Two interesting ideas stuck out to me in the two readings from Zinn: resistance and disproportionality. Zinn’s chapters make it clear that resistance in so many ways is/was a daily occurrence in black peoples’ lives. In slavery, Zinn says the “salve resistance” was “expressed in countless ways in daily life and culture” through “music, magic, art, [and] religion” (pg. 179). The way in which slaves came together and formed this culture of “extended kinship” was all to resist the system in which they were forced into (pg. 177). Slaves bonded and held each other up because as a whole they could imagine resisting the system and they could dream of freedom beyond the plantations. Later, in the 1950s and 60s Zinn argues “the memory of oppressed people is one thing that cannot be taken away” (pg. 443). The resistance and anger embedded deeply in black history was “all there in the poetry, the prose, the music, sometimes masked, sometimes unmistakably clear” (pg. 446). Decades after slavery blacks continued to resist the inequality through their daily expression of song and religion and other tactics. Resistance is ingrained in black culture just as much as racism is embedded into American culture.
The theme of disproportionality is repeated by Zinn in his two chapters. In the first chapter he argues that the US system was exploiting not only poor blacks, but poor whites. While being pushed by capitalism, society was willing to entrap both poor blacks and whites into systems of slavery by working for other people that owned their land. The note written into the reading says, “systemic oppression is harmful to everyone (although disproportionately)” (pg. 210). This disproportionality is also shown in the 1950s when the actions of each branch of government are placed side by side. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled the clause “separate but equal” unconstitutional. However, the executive branch, meant to uphold the laws, allowed 10 years to pass and “more than 75 percent of the school districts in the South” to remain segregated (pg. 450). Systems affect people disproportionally and work together disproportionally. At its core, the theme of disproportionality directly points to causes and effects of racial inequality in American society.
The memory of past oppression still unfolds and is manifested in various ways and through many people today. This is evident in America as a whole and within both the Black and the White communities.
Some instances of resistance can only be recognized by those who identify with the African American culture (sort of like inside jokes). So, these were less apparent ways to ease the pressure of oppression off of the backs of enslaved people. I am LIVING for your statement about how resistance is ingrained into Black culture as much as racism is into American culture.
I really like the phrase, “Resistance is ingrained in black culture just as much as racism is embedded into American culture.” We often blame black people in todays society for resisting, but what else are they supposed to do? Should they just submit to racist American culture? I think we need to consider this more often in todays society.