The minority discrimination and oppression is a familiar issue in the ancient and current societies. The minority groups which have fallen victims of oppression and discriminations in the society are mostly those who have different culture and characters from the majority groups. These individuals often face different forms of oppression and discriminations over simple perceptions based on their color and culture which make them look different from others. In the U.S. and other countries in the world, the black individuals have faced different forms of discrimination and oppression from ancient time. Since slavery time, these individuals have been undermined and their position in public subjected to massive oppression by the Native Americans. Many factors perpetuate discrimination and oppression in many instances. The three books, shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, "Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples and Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin, all major on different kinds of discrimination and oppression to specific minority individuals. In these books though, there are different forms of discrimination and oppression which are faced by the minority group, but the perpetuating factor seems to form a familiar and similar pattern. From these books, therefore, the main idea is that that the kind of oppression and discriminations that most minority group or the powerless individuals face from the major group or the powerful individuals are mostly perpetuated by ignorance from their oppressors and discriminators.
The first reason is because of humiliation andperceived inadequacy of power. What is apparent from these three essays is that some of these people who discriminate the minority individuals do so not because they enjoy or because they think that this is the right thing to do; but because the society has created a scenario where giving respect, or treating the minority individuals as human beings leads to humiliation or perceived inadequacy of power over them. There are different instances where such kind of ignorance is expressed in the three different essays. In the essay, "Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell" the main character demonstrates this kind of ignorance. When Orwell was alerted that the Elephant is causing havoc to the villagers, he decided to go and check what was ongoing. He learned that even though the elephant had been giving people turmoil time, and even had killed a person, it was now grazing peacefully. He decided to kill the elephant. However, his urge to kill the elephant hit an obstacle when he found the animal peacefully grazing on the grass ( Orwell). It had no intention at the moment to kill or destroy any property. It was at this moment that Orwell decided not to kill the elephants. He viewed an elephant as a harmless creature at this point. He also referred to it as ‘He”, in a bid to make it more human and make his intention of killing the animal appear as a murder. However, nearly two thousand people were looking at him and expected him to kill the animal, he knew that in case he fails to kill the animals, people would mock him, people would disrespect him, and his positional power would be questioned. To impress people, he ignored the right thing which he had decided to do and decided to kill the elephant. In this case, the elephant represents the people of Burmese society who are being discriminated and oppressed by the British imperialism. In this perception, what is important to note is that people like Orwell represent the British emperor. They are forced to kill people and Burmese society, discriminate and subject them to oppression so that they may be feared and respected by other countries. They exercise atrocities, injustices, and discrimination against innocent individuals since if they treat them more humanely, their power would be questioned by others. In this sense, they ignore the right things which they should do, and act in a contrary manner due to the perceived humiliation and inadequacy of power over their subjects.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The same is witnessed in the essay Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin. We witness the kind of isolation that Baldwin is exposed to in Swiss village because he has a different skin complexion from the majority of people in this society. In the story, it is even surprising to Baldwin himself that when the white people visit other villages which the black are the majority, they are welcomed, and there is no discriminatory or oppressive act they face. However, in the countries where the white dominates, the Black faces dozens of discriminatory issues. From his point of view, Baldwin seems to suggest that the white views this act as normal. They should be powerful than the blacks. They should be special creatures than the other races. It, therefore, means that, whether they know that the right thing is to coexist with the other races peacefully, they ignore this fact and discriminate them. The story seems to take the same theme in the essay, "Black Men and Public Space'' by Brent Staples. In the club where Staples went to have fun, the woman he met views him as a different creature just because his color is different from hers. As he describes, the woman seemed to be avoiding him and wanted to stay as far as she could from him. Why? The woman though knows that Staple was a human being, He ignores this fact because he would be seen associating with a black man. To her, a black person is perceived to be minor and associating with him would mean humiliation and lack of power over him. She decides to distance herself from the humiliation and lack of respect that she would get from her colleague having associated with a black person.
The second reason is because discrimination and oppression are perpetuated by the fact that the perpetrators ignore the fact that everyone is equal with equal ability and rights despite having different colors, cultures or less powerful. In the essay ''Shooting an Elephant '' by George Orwell, the society of Burma are seen as less powerful and thus subjected to discrimination based on the power that the British possess over them. This is demonstrated by the act of shooting the elephant severally by Orwell. Power is very critical, and the minority group who are perceived to possess less power like the people of Burma society are subjectedto a lot of discriminatory act by the powerful people like Orwell. People like Orwell and his British compatriots view Burma society as people who should fear them. These are people whom they should subject to intense fear for them to exercise full power over them. They would rather act contrary to their respect and power to remain over the people of Burma. They ignore the fact that these are people with equal right, ability, and capability like them despite the fact that they are less powerful. They instead view them as minors and less powerful individuals who should bow to them. This is seen in the essay "Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples and also Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin. In these essays, there is a sharp resemblance to how ignorance is making the black races suffers at the hands of the white. What is apparent from these two essays is that the white people seem to ignore the fact that the blacks are individuals with same traits as them. For example, in the essay Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin, the bistro owner’s wife’s naïveté thinks that by telling Baldwin that Africans are being bought, he will also be happy ( Baldwin). She ignores that the person she is telling is also a black man and may not be happy getting such comments from her. She ignores that these are people with the same traits as hers and may feel discriminated and oppressed when such comments are uttered or directed to them. In the essay "Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples, the woman who runs away from Staple ignores that fact that if she is subjected to same situation as Staple, she may feel oppressed and discriminated. In all these case, Ignorance prevails among white people, and they end up acting in a manner that is discriminative to their subjects ( Staples).
In summary, ignorance seems to be the primary factor which perpetuates discrimination and oppression among the minority groups in the society. In the three essays; shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, "Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples and Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin, it is demonstrated how ignorance has led to different forms of oppression and discriminations towards the minority characters. In all these essays, there is ignorance as result of humiliation and perceived inadequacy power over subjects as well as ignorance of the fact that people are equal and need to be treated equally with respect despite their culture, races or color. These are major reasons why the victims of discriminations and oppressions suffer.
References
Orwell. (1969). Shooting an elephant . Yehud Comprehensive High School.
Baldwin, J. (1955). Stranger in the Village. Notes of a Native Son , 175 .
Staples, B. (1992). Black men and public space. Life studies , 2-32.
