Logan Godfrey

Mr. Isgar

AP Literature

5 November 2020

Oppression Comparison in America

Being Americans, we have maintained that America accepts the diversity of

everybody. In actuality, we often subject minority groups to discrimination and inhumane

treatment. We do this for a multitude of reasons. Back in the day it was for economic gain, but

after slavery was abolished in 1865 and immigrants were no longer made indentured servants,

we should have had no reason to continue the abhorrent treatment of these people. As of recent

events, this is clearly not the case. Now, we oppress these groups because we do not know

anything but prejudice and to keep us the superior race. Ta-Nahisi Coates illustrates the personal

experiences and historical evidence of intolerance African Americans have had in his essay,

"Letter to my Son.". Likewise, in Adam Serwer's "A Crime by Any Name." he discusses the

deplorable conditions immigrants endure due to American policies. Ever since its roots, African

Americans and immigrants have been ridiculed, made less than human, and denied fundamental

rights and human decency in order to preserve the social hierarchy we have made.

The dehumanization and discrimination of the African American community at the

hands of white Americans is still a continuing issue. This bigotry has been around since the

beginning of our history. Even terms like “blacks'' and “negroes” dehumanized them

intentionally to take control over them. If we call them Africans, we recognize them as humans,

and it becomes much harder to gain control over them. Many Americans have now written about

the tribulations of racism. Ta-Nahasi Coates is an African American author who writes to his son
about what being black in America means. Coates shows that blacks have not been considered

people, race is a belief, and African Americans have suffered for whites. In his essay, "Letter to

my Son'', Coates establishes the idea of the construction of race and how we as white Americans

have used blacks to get where we are as opposed to "...wine tastings and ice-cream

socials..."(Coates). We as whites did not get where we are by sitting down and relaxing as we

like to believe. He makes it very clear that "the political term people''(Coates), excluded African

Americans. The term people includes white people because white people made the term. Racism

and slavery were prominent through the 1800s, "In 1863 it did not mean your mother or your

grandmother, and it did not mean you and me."(Coates), hence why the word people excluded

blacks since the people in charge had a bias against them. Also, the statement, "...the belief in

being white..."(Coates), shows the implication that we are not white even though we have light

skin, and we are only white because we call ourselves white, and if that is true, then black people

are not truly black. He says our "pillaging of life, liberty, labor, and land."(Coates), is how we

got on top and can have a good life. That through our enslavement and cruel treatment of African

Americans, we are on top. This all indicates that the African American population has suffered

inequity at the hands of white America.

However, immigrants have experienced the same kismet as African Americans also to maintain

the white hierarchy. The practice of discriminating against immigrants is not new. Chinese

people came to America for work. But, hatred is what they received due to racism and taking of

jobs. This anti-Chinese sentiment grew as more and more Chinese workers came. Eventually, the

president signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited all Chinese laborers from

entering the nation. Also, in 1942 Franklin Roosevelt passed Executive Order 9066. In that order,

Japanese immigrants were placed inside internment camps because we viewed them as threats.
Due to the poor conditions inside these camps, over 1000 Japanese Americans died due to

disease. We have kept this idea that if you are not from America, you are a detriment to society.

This ideology continues mainly because of prejudice and the want to keep the population white.

More recently, we have mistreated immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border. Adam Serwer

wrote about the deplorable conditions of detainment centers and how American policies have led

to the unnecessary suffering of hispanic immigrants. In his essay, "A Crime by Any Name.",

Serwer recounts the terrible circumstances that these immigrants endure because of American

xenophobia. The "unsafe and unhealthy conditions"(Serwer), such as "dangerous

overcrowding"(Serwer) and "inadequate medical care"(Serwer), are inexcusable. The rationale

given was "to preserve the political and cultural hegemony of white Americans"(Serwer). In

maintaining the power of white Americans, we have "deliberately inflicted suffering on children

to deter illegal immigration, with its use of family separation."(Server), as well as "altered

immigration policy and the asylum process so as to force the authorities to hold migrants,

whether they have properly sought asylum at a port of entry or crossed illegally, and has made it

more difficult for children to be released to sponsors in the United States by threatening to arrest

and deport family members who lack legal status."(Serwer). Furthermore, our president has been

on record calling immigrants, "murderers, terrorists, and rapists"(Serwer) and “an

infestation”(Serwer). When the president says offensive and unfactual stereotypes, the rest of

America will follow suit. Therefore, America has infringed upon people's rights and has treated

them like animals.

Although African Americans and immigrants have both been discriminated against and

dehumanized, it was through different ways. From slavery and lynching to detainment and

deportation, these people have done nothing to deserve this treatment and we should work to
amend our sins. If these innocent groups can be treated with such spite, any group of people

could be subjected to it. We need a collaborative effort to stop bigotry so nobody has to suffer the

same way they did.

Works Cited

Coates, Ta-Nahisi. “Letter to My Son.” The Atlantic, 4 July 2015. theatlantic.com

Serwer, Adam. “A Crime by Any Name.” The Atlantic, 3 July 2019.
theatlantic.com

JCC English 100 Essay Rubric

Instructor: Ken Isgar, Pulaski High School

Exceeding Standards Exceeding Standards Meeting Standards Approaching Not Meeting

A B C Standards Standards
D F
Strong thesis that Clear thesis Recognizable thesis Broken or abandoned No thesis
guides essay thesis
development
Strong organization, Organization suited Organizational Broken or inadequate No organization
suited to topic, to topic, purpose, and pattern observed in organization
purpose, and audience majority of the essay
audience
Strong, coherent, and Good relevant and Relevant and mostly Broken or irrelevant Inadequate or no
clearly relevant coherent coherent development and development and/or
development with development with development of poor coherence with weak coherence with
explanations and explanations and supporting points few or weak no or inadequate
connections to thesis connections to thesis with some explanations explanations
explanations and
connections to thesis
Integrated, varied Varied and accurate Adequate research, if Faulty and/or No or inadequate
and accurate research, if required required incorrectly research when
research, if required interpreted or research called for
applied research, if and/or
required undocumented
research
Correct MLA Correct MLA Few errors in MLA Error-ridden MLA Many serious MLA
documentation and documentation and documentation and documentation and documentation errors
paper format paper format paper format paper format
Strong diction for Appropriate diction Few errors in diction Many errors in Substantial errors in
subject, audience, for subject, audience, diction diction
and purpose and purpose
Strong and logical Logical transitions Transitions Weak or No transitions
 transitions inappropriate
transitions
No grammatical No serious Some grammatical Serious grammatical Many serious
errors grammatical errors errors, meaning clear errors, obscuring grammatical errors,
meaning obscuring meaning
Strong evidence of Good evidence of Some evidence of Little or poor No evidence of
effective revision effective revision effective revision evidence of effective effective revision
revision

Grade: B+
Comment: Logan, you have all the right pieces in place to have a high impact essay, and your only task going forward is to
learn how to get them working together consistently. You choose excellent quotes, but I’m not sure you get enough mileage
from them. Remember that no quotes are self-evident. They require careful delineation and clarification, and it’s your job to
point out the salient features in each idea you reference. For example, how does the belief in being white dehumanize?
Why? And how does this connect to the idea of ice cream socials? This next step of addressing the WHY is your necessary
task. Once you start to comb through the implications of the quote, I think you’ll find better, more concrete language with
which to talk about oppression. Rather than say something like abhorrent treatment, describe the particulars that make
something abhorrent. Police unduly kneeling on the neck of a defenseless man is abhorrent. The unlawful execution of
unarmed citizens is abhorrent. Lean on the texts you use to suggest this. If you can address this piece, then all of your
weighty ideas will gain a new and formidable substance.