JJ's World Views

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  • Journal 9

    I sometimes like to look at this point and time as a historian might look at it in 50 years, or maybe a group of beings that evolved cognitive thought; either here or from space.  Think about it, we live in a time where historians can have a much clearer view of the world.  They can specialize in a specific area even more so.  Now instead of focusing on other regions, continents or countries, they  can go down to city, club or college.  These people could tell more about us than we do about any other period in history.  Everything is documented today, from what time people take a shit in the morning to our deepest darkest fears.  It is amazing to think about how much they would have to sift through.

    What do I think they would say about the United States?  A generalised statement Is that the leaders push to divide us while saying “they want to unite us.”  The people are starting are in favor of the same things, but allow themselves to be subjugated to the status quo.  The United States leaders start unnecessary wars for profit, instead of taking care of the people at home.

    They would probably say that the world as a whole is insane.  We are constantly fighting each other, destroying  our environment and not caring who we hurt in the process.  Yes, we have people who give back some.  But, they are not vocal about what causes these afflictions to begin with.  They only try to cure the symptoms not the disease.

  • Am I A Racist?

    This is one of the hardest posts I have written.  I worry about the backlash being the subject is so divisive, no matter what community you are apart of.  I mean no disrespect I am just trying to understand.

    Am I racist?  This is a question I have been asking myself a lot lately.  I recently left a position where I was working because the atmosphere was toxic to me.  You see I despise the word “Nigger” or “Nigga” these are the same word just different accents, not language.  There are certain parts of the country that have a hard time saying er and instead use an A, the opposite is also true. I apologize for writing the word from this point on I will use “N” as a replacement for it as to not make myself vomit from writing it too much. I was at times stuck in a room with a bunch of people who constantly were using this word.  These were people of African American descent.  Does that change the meaning of the word?  In the 2 months I worked there I heard it used in both a friendly way about people they liked, and a derogatory way about people they disliked.

    When I was young someone told me that N meant an ignorant person, though it had negative racial overtones.  This is why we do not use the word.  In the past 5 years I have been looking into the issue of race.  With all the unarmed shootings of Black citizens by police I wanted to get the real history of the issue.  I have seen countless documentaries on the subject, did my research project on the Islamic Empire and read through some slave narratives.  I do want to try and understand these issues more so I can be more helpful to the fight for equal rights.  The thing is I do not think I will ever understand the double standard of it is ok for an African American to say it and not a Anglo-saxon white person.

    I am an egalitarian this means: I feel everyone should have the same rights as everyone else.  I would would not want a black person saying it anymore than a white person.  So, when I was working there it was a shock to my system every time I heard N, and I heard it a lot.  I am also a person who is for the first Amendment of the constitution.  Yet, in this story I start to try to control people from using this word.  I started off nicely, but as it was continually I was getting more belligerent about it.  To the point where I would start blacking out for a couple of seconds.  This has happened to me before but only when I was extremely drunk or was physically assaulted.  This is where I knew I had to leave that situation.  One I hate being a hypocrite and two I did not want to end up in a fight.  I worried if I heard it enough that I may accidentally use N out of sheer frustration.

    During the 2016 election was when I was reading the Slave Narratives of Frederick Douglass and Linda Brent.  It was after the election of Trump that I realized how powerful that word really is.  I was doing homework the day after the March against Trump was happening here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, of which I was a part of, and I hear a pounding at my door.  It was a neighborhood kid I see when I am walking my dog.  The kid is mildly autistic and is normally a real good kid.  I went outside to see what was going on.  I had found out he had done something most white people here in America know not to call a African American.  He called one of them a N.  This caused him to be chased and almost got his ass kicked.  I talked to them all and tried to smooth things over with the group of kids and apologized for what he had said.  Then I shock one of their hands. Then went to his mother and told her the situation, using N as a quote.  I felt so dirty after I said it.

    Visions of people getting whipped, tortured and raped flew into my head.  I did not realize the affect N had on me still.  I figured it was most likely caused by all the tension in America.  I did not really give it too much thought.  Then I took the position I had recently just quit.  I loved the job working on diversity calendar, being able to explore ideas that I have.  I just could not deal with being in a room with 10 to 15 people saying N so much, about once every 5 minutes or so.  it got to a point where my heart started racing, ears began to burn, it felt as if all my communication skills were drowned out by that one word.  In the beginning I let it go, but the more it was said the more angry I got.  I am having all these physical reactions to hearing N with the images of people being raped, tortured, and lynched.  I was in a U.S. History, if you know anything about U.S. History, you know it cannot be discussed without the racial element to it.  It was not just in the south either as many of us tend to think it happened in the north to.

    Images like these:

    Postcard_of_the_lynched_Jesse_Washington_front_and_back
    Beaten black man
    2 lynched black men

    Then I would not say the word again, I never had a desire to really say it.  But if you would not want a white person to say then why would a black person saying it.  This is the point I was trying to get across.  It seems like the Daily Show has the same Double standard now.  At least when it comes to President Obama for taking a $400,000 job from an industry he helped to prop up.  If you wouldn’t want a white president to do it then why would you want an African American president to do it.  Did he not run on Change.  Yes, I find both Clinton and Trump repulsive.  I had high hopes for Obama it turns out he is no better than the rest.  That is where I think people have differing opinions.  We expected him to be above the corruption.  Why should we give him a pass when we don’t give the others a pass?

    I try to use the same criteria across the board this way I do not give a bias unless the it is based on facts, Like climate change.  I do not like being a hypocrite and if I realize it that I am becoming one I try to change it.  This is what it mean to be intellectually honest with oneself.  Realizing that we are all human and that if we are all works in progress.

    If we are not working to be better humans then what are we doing with our lives.

  • Review of the Original V Miniseries/ Final Battle

    Review of the Original V Miniseries/ Final Battle

    V Mini Series 1

    I love this show ever since I was a kid.  This is the only Sci Fi show my mom every really liked.  This show takes a look at the Nazis through the lens of Science fiction.  The show Stars Marc Singer: Beastmaster, Robert Englund in a role you normally would not see him in (a good sweet doof), and the one man I really would love to see at a convention Michael Ironside. These are probably the most recognizable people in the series. They revamped the series in 2009 it lasted 2 seasons.  This remake had cameos from 2 of the original actors of the series Marc Singer and Jane Badler.  I thought it was decent, I just would have rather had them use the same premise as the original.  This is a 5 part Miniseries that had a 1 season series that came after it.

    The story is about a journalist who ends up in the middle of a worldwide revolution against a small fleet of ships from a planet near the star Sirius.  The aliens look human enough though they are light sensitive and have reverberating vocal cords.  They claim to be here to help us with the environment, and medicine.  The only problem is there is a conspiracy against them from the scientific community, or at least that is what they say.  Sound like anyone in our current administration.  The symbol on their flags and uniforms are almost a swastika, except for there are 2 right angles missing.  I did not know this growing up until high school.

    The revolution is made up of scientists, journalist, an excop and criminal.  If you look closely in the fourth part of the miniseries, you will see something growing in the background of the first 15 minutes that you would not expect in an 80’s TV show.  I did not realize this till I was in my 30’s.  Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) Find out what the aliens really look like under a false human skin.  They are reptilian and are not actually here to help us, they are here to steal our water and use us as food.

    The effects are dated in the show but what do you expect for an 80’s Mini Series.  The story is solid and compelling for a 10 hour binge.  The characters develop fairly well.  We get to see the birth of and alien human hybrid, in fact 2 of them the second one was much cuter that the first one I think.  The relation between the Nazis and the Visitors is very pronounced.  All together if you like Sci Fi or even if you don’t this is a good watch for everyone.

    I give it a 4.5 stars out of 5 once you take into account the time it was made.  I do recommend that if you like it try the remake.  I thought it was pretty good,  I did not have huge expectations for it and it surprised me.

    This is my first review I figured I would do a series I loved as a child.  Tell me what you think and what I can work on for the future in the comment section below.

  • A Walk on 7th Street

    A Walk on 7th Street

    Today I went up to St. Paul to shoot.  I initially went up there to walk around photographing sculptures.  I saw the Schmitt Brewing company sign and felt nostalgic for when I was a kid.  My mom used to take us up to my Aunts work as kids to pick her up sometimes when we had plans.  In fact I got a photo of the place where she used to work years ago.  It used to be a Super Value if I remember correctly.  Here are the best Photos from today’s outing.

    My aunt used to work here.

  • Baggage

    These are a few stories I remember from working at the TSA.

    Years ago I used to work for the TSA, I was what they called dual certified.  I could work in either the checkpoint or baggage.  I worked at a small airport, during the summer we had both international and domestic fights.  During the winter domestic flights only.  Despite what people say about the TSA the people I worked with were decent people.  There were a couple of bad seeds though.  There was one I remember who always rubbed me the wrong way.  I really don’t remember his name but for here I will call him Stevie, Dude looked just like Steven Segal.  He was an ex-cop from New York now this guy was a head case.  He was one of those had to look tough all the time guys.  We were waiting for a flight to head out in baggage.  He was telling these guys how he planted pot on this guy, because he knew the guy was a dealing though, Stevie could not prove it.  I asked him ” Isn’t that entrapment?”.  Stevie replied “No, because I knew the guy was a dealer.”

    One of the flights I love working was Icelandair.  The people are friendly and agreeable. I used to try and say their names, when ticket checking.  They were a fun bunch.  I want to visit their so bad.  Though they did pack a lot of food products in their baggage.  Those bags were heavy.  These thing were filled with Turkeys, hams, fruit, lots of canned or boxed food as well.

    I spent about 50% of my time in either area.  The times I like working out front were when I was dealing with people from another country.  Granted many of these people were from the United Kingdom.  I prefered the over crowded passenger check in compared to what you might find is some bags.  When I first started I saw a couple of huge 12 inch double sided dildo, with a ton of gay porn around it.  Oh yeah and they were still lubed up.  Thank goodness for gloves.  Then as I was doing that search was a big teddy bear.  “Damn it why did I have to get this one” I said to myself.

     

    Many people may not know this but we got tested every year on our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).  If we didn’t pass the test 3 times your were let go.  The whole time you are being shadowed to make sure you are doing things correctly.  We were constantly training on the SOP.  We did have training on the x ray machine simulator every month and were tested every year.  I do not know how many times I have seen the same learning modules.  Every 3 months we had to watch a video on Sikhism.  How they are culturally different from the Arab Muslims.  This video went into how they where their hair, and the ceremonial Kirpan (small dagger).  It also explained how it is one of the youngest religions being founded in 1500 ce.

    What I am about to tell you turned me off from volunteering so much for overtime.  It was during the Earthquake in Haiti.  The schedule changed we started out with 2 12 hour shifts.  We did that for about 3 days.  Then we went to 3 eight hour shifts. for the next 3 weeks.  The Red Cross was there helping get people set up.

    I remember when I heard about the Earthquake in Haiti.  I was in the Middle of getting a tattoo, when he called to let me know that I was going to start that next morning.  I was supposed to be off that weekend.  My ex-wife and her daughter were there with me I was getting a cover up.  I had what was a golden broken heart.  It looked like a yellow broken heart.  I got it after a break up years before.  Since, I was married and happy for a bit I thought I might cover it up.  The pitiful heart was changed into a  beautiful blue rose with my ex-wifes daughters name underneath.  I still have it do I want to change it? No, it is now a reminder to me to take things slow.  Stop rushing everything.

     

  • Final Project for Photography

    Final Project for Photography

    This is Photoshop project I had to take 3 pictures and a scan of a 3D object.  You might recognise the object, If you’re old enough.  It started out as an homage to one of my favorite 80’s Sci Fi movies, “They Live”.  The project kind of went south when I realized I could not use any words in the project.  If you have seen “They Live” you know what I am talking about, if not watch it.  The movie is a Metaphor for so many things in our society today.  From companies controlling how we live from day to day and how we blindly follow those we don’t really know.

    Dancing Statue
    Dancing Statue
    Eye
    Eye
    Desk
    Desk
    Mr. Bill
    Mr. Bill
    Mirror Dimension
    Mirror Dimension

     

  • Harlem, Watts, Newark and Chicago in the 60’S

           toga hose

                 In the political cartoon the Fiddler, by Herbert Block we see a man dressed as a Roman senator playing a fiddle, while the cities behind him are burning.  These are the cities that where riots of the 60’s happened.  In this paper, we will be discussing the causes that lead to the most prominent four race riots, and what President Lyndon B. Johnson did to stop these from happening again.

    To give some perspective in 1967 7.8% of white families were living below the poverty line compared to 29.1% of black families, says Robert Dallek in his book Flawed Giant (411).  This means that for every one white person living below the poverty line there were four black people approximately.  We could only imagine what the it was like back then.  In the south whites are still segregating.  I the north things were changing but slowly.

    .  From 1964 to 1967 the summers in the United States cities were destructive and deadly. There were four major riots in this time: Harlem in 1964, Watts in 1965, an in 1967 we had two Newark, New Jersey and Detroit, Michigan; per Joseph Boskin, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern California in his book Urban Racial Violence of the Twentieth Century (94).  Each disturbance was started by different trigger points. In Harlem, New York it was the shooting of a fifteen-year-old by an off duty white police officer per a Newsweek issue in 1964 (Boskin 100). This borough of New York is where many black people were pushed into living by the white upper class.  In fact most of the contact with white people were the police, shopkeepers and bill collectors.  The living conditions and the jobs situation were not all that promising.

    In Watts a section of Los Angeles, California it was a “traffic arrest, where a white officer struck a protesting black bystander with his club.” As described in Alan Brinkley (707).   Just like in Harlem the living and working situations were rough and the primary contact with white people were the police.  In fact there were two reports done on the Watts situation. The first one was the Moynihan Report and the other the McCone report.  These reports were different in that they took a more sympathetic look at what was going on, instead of just the statistics.  They described the living situation and the employment opportunities, but did little to suggest what could be done (Baskin, 109).

    The start of the Newark, New Jersey riot was far more complex.  Like the previous two there was an underlying tension between the police and the black community.  The more prominent issues though were lack of education and an high unemployment rate (Boskin, 118).  The city was running out of money and the Mayor nominated an undereducated white man to head the Board of Education in the Newark.  When the African American were pushing for an African American man with a master’s degree, and had worked for the budget office (Boskin, 119).  In the end was a rumor about a black cab driver named John Smith (Boskin, 120) whom people saw being dragged into the police station that kicked things off.  There was a civil rights leader and two militants that tried to quell the growing crowd by trying to turn them in to a peaceful protest. When rocks were thrown in to the crowd and hit many of the people and broke a few police car windows. This was just the beginning of a chaotic couple of days filled with miscommunication between the National guard, State and local police, looting and gun fire (Roskins, 124).  Yet, this was nothing compared to what was to come in Detroit.

    Detroit was one of the last places that had the riots, this might be because of the previous race riot back in 1943.  It was also the worst of the riots. The disturbance in Detroit was started by an early morning raid on a speak easy a few weeks after the Newark riots.  The Detroit riots was the worst of these disturbances causing “40 deaths, 2,250 injuries, 4,000 arrests, $250 million in property losses” in a week (Boskin, 127).  President Johnson was reluctant to send in help at first, (Dallek, 413) He was afraid of the political repercussions and did not want the Republicans to try and take advantage of the situation.  Eventually Johnson had no choice, but to send troops in, after the Governor of Michigan was not able to handle the situation (Boskin, 128).  Johnson was now fighting what seemed to be two wars now.  Looking at the images of what was going on in Detroit back then, on Bill Moyers Journal: Race and Politics in American Cities, it looked far more like a war zone than a Prospering city.

    The first idea he had was the National Day of Prayer.  Next Johnson started riot training for the National Guard for The last of the key ideas that Johnson put into action was a bi partisan report on what caused the riots and how can we stop them from happening again.  This was known as the Kerner Commission report. According to former Senator from Oklahoma, Fred Harris, one of the last remaining members of the commission, Johnson thought that there was some kind of conspiracy because of the riots (Bill).  During the investigation they found that in some areas in the north like Milwaukee, Wisconsin that the segregation was so pervasive that most black people did not see white people at all (Bill).

    In this Essay we talked about the causes of the 4 Main riots of the 1960’s.  We talked about the living and working conditions that were in place that caused these uprisings.  We also discussed what President Johnson did to try to make sure these types of events do not happen again.  At least not in his life time.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Works Cited

    Bill Moyers Journal: Race and Politics in America’s Cities. Films Media Group, 2008,

    fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=100853&xtid=39434. Accessed 19 Apr 2017.

    Boskin, Joseph. Urban Racial Violence in the Twentieth Century. Beverly Hills [Calif.]: Glencoe

    Press, 1969.

    Block, Herbert L. “Fiddler.” Library of Congress: Prints and Photography Division, The

    Washington Post, 2001, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00652231/. July 25, 1967.

    Brinkley, Alan, John M. Giggie, and Andrew J. Hubert. The unfinished nation: a concise

          history of the American people. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2016. Print.

    Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973. New York: Oxford

    University Press, 1998.

     

  • Analysis of Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave and Incidents of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent

    Warning this post has terminology in it that maybe offensive to the reader.  I have recently realized myself that, there is one word in particular that tears me up inside just to hear it spoken in common tongue.  It was after reading these two stories that I realized how dirty and disgusting one word can make you feel.

    I was assigned Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave and Incidents of a Slave Girl.  Through these two Narratives I have learned a lot about the conditions and trials of the African American and were forced to work for little or nothing.  To me these stories were heart wrenching and at the same time give me hope in the chaotic times in which we live today.

    Mr. Fredrick Douglass and Ms. Linda Brent, I use Mr. and Ms. out of respect for these two courageous souls and their trials, were born into slavery and raised by their grandmothers.  They also barely knew their mothers, but for different reasons.  Mr. Douglass’s mother was sold to another slave holder when he an infant.  Whereas, Ms. Brent’s mother died when she was six years old.   Mr. Douglass did not know who his father was.  There were rumors that his master was his father, yet no one knew for sure.  Ms. Brent knew she was mulatttoe, because her grandmother had “Anglo-Saxon” blood in her. These were the times that were horrible for the black man and even worse for the black women.  Yes, the men were whipped and beaten, but these wounds were only physical.  The women on the other hand were raped, molested and were thought to be less valuable then the men, who worked in the fields.  Ms. Brent was lucky in that respect; she was not raped.  Although, she was constantly harassed and advanced upon by her second owner a Dr. Flint, when she was in her teens.

    Ms. Brent knew her father he was a free black man, who was a skilled trades man and made money of his own, which was unusual.  When Mr. Douglass started learning calk in the ship yard, had to give all the money he earned at first to Master Hugh, in Baltimore.   Most and was trying to earn enough to buy his families freedom, but with no such luck.  For the better part of her childhood she did not know she was a slave.  She was taught how to read and write by her first mistress from age six; until she died when Ms. Brent was twelve.  This was when she first realized her life was not really her own and was sent to her mistress’s sisters, whose husband was Dr. Flint.  Mr. Douglass on the other hand did not have the luxury of learning how to read and write till he was sent to Baltimore.  Then when his new mistress, who had been from the north, tried to teach him was stopped by her husband Mr. Auld.  Mr. Auld, who fore bade her from instructing him any further said; “A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to do.” To summarize the rest that if you educated a person that they would be miserable and may rise up against his slave holder.  This did not stop Mr. Douglass though, he came up with an ingenious plan, I think, and tricked the kids on the street to teach him how to read and write.  He did this by telling him he already knew how to read and write, then when he did not get it write they would show him, not knowing that they were teaching him.

    Mr. Douglass was raised in Maryland where was thought that they treated their slaves better than below the Mason-Dixon line.  Through my reading these narrative, I saw very little difference between the two myself.  Ms. Brent Being from South Carolina saw many of the same things going on, as Mr. Douglass.  Although, I remember a particular scene in which she described a man being strung up by his chest and having hot lard dripped on him for disobeying his slave holder.  I read this and cringed at the thought.  How could people be so cruel to another?  Later we find out that Ms. Brent passed on her knowledge to an older slave who wanted to know how to read the bible, so he could be closer to God.

    Another thing they both witnessed in their lives is when their slave holders found god they, became even more cruel to their slave.  The slave holders could find justifications for their treatment of slaves in the bible and strengthened by their religious leaders.  Mr. Douglass said: “my master attended a Methodist camp meeting held by the Bay-side, Talbot county and experienced religion…” and continued “It neither made him to be humane to his slaves, nor to emancipate them.”  Which he hoped for so dearly it would.   Ms. Brent described a similar experience with Dr. Flint.  When he found religion is when he stared to be crueler to her and hit her on a couple other occasions.  This is something he did not do but once before.

    Dr. Flint did not rape Ms. Brent, but this did not stop his unwanted advances toward her.  Not only did she not want these advances, this also made his wife jealous of her and whenever Mrs. Flint could she would try and make Ms. Brent’s life miserable.  Dr. Flint was obsessed with Ms. Brent to the point where she would try anything to make him not want to have anything to do with her.  To this point she ended up having two children with a man she didn’t love, but whom treated her decent.  These attempts did not stop his advances to the contrary, these two children gave him leverage over her.   In order to save her children, she planned her escape hoping that if she ran, he would sell them.  Now, I know this sound bad, but the father of the children was ready to purchase them from Dr. Flint.  Though it took quite a while, but eventually Dr. Flint did sell them to a slave trader who unbeknownst to him was sympathetic to Ms. Brent and her family.  Dr. Flint did not want to sell them, but because of his obsession with her that he barrowed $500 with interest to go find her in New York where he thought she was.  It was this that caused him to be low on money, so he had to sell them.  The person he borrowed the money from was harboring Ms. Brent in the attic of her home.  After reading about this I laughed so hard, for she had finally gotten the better of him in some way.

    Mr. Douglass Had tried to run a way about three times before he finally made it to New York.  There he had no friends and did not know who to trust.  This was until he met a man by the name of Mr. David Ruggles who helped him to secure passage to New Bedford.  Before he left for New Bedford he met a woman who would be his wife Anna.  They traveled together to their new home.  For Ms. Brent her journey to freedom took a long time.  She did not try to escape, but once and it was a long journey.  Hiding at one friends home, then she went to another’s hiding in her attic for quite a while.  The next place she hid was in the crawl space above her grandmothers shed.  In all these situations she had multiple close calls with Dr. Flint.  Eventually she made to Philadelphia and then New York and she was a free woman.

     

  • Analysis of “Indians of the Rio Grande”and “Jacques Cartier: First Contact with the Indians”

    Through reading these narratives we see through the Eyes of the Spanish, French and the Iroquois.  In the case of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, “Indians of the Rio Grande” he talks about How they are as he puts it “They are very merry people”.  Even when they have nothing they still celebrate and dance.  In his journal he talks about the eight months he spent with the Avavares Indians and how they became as medicine men to the tribe.  These people also seem to almost worship Cabeza de Vaca and his men.  With most of the tribes Cabeza de Vaca I feel he saw them as naïve and poor, but grateful and giving.  The same could almost be said with the experiences of Jacques Cartier: First Contact with the Indians.   Though when Cartier first sees the natives he is fearful of their numbers and decides to leave.  After a confrontation the two sides meet on an Island and Iron out their differences through signs and trade.  The native here were basically willing to give Cartier and his men the clothes on their backs for trade.  This was common amongst all the tribes he met.  Another thing he noticed was they were all fisherman.  They lived on the lakes and stream in boats they also loved their ceremonies’ and dancing it seem whenever they met a new tribe.

    In comparison they Native the tribe saw the Europeans as crooked and out of balance in the mind.  As it is said in the Dekanawida Myth &the Achievement of Iroquois Unity “North of the beautiful lake [Ontario] in the land of the Crooked Tongues”, by Crooked Tongues I take that to mean the Europeans, otherwise they would have used the other tribes name.  It is because the Europeans see the Iroquois and other tribes as naïve and gullible that they take advantage of their kindness.  Then when resources start to become scarce and a lust for war starts to break out amongst the tribes that Dekanawida calls the leaders of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, and Cayuga.  This was to stop the tribal wars and confront the Europeans whom they call “Adodarhuh”.  They see them as if they were a broken people and in the Myth they were able to sing and cure the Adodarhuh of their evil ways.  So the European invasion lead to the formation of

  • Document Analysis 2

    This is a comparison and contrast analysis of “The Expulsion from Spain, 1492” and “The Chinese Rites Controversy”.

    While going through the reading this week I noticed that the biggest sources of tension is the merging of religion and government.   As I was reading “The Expulsion from Spain, 1492”it seemed as though the Jewish people were highly persecuted by the Catholics of Spain, Portugal, Fez, Berber and the Genoa’s.  Spain with King Ferdinand who had first banished them from the country and taking over the land that the Jews owned.  This was the time of the Spanish Inquisition in which any person not a Christian was in great peril, due to the torture and being burnt at the stake for being a heathen.

    In Portugal they were fleeced and were allowed to stay there for a few months then forced to leave.  In Fez and Berber, they would not even let them in the cities in Northern Africa, thus many Jews died outside the wall.  The few that escape to the north were robbed and treated horribly by the Genoans, who were more like pirates than anything.  A few of the Jews of the time did find safety in the northern African country of Tlemcem only because it was a Jewish kingdom.  More of the Jews made it to Naples, Italy where the king took them in and helped the refugees out.  Even those who disliked the Jews (The Dominican Brotherhood) took pity on them there.  More of the Jews were taken to Turkey where they were received as artisans.

    In comparison to the Jews, the Christians subject of the sultan could sell their children into slavery.   This was not like the type of slavery The US had through the 19th century.  People did this because they had very little money and it was better than selling them to a lord.  These slaves were educated and armed.  All though they were taught from the Koran instead of the Bible.  Of course during this time period, the Muslims were the best educated.  These slave became some of the Sultans most trust advisors.

    The conflict between the Confusionist of China and the Catholics of the Europe was there conflicting ideologies.  This very apparent in “The Chinese Rites Controversy”.  The early Jesuits told the Emperor of china at the time that if they converted to Christianity that they would be able to practice their own rituals.   Unfortunately, Pope Clement the XI was a bit power hungry and did not want them to practice the rituals.  This lead the Emperor to ban the rhetoric of religion from the country.

    So as you can see Religion played a big rule in the politics of the period.  From the Spanish Inquisition to the Christian slaves in turkey all the way to the early 18th century where Catholic Pope tried to rule over Christian convert four thousand miles away.  We still see these sort of conflicts in today’s society as well.  Though they come in different forms and in different countries.   Will we as the human race ever let go of the negative parts of religion?  I would like to think it is possible.