped.  The anecdote at the end about the Indians riding in and on the train provided very good imagery to that idea of a force of nature.  

Journal #14

If I were a member of Cross's unit I would of course carry the standard array of can openers, dog tags, rations etc. that every member of the unit carries.  I would also carry some sort of small ball or frisbee that could be used to entertain myself and the other soldiers if there was time.  I might also carry a rubiks cube, cards or books to take my mind off of the situation.  I feel it would be important to have some sort of outlet to get away from it all mentally for a little bit every now and then.  I would carry Forrest Gump so that when the time came he could carry me.   I would definitely carry extra socks, because I have been hiking for extended periods and socks are critical to healthy and happy feet.  I would carry a machete for chopping things.  I would carry pictures of my loved ones so I would not forget them.  I think I would carry a sense of loyalty towards the other members of my unit as well as my country.  I would carry an obligation to protect both of them as they would for me.  I would carry a longing to be back in the states, to be with friends and family, to have a bed at night, to have real food to eat.  I would carry glasses cleaner, cause I imagine my glasses would get pretty dirty. I would carry an inhaler for my asthma. I would carry toilet paper for obvious reasons.  I would carry my own compass, maps and whistle in case I got lost or separated from the group.  I would carry some sort of candy for my own enjoyment.  And lastly, based on the era and the fact that I'm from Austin, I would probably be carrying some marijuana like Lavender did before he got shot.

Journal #13

Zitkala-Sa's story is a personal story of a successful American Dream.  Zitkala-Sa came from an oppressed people, though they were technically oppressed by the United States, obtained an education higher than many white women at the time.  Though her education experiences as a child were unenjoyable for her, she was still inspired to continue her education for the purpose of promoting Indian rights in America after seeing what had become of her people.  "Many schemes of running away from my surroundings hovered in my mind.  A few more moons of such a turmoil drove me away to the Eastern school."  At this point a white education is no longer something forced upon her, but something she is openly embracing for the betterment of herself and her people.  Her education is now important to her and she is proud when she achieves her diploma.  Not only has she become a well educated  Indian woman, but she has proved herself to be among the top scholars of her age by winning multiple oratory contests.

Journal #11

After reading "As the Lord Live, He Is One of Our Mothers Children", I was struck by the difference between the townspeople at the beginning of the story, during the mob and the townspeople at the end of the story.  At the beginning the warning whistles bring all the people together, away from their jobs in the mines and from every corner of the town to join a mob that is actually being helped by the police.  I cant imagine that they all understood what was going on before the man from Dover City began speaking, so it is here that we can see the beginning of the mob mentality.  The mob rushed "down the the serpentine boulevard for nearly two miles... swelling like an angry torrent".  It was just an angry mob until the man spoke: "I have come here today to assist you in teaching the blacks a lesson.  I have killed a nigger before and in revenge of the wrong wrought upon you and yours I am willing to kill again."  This gave the angry mob a purpose and mission, which creates a very dangerous situation for everybody.  Hopkins mentions two incidents of innocent people being killed in the mayhem and others being severely beaten.  The town is under a single, mob mentality where no one is thinking for themselves.

Towards the end of the story when the poster for the "Gentleman Jim" is seen, the people seem very reasonable.  "Jones and him was two of the smartest and peaceablest niggers I ever seed."  This man, who was almost certainly a member of the mob that lynched Jones has just stated that they were two of the nicest Blacks he has ever seen and goes on to say that Jerry Mason, the man they are charged with murdering, harassed them for no reason.  The transformation from the mob mentality that would violently hang a man to the this individuals conscious is astounding.

Journal #9

In the post Civil War era, the newspaper and periodical industry exploded. Just fourteen years after the war, the number of magazines in America more than tripled, from the 700 published during the war to 2,400 and then jumped again to 3,500 by 1900.  Newspapers also went from 400 daily papers during the war to 850 by 1880 and 1,400 by 1900.  Magazines and newspapers devoted much of their space to poetry and prose fiction which was a key factor in their rapid growth. And with the development of new printing technologies, magazines and papers could have colorful, lavish covers and illustrations at relatively low costs which meant that the average person could still read them.  This resulted in an estimated readership of 65 million people by the turn of the century.

This growth of the periodical industry is the opposite of what is happening today.  In the the modern era, newspapers and periodicals are rapidly losing business, at least in the paper version.  Among the many benefits of the internet is the easy access to news.  Everything that one would find in a newspaper or magazine can now be found online much faster.  Online news can also be updated constantly, which allows us to know about events moments after they happen.  Why would people buy or subscribe to periodicals if they can get the same information of for free at the touch of a button?  People can even get this information on their mobile phone, wherever they are.  The newspaper has had its time but it is quickly coming to an end.

Journal #8

After reading Jefferson Davis's Inaugural Address, I got the impression that the South felt that they were superior the the North.  Jefferson clearly states that he believes the North is completely to blame for this conflict and that the South is innocent.  "We are doubly justified by the absence of wrong on our part, and by wanton aggression on the part of others".  The South see's the efforts by Northerners to fight for the basic human rights as a blatant attack on them.  It is also preposterous that Davis believes the "courage and patriotism of the people of the Confederate States" is justified, when they have just succeeded in breaking a nation in half.  That is the complete opposite of courage and patriotism, to solve an issue by running away from it.  

In Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address he points out the difference between the South and the North: "one side would rather make war than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish".  This clearly shows the foul intentions and lack of patriotism that South had.  They would split apart the nation their grandfathers and fathers had worked so hard to win and build over slavery.  I can not imagine how these people could hold slaves in the first place and keep a clear conscious, but then to destroy something so precious and valuable so they could continue and expand such an institution.

Journal #7

            In "The Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother to Her Daughters Sold into Southern Bondage", Whittier gives slaves some of their humanity back by speaking as a slave woman being separated from her family.  White owners worked hard to dehumanize slaves, giving themselves the idea that slavery was the natural state for Africans and that they enjoyed it.  Yet in this poem we can see just how human the slaves really were.

            The speaker describes the South as a place “where the slave whip ceaseless swings, where the noisome insect stings, where the fever demon strews poison with the falling dews, where the sickly sunbeams glare through the hot misty air”.  Just as no white person who has to work outside all day would want to live in a hot, humid, insect ridden place where there is the constant threat of disease and beating, neither would a black person.  It is not human nature to want to live in such a place. 

            The speaker also speaks of the maternal comforts that her children will not be able to receive from their mother.  In the second stanza, Whittier describes how she will never be able to watch over or listen to or comfort her children; which is essential to the development of children.  Especially for children that will be going through such hardships as slave children go through, to not have a mothers arms to go to at the end of the day is devastating.  By showing that this mother recognizes the importance of love and comfort towards her children should alert any reader that slaves are indeed human.  Hopefully this poem would have touched the hearts of slave owners, helping them to understand just what they are doing when they tore apart these human families.