Aristotle, the intriguing scientist and Philosopher of Ancient Greece once stated “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal”. Written on April 16th 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." The freedom that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is referring to is egalitarianism, which is a belief that all people are equal, as well as obtaining equal rights. The “oppressed” are the citizens fighting for the conclusion of violence and dehumanization shown to the people of color at the time, all because of an individuals ethnic background. Egalitarianism is showed throughout Julia Alvarez’s literature piece, “White Women of Color”. In Alvarez’s story, she reveals oppression, power obtained by the military, and marginalization.
Alvarez makes it clear, the oppressor in “White Women of Color” is Rafael Trujillo, who dehumanized the citizens of the Dominican Republic by extinguishing colored citizens and preserving the white citizens with the help of his military. This was the worst form of oppression at the time, which freedom was absolutely never given to the oppressed by Trujillo. Violence towards the dark-skinned Dominicans were an act of ignorance depicted through imperialism. Alvarez stated, “Trujillo ordered the overnight slaughter of thousands of Haitians by his military, who committed this atrocity using only machetes and knives in order to make this planned extermination look like a “spontaneous” border skirmish” (Alvarez 6). Institutional racism is portrayed throughout the story, children were judgmental towards one another due to an accent or hair type. Martin Luther King’s quote reflects how the oppressor’s choice of lack of freedom impacted the minds of young individuals throughout a school institution. “Even so, at the local school, we endured the bullying of classmates. “Go back to where you came from!” they yelled at my sisters and me on the playground” (Alvarez 6). Young individuals portrayed exclusion to Alvarez and her sisters. However, Alvarez seeked equality through gaining the American education. She soon realized what freedom was when gaining the American education and enrolling into college, Alvarez had did what the oppressors said her race could not do. She obtained her very own freedom through dedication and strength. In her literature pieces, Alvarez exposed oppression in the world as seen in her book “White Women of Color”.
Similarly to Alvarez experiencing neglect towards her freedom, the movie “Precious” based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, Claireece “Precious” Jones, 16 years old and pregnant with her second child, suffered from dehumanizing social forces: poverty, government agencies that blame her, and a school institution that gives up on her because they cannot understand her situation. Claireece’s mother shows an extreme form of violence towards her, all for wanting to obtain an education and a better life style. Her mother, Mary, did not see her as equal to the rest of society for wanting to survive and come out of poverty, it was as if she was holding her back from striving into an intellectual individual. Living in extreme poverty, education was not a normal act of everyday life for young adolescents living in Claireece’s neighborhood. Mary (Claireece’s mother) stated “School ain’t gon help none. Take your a** down to welfare!”. Similar to Alvarez, both young women have seen extreme forms of violence depicted throughout their community and have felt some sort of exclusion from society and family because of different circumstances they face. Poverty, violence and isolation are all major forms of oppression, however both women succeeded in the end due to demanding their own freedom and respect from society.
Works Cited:
Alvarez, Julia. A White Woman of Color. Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail. New York Post, 1963
“Quotes.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0929632/quotes.
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