Human Trafficking: Critical Analysis Paper 

Table of contents

This paper will focus on three concepts pulled from the Human Trafficking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives textbook and then relate these concepts back to the book, Walking Prey, which details a survivor’s story. The first concept the paper will focus on will be commercialized intimacy. The next topic of focus will be victim recruitment and how victims are recruited and the type of recruiters. Finally, the last topic will focus on trauma the survivors of human trafficking have to deal with and the idea of the “therapeutic window.” Then the paper will wrap up with a review on the pros and cons of Walking Prey and whether it should be used in the future to educate others.

Commercialized Intimacy

Commercialized intimacy is one of the factors that contribute to the oppression of women in human trafficking. Commercialized intimacy dehumanizes people’s bodies by making them a product to be sold. As the book eloquently states, “commercialized intimacy is part of the increasing commodification of intimacy that permeates and sustains global capitalism; ” thus as we progress the link between intimacy and capital becomes more closely fused. (Burke, 2018, p. 86). This relationship between the global economy and human trafficking is a representation of macro-level interactions, while the relationships between the consumers, slaves, and traffickers are representations of micro-level interactions.

The textbook addresses Bridget Anderson’s statements about how in human trafficking not only is the body dehumanized to a commodity, but the victim’s personhood is also being exchanged in these transactions and that these transactions are unequal exchanges. However, the dehumanization of the body is not the only factor we see when bodies are marked as property, we also see entitlement from the traffickers or employers. In the minds of the trafficker they own this person and this person is property that they are allowed to use as they see fit. This is seen even in non-sex trafficking situations such as the example from the textbook where even care workers are being exploited and assaulted because their employers feel entitled to their bodies.

In the textbook, it is addressed that light skin “sells” meaning having light skin makes these girls more valuable because more people will buy her for this quality. The women’s features and qualities are being marketed as selling points that are ideologically better and because that is what institutionally sells. I want to draw a parallel from the lighter skin to the marketing of youth and of children in sex trafficking because there are people out there that exclusively prefer children and adolescents, as there are people who prefer lighter skin.

In Walking Prey

In Walking Prey, we actually see an example of this parallel of the idea of children sex slaves as a selling point. We see this when Holly says she believed some of the men who bought her were pedophiles and that she thinks Nicki took her to a corner known for juvenile prostitution (Smith, 2014, p. 101). Greg knew Holly was young in fact he and Nicki counted on her young appearance appealing to the market of Johns who prefer children and juveniles. Furthermore, these were just the cases were Holly experienced sexual assault when she was under Greg and Nicki’s control as a juvenile sex slave, this does not even count the boys and men who had sexual interactions with Holly before she was fourteen and a sex slave.

In Walking Prey, we also see multiple examples of the entitlement to a girl’s body not only from her trafficker but also from other men before she was ever even a victim of sex trafficking. When Greg raped Holly because he had to “test his goods” he was representing a perfect example of an entitled trafficker (Smith, 2014, p. 106). To him Holly was nothing more than his property to do with as he saw fit. However, men and boys felt entitled to Holly multiple times throughout her story, from her cousin sexually assaulting her for his own curiosity to all the others who used her for their own pleasure.

In Holly’s story she also expresses not understanding that her body was not something she had to exchange for another thing, that her body was not a commodity to be traded in exchange for other things. Holly fell under the belief that her body was a commodity and not her’s to control. However, she believed this false assumption even before Greg and Nicki trafficked her, because she had spoken of how she had used sex to get a ride to the mall the day she met with Greg and how she thought she had to (Smith, 2014, p. 110). She most likely learned this acceptance of men’s entitlement from her past sexual assaults.

Victim Recruitment

Victim recruitment is an essential part of any sex trafficking operation. One of the reasons recruiters are so successful is because they recognize the risk factors in potential victims and exploit them to their advantage. Women and children who come from troubled or “broken homes” are more vulnerable and pose the most at risk for becoming victims of human trafficking. Being a more withdrawn, not fitting in with peers, and a lack of assertiveness are all risk factors that recruiters will look for in potential victims. According to the textbook, since many victims come from poverty they are often attracted to the wealthy or successful men, however, coming from poverty the idea of wealth and success are relative and the men just have to be well off enough to provide for them. The middle class victims, however, are not immune to the draw of the wealthy and successful man.

The book expresses how fatherless homes pose a great risk factor, but the vulnerability is mainly a psychological one. The absence of a father figure creates a need for a “strong male figure” so much so that the need for this relationship will drive victims into the hands of recruiters. Recruiters will tout the fantasy of being a family to potential victims, which these victims often crave desperately. However, while they create the fantasy of family for these victims they also may isolate them thus making them feel that all they have is their recruiter/pimp.

In the textbook the authors address that recruiters will “employ a variety of means to recruit victims, but essentially they employ both carrots and sticks to entice and motivate victims” (Burke, 2018, p. 289). To explain further, carrots would be rewarding them for good behavior and sticks mean punishing them for bad behavior. An example of a carrot would be the trafficker buying his girls nice things and the stick would be him beating or starving the girls for not making enough money.

Traffickers also can use the Internet to their advantage in recruitment. Recruiting using the Internet holds many advantages for them. First it allows them to “recruit a larger number of victims”, second it allows them to “exploit a larger geographic area,” and lastly it allows the to retain anonymity and “misrepresent their identities” (Burke, 2018, p. 290-291).

There are several types of “recruitment/motivation mechanisms” the most common types are the following: “Romeo/finesse traffickers, gorilla trafficker, drug-supplier traffickers, and creditor traffickers” (Burke, 2018, p.289). Romeo traffickers will feign romantic relationships with prospective girls, while a finesse trafficker does not have to use romance to con a girl he will use his charisma and style to persuade the girls to do what he wants. Gorilla traffickers are probably what most think of when they think of a trafficker, this is because gorilla traffickers control their victims using threats and acts of violence. While a lot of traffickers may use drugs and alcohol to keep their girls complaint a drug supplier trafficker is different he will get the girls hooked or prey on addicts and used their addiction to make them do what he wants in exchange for their fix. Finally the creditor trafficker uses an owed debt to force the victims to perform sexual acts. These types of traffickers can be intersectional meaning a trafficker can employ more than one of these mechanism and fall under both categories of trafficker. The textbook uses the example that if the Romeo method is not effective on a girl the trafficker may switch to the gorilla method.

In Walking Prey

Holly had several factors that made her a vulnerable to traffickers like Greg and his cousin. One factor is Holly’s bad relationship with her parents and their lack of attention to her. Holly did not have solid friend connections, as her only friend Crystal was not really the best of friends for Holly, this left Holly still feeling alone. Holly believed Nicki could be her friend too in reality Nicki did not even like Holly. Holly was also vulnerable because of her personality, she was shy, craved a boyfriend, had past sexual abuse that had been covered up by her parents, and traits of borderline personality disorder. In Holly’s relationships before Greg and with Greg she assumes that any male attention is better than no attention. Holly, in addition, fits the type traffickers target that were mentioned earlier such as being more withdrawn, not fitting in with peers, and a lack of assertiveness. Like many other victims Holly believed staying with Greg and Nicki was better than returning home and she felt it was her fault that she got herself in this situation.

Greg’s cousin who Holly actually talked with on the phone would be classified as a finesse trafficker, because he is described as being good at gaining girls trust and enticing Holly via lies about his famous connections (Smith, 2014, p. 6). His lies of his connections acted as an enticing carrot and a pulling factor. Greg’s cousin also talked to Holly for a while getting to know her and pretending to care, which Holly seemed to desire, a friend, someone to care.

Greg on the other hand was more skilled at spotting vulnerable girls and he actually trafficked the girls. While it is not completely clear what kind of trafficker Greg would be from the five categories it is possible he could be a mix between finesse and gorilla trafficker. Finesse trafficker because he did buy the girls nice things, such as when he bought Holly shoes (Smith, 2014, p. 6). However, there is only slight evidence of Greg being a gorilla trafficker because he was described as being cold and mean, and while he was not described as beating the girls he did rape them.

Trauma

The textbook defines trauma as “an experience that threatens one’s sense of safety and security, and may or may not involve physical harm” (Burke, 2018, p. 310). There is a large pool of experiences that can cause trauma or be categorized as a traumatic event and human trafficking and sexual violence are a few of them. Trauma in childhood is a major risk factor that greatly can affect ones chances of experiencing exploitation later in life.

After traumatic events, it is likely for survivors to experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or post-traumatic stress symptoms. Symptoms can present themselves within the first two weeks after sexual assault or even years after the trauma. However, the difference between PTSD and post-traumatic stress symptoms, also referred to as partial PTSD, is that PTSD has to four symptom clusters that lasts over a month if not for the rest of the survivors life and cause a major disruption to their ability to function in everyday life.

The four clusters of PTSD are as follows: intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition or mood, and heightened arousal. The first cluster is intrusion and its symptoms are of distressing dreams, dissociative reaction, and “include memories of the event, which are involuntary, intrusion, distressing” (Burke, 2018, p. 311). Avoidance is the next cluster and as the name suggests is “characterized by efforts to avoid thoughts of feelings associated with the trauma” and avoidance of external triggers (Burke, 2018, p. 311). Negative alterations in cognition or mood is a newer addition to the list of clusters and refers a broad range of symptoms with some being negative beliefs about oneself, distorted thoughts of guilt, feelings of detachment, and the inability to feel positive emotions. Heightened arousal is the final cluster and it is characterized “by irritability, recklessness, exaggerated startle response, and problems with concentration (Burke, 2018, p. 311).

Two of the types of treatment therapies that the book discusses are cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and cognitive-processing therapy (CPT). CBT uses, as the name suggests, “cognitive and behavioral approaches to change dysfunctional thoughts, feelings, and behaviors” of the victim via techniques “such as exposure therapy, thought stopping, and breathing regulation” (Burke, 2018, p. 318). CPT is founded on understanding how trauma affects a survivors’ life and its main goal is to help survivors heal via overcoming “the self-blame, changes in belief systems, overgeneralizations, and distortions that occur as a result of trauma” (Burke, 2018, p. 318). Cognitive-behavioral therapy has shown to be immensely effective, whether alone or paired with other types of therapy. While therapy is a huge benefit to trauma victims, it is also a mainly Western culture idea, so it is not uncommon for other cultures to seek healing through other methods. Some of these other methods are yoga, folk healing, and the use of pharmaceuticals, such as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Therapist should work within the “therapeutic window” or “the client’s ability to feel without repeating familiar destructive behaviors” (Burke, 2018, p. 320). The textbook does not expand on the idea of the “therapeutic window.” However, it is believed to mean working during a critical timeframe with the victim

In Walking Prey

In the book Walking Prey, the survivor talks about how therapy should be immediate after rescue if it is to be effective (Smith, 2014, p. 141). Holly’s experience was even more terrible because they did not work within this window of time were their help was most needed and would have been most effective, instead Holly was sent home and her trauma symptoms exacerbated. Holly states that survivors after rescue should be stabilized medically and psychiatrically as first priority then placed in a long-term care or an intermediate program (Smith, 2014, p. 141). Survivors who seek therapy during the “therapeutic window” have better chances.

Holly recognizes that trauma seen by survivors can cause PTSD regardless of if the trauma occurred before, during, or after the exploitation. It is stated that PTSD can be a risk factor or an effect of exploitation. While it is not clear whether Holly had PTSD or post-traumatic stress symptoms but she explains that she did have symptoms that were likely indicators of these. However, Holly’s unaddressed childhood trauma from her multiple sexual assaults could clearly be understood now as an early indicator of her future trauma she would endure. Holly also writes a snippet about Mandi Lynn Bowman, who after experiencing multiple cases of rape, becoming a prostitute, and suffered from PTSD and bipolar mental illness, which is another instance that shows this link between childhood trauma and future exploitation.

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A History of Female Slavery in America

For many years female slaves were underrepresented in history. During the 19th century slave women were depicted as mothers and caregivers, but they were often the abuse victims of their white slave owners. In the following, I will answer the question of what does the existence of slavery reveal to us about life in 19th century America? I will also discuss the role of slave women and the myth of the mammy that surrounded them during this time period.

As we all know, slave owners did not make a difference between men and women when dividing work. Women could work alongside their men out in the fields but most of them did work in the houses. However, Female slaves, who worked in the household, were often subjected to cruel beatings and rapes. Sexual relationships between masters and their female slaves were extremely common during these times. These forced sexual relationships most often took the form of cruel beatings and savage rapes. According to Douglass, who witnessed an overseer beating a woman said,” he would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin” (42).

Although most sexual relations between master and female slave were out right rape, there were many accounts upon which some female slaves willingly had sex with their masters. However, this kind of relationship would spark a problem between the slave owner and his wife. This conflict would often result in the sale or severe punishment of a slave. Black women also represented the authority figure within her family or community. In addition, slave mothers would educate their children on how to sew or do other household chores in order to help their families.

Between the late 1700s and early 1800s, the slave population increased from 500,000 to 4 million. Of all the slaves, Black women were the ones who suffered the most. Women were known to be inferior to men and Blacks were inferior to whites. Black women suffered a great deal during slavery. White women were discriminated against, but they were treated according to their gender in society.

Furthermore, the norm in the society back then showed that women’s role was to stay home and cook, while the man’s role was to go out and work. On the other hand, black women did not have the privileged of just staying home. She had to work the fields or do household chores in the slave masters house. She had no gender and she was treated just like a Black man and sometimes even worst. According to White, “Black in a white society, slave in a free society, woman in a society ruled by men, females had the least power and were perhaps the most vulnerable group of antebellum Americans” (15). The severity of the punishments was equal amongst Black men and women. When black women became pregnant, she was still not excused from her daily chores.

After the transporting of slaves from Africa to America became illegal, the need for female slaves became more important for slave masters. Slaves master began to produce slave on their plantation because the accessibility of slaves from Africa was diminishing. Thus, black women became breeders. Therefore, white slave masters raped Black women not only for their sexual pleasures, but to create new slaves that were going to replace the old ones. Sometimes the slave masters forced other Black men to have sex with Black women, while her husband was also forced to watch.

Blacks carried a big burden because of slavery, but Black women had to carry an even bigger burden. After being raped, Black women were assured that they were able to keep their child. Most of the times her child was sold off to another slave master, especially if she was a breeder these divisions affected slave families. The majority of the families were incomplete because most family members were often sold through slavery auction. So, Black females relatives took the role of a father figure.

Everyone was brother and sister because the same institution was oppressing them. Aside from all other things the black woman had to do, she had to also be a teacher to her children because slaves were not given an education. Sojourner Truth was born into slavery is a great example of black women who suffered in slavery. Nevertheless, she made her way to freedom as a young woman became very famous for her involvement in women’s right.

Another issue that I will discuss is the myth of the mammy and jezebel. This I think is one of the greatest myth of slavery and salve women. These are myth created by the white slave owners in order to justify their behavior towards these women. First, I will discuss the ideology of a black woman being a jezebel. According to White, “In every way Jezebel was the counterimage of the mid- nineteenth century ideal of the Victorian lady. However, black women were seen as being very sexual and promiscuous and hence got the name jezebel. According to White, “In some proslavery rhetoric, therefore, Jezebel was made chaste, and the idea of chaste slave women was soothing to Southern whites” (45).

What was a mammy? Well, the mammy as describe by White, “mammy was the woman who could do anything, and do it better than anyone else” (47). The mammy myth is just another stereotype created by slave owners. The woman who cared for black children was commonly designated “aunty” to distinguish her from the “mammy”, the nurse of white children.

Sometimes one woman cared for both white and black children. However, from what we know of history mammies happily take care of white children and do household work for her slave owner. Nevertheless, slave women were not jezebels or mammies. They were women held in bondage and against their will because they were properties of another person. I feel that historians should spend more time studying black women and not the institution that controlled them.

Throughout the nineteenth century, slave women were dominated by their masters and had to conform to the social bearings of the society back then. I think that the institution of slavery during the nineteenth century tell us that the American society was not living up to the laws by which it hah created by the forefathers. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “All men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights”. I think that white Americans during this time period did not feel that slaves were to benefit from the privileges granted by the constitution.

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APUSH Summer Assignment: American Nations

El Norte is one of the nations and the two themes that explains the founding of this nation is beliefs & culture, and Politics & Power. Culture has already been brought upon America with the indigenous people. However, when Spain was given this nation they had to convert to Catholicism. “ Pope Alexander ordered it to convert all the hemisphere’s inhabitants to Catholicism”(24). America was a country that was developing better than Europe; therefore, the Spanish wanted to live a better life and with the Pope insisting them to convert to Catholicism in order for them to settle in this nation, it was the best option for them.

In 1630, when the Europeans began coming to the Americas, they spread many diseases causing the deaths of many. “ Americas had crashed by 80 to 90 percent as epidemics and warfare spread from points of European contact”(26) This affects El Norte because everyone became poor and helpless. The Spanish built armies to fight in the Protestant wars against Europe and the Religious wars, however, Spain was weak and helpless and many people died and El Norte’s population decreased.

New France is another nation that is explained by the themes of Ideas/belief and Peopling. This quote contributes to the themes because it shows how New France accepted all people and was focused on bettering the nation. “ Commoners would be allowed-rights unheard of in France… Instead of conquering and enslaving the Indians, the New French would embrace them”(35).

Peopling and Ideas/beliefs are themes seen in this quote because the French migrated to the nation with the intentions of building a Feudal society; however, they wanted a close relationship with the Indians and were very nice to them, allowing them to even have a cross-culture marriage. The nobles even allowed Protestant French people to migrate with them and allow them to practice the religion with no problem. They also allowed commoners to hunt and fish which in France was unbelievable. This shows how New France was egalitarian and wanted to develop in a good way with no problem.

Tidewater is another nation that had a really bad environment. “ Of the 104 settlers…only 38 were alive nine months later”(45). Many of the settlers died due to the environment. They lived near swamps and all the human waste and garbage were left on the streets and there was no way for it to leave causing many disease pandemics. It also had a way of peopling. “ Indentured servants were bought, sold, and treated like livestock”(48). They brought these works to do some labor, however, they weren’t treated very well and even though they servants were white, there were a few blacks that did have some rights and were treated fairly the same as the white indentured servants.

Yankeedom is another nation that is explained by the themes belief and politics. “ This tradition of… direct democracy has remained central to Yankee culture”(60). Yankeedom people are usually the descendants of New England and they had a democratic society where the adults got to vote and everyone had the same privileges. “ The first Americans were God’s chosen people”(63). The Puritans believed that it was God’s plan to go to America and start a new society there. This motivated the Yankeedom community in building a new society and thought that going to the Americas was a good choice.

New Netherland is another nation that is explained by the themes of politics and beliefs. “ The company imported eleven slaves to address its shortage of laborers”(71). New Netherlands was a trading center where many people would trade commodities. However, when it became more popular, they needed people to do labor work in order to trade more commodities and that is how the slave trade began and this brought them to have more power. “ Everyone shall remain free in religion”(68). This nation was very diverse since there were about 18 languages spoken in the center and they allowed freedom of religion because since it was a trading center people of different religions would come, and it was a matter of respect for the people.

The Deep South is a nation that is explained by the themes of peopling and work & technology. “ Deep South did slavery become the central organizing principle of the economy and culture”(87). The people were first the founders of Barbados which was known for brutal slavery. The same thing happened in the Deep South, the slaves were brought to the nation and were treated horribly. The slaves working in the fields was the basis of the economy of the nation despite the fact that race was an issue and that the founders were white supremacists.

The Midlands is another nation that is explained by the themes of peopling and politics. “ Penn’s marketing campaign was so successful that it soon brought an even larger wave of settlers”(95). Penn colonized what is now Pennsylvania and he had a dream to have a well-built society. He advertised this nation in many countries in Europe and many were intrigued and many immigrated to the nation. However, the government system wasn’t organized. They assumed that the people would discipline themselves, which didn’t go as planned and it caused raids between them and the Indians.

The Greater Appalachia is another nation that is explained by the themes of peopling and identity. “ They formed a vigilante gang to hunt the bandits down”(109). The founders of this nation are refugees from Scotland. When they moved here they began to be very mobile and used their animals like pigs and cattle to get to places. When banditry became more common, they started their own gang called the Regulators and it was a type of protective force to keep their nation safe.

The Left Coast is another nation that is explained by the themes of peopling and culture. “ The culture that formed… very similar to those in western Oregon and Washington”(223). In the 1820’s many Jesuits from France and Spain were immigrating to the nation which worried the English. The El Norte people settled in the California area and the Yankees in Oregon and Washington. Those in California advertised that they were going to start school and churches to make them Yankees to come over; however, it didn’t happen, but it did leave California, Oregon, and Washington to have a similar culture.

The Far West is another nation that is explained by the themes environment and technology. “ Railroad companies… controlled the development of much of the vast territory”(247). When the people first came to the nation their plans were to farm and grow plants. However, since the area was dry and hot it was impossible to do it. However, the railroad companies began to make railroads which provided transportation and also inspired other industries to start. Also, the railroads were the basis of society as the people depended on it. Anyway, despite the environmental conditions, they were able to colonize the Far West by railroad companies.

The First Nation is another nation that is explained by the themes environment and identity. “ Canadian landmass and spurring the emergence of the largest nation of them all”(313). The nation has a harsh climate similar to the Far West which made it hard to do things especially since it was a vast region. Also, the people that first came to the nation were independent and were never conquered by anyone which shows how important the nation is to them and how they gained land in Northern Canada.

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The Concept of Manifest Destiny

The concept of Manifest Destiny, aimed to expand white Americans to the west, first emerged from the white traders in the natives lands where they discovered that the land was fertile for farming and animal rearing. This made the people of America to start the expansion westward as the news about Manifest Destiny reached them. The early missionaries also trekked these lands creating their missions and trying to spread the Gospel. They had discovered land that could flourish the agriculture, and thus spreading the news to new Americans about the land that would be freely prowded for them to occupy due to their ever increasing population. The American government had set out an expedition to explore the lands in the west, as Manifest Destiny had created a positive impression. There was panic among the Americans due to the economic disorder, and to the lack for suitable and cheap lands for agriculture in the eastern part.

The missionaries claimed that the land fertility was waiting for exploitation and this led to massive expeditions to the west, which came to be known as the great migration. The migration and settlement in the west by the different people had some similarities. The black American life was slowly changing as many slaves were being freed and hired by land owners for wages. Jewish settlers’ life was also changed significantly as they started to trade abandoning their homesteader agricultural habits, and dispersing their culture to the west of America. The Chinese also migrated to the west side of America and started to own businesses and develop Chinese culture.

These groups had the Similarity abandoning their earlier life style and adopting new way of livmg, although they came from different cultural diversities they worked together for the unified America. The migration of other people in the west had affected the perspective of the pioneers as competition became immense among the different people, and the use of slavery was abolished.  The promising Manifest Destiny drew many people to migrate to the west, where an overland trail was about 2000 thousand miles. It consisted of more than one hundred wagons which paved the way for subsequent migration to the west in the next years as it became the route connecting the west and the east. The way took more than 6 months on land to the western territory and this was a burden to women as there were no discussions before the continuation of the journey.

Many women had opposed this migration due to the trying circumstances, which they encountered in the expedition that had eliminated the cheerfulness of women. Many women were supposed to take the traditional man’s Jobs, they helped in repairing wagons and aided in the construction of bridges, though they had to carry on with their traditional roles of mothers and wives. The journey to the west had negative effects. as it doubled the roles and workload for women. The pioneering spirit impacted the perception of freedom for both genders as women could play the role of men while men played the independent role of decision-makers. Women objected the idea of movrng west but they were overruled the males and the journey had to commence.

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Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr

In Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail he references many famous people who have often fought for the freedom of others. This gives evidence to the arguments that he makes and provides a common ground of understanding for the reader and everyone else. His assertions were bold just as he was and his Letter from Birmingham Jail is one of his greatest writings, alongside his I Have a Dream speech. King brings up that separate but equal is unjust and unconstitutional which refers to Plessy v. Ferguson. I think this specific allusion really demonstrates how even the higher of men look down upon people with a darker skin complexion that they have. Just by looking around in towns and cities you could have seen that were in fact separate, but they were nowhere near equal.

The African Americans had worse education, and drinking water, and were treated like something below man. Abraham Lincoln was one of the first men of high power to try and end slavery, which he succeeded to do, to an extent king quotes. “This nation cannot survive half slave half free”. What he’s trying to convey is that if one side of the nation (whites) were free and the other segregated (blacks) then they would always be against each other and never work as one to try and unite this country into a better one. This shows the people that eventually they’ll kill off their own nation by themselves. One last person he used was from Socrates a great philosopher King stated many questions that made people think and reflect on their lives and how they treated people around them.

I believe this made people cautious of their actions and it made people realize that the only thing different about whites and blacks is the color of their skin. So it cleared people’s minds into how they would want to be treated if it was vice versa. With all these allusions people really thought long and hard about how their nation was progressing and it caused many people to realize equality is for all. Some people didn’t buy into the idea of blacks with the same rights as whites, but King won most of them by using many other rhetorical devices other than allusions. Words can change anyone’s perspective, but it all depends on how it’s delivered the way King did it changed the lives of all in America

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The Problem of Police Brutality Against Black People

I am a student at College, and I’m writing to you because I know that this problem that I’m going to write to you, is a big issue that we are confronting on these days. Policy officers at New York are abusing of their law power, they are hurting and killing black people. Police are captured in video, and people look this violence in the streets. They do not have compassion about black people they just want to hurt them or even kill them. Clarence Taylor wrote a book about this issue, “’Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City,’ he examines the explosive history of police brutality in New York City and the black community’s long struggle to resist it.” (Donahue) This is a long story that black people has faced in many years. We must stop this now! This is not a state issue this is a National problem because this kind of behavior is seeing through the overall country.

The amendments that are being violated in this issue are the 8th and 14th. The eight amendment is violated because sometimes black people are in charge about cruel and uncommon punishments, and the fourteen amendment because everyone deserve equal protection. We fight for equal rights, but we are not treated equal police are hurting and killing people just because of their skin color. This problem has a long story, there are historical evidence of public violation with Black people, it was in the era of slavery, when police threat them as animals (Alang, McAlpine, McCreedy & Hardema, 2017) Black American people are not slaves anymore, they died and fought for these rights but now police officers abuse of their power of law.

This is not fair for these people, they don’t do anything to these officers but they just want to hurt them just for fun. A case about this problem is, “Video showing New York City police officers arresting a young black man sparked outrage and elicited questions about the amount of force used to make the arrest in a city where mistrust of police remains high more…” (Grant, 2020) Another example could be, “video that showed a white police officer punching a black teen during a brawl on a Brooklyn subway platform. Hundreds of people last weekend marched in protest and the family of one teen said it will sue.” (Sisak, 2019)

This problem is not just seeing in our country, this happens too in Mexico City. In Mexico, “Indigenous farmers have been harassed or attacked by paramilitary groups as they work their land. Police brutality and mistreatment by the justice system are commonly reported.” (“Indigenous peoples”, 2020) In Mexico City, indigenous people are not treated equal because is they have different costumes and sometimes these people suffer without doing anything bad. The difference is that in New York police officers attack people because of their skin color (racism) and in Mexico City just because they are indigenous people (culture).

The ethnic minority is affected because police officers are not respecting the law, this a problem that is coming since long time ago. The socio-economic groups are affected because they are the ones that are facing this problem. Our lives are in danger and in any time, we can get kill or hurt because of our skin color. Fortunately, people protest, “Hundreds of people marched through downtown Brooklyn for hours to protest what they described as brutality by the New York Police Department.” (Holcombe, 2019) But this is not enough people want justice, but government do not do anything. It is a big problem to our community, police officers have to change their mind, they are to protect not to hurt us. Democrats debate about this problem, Julian Castro a mayor of San Antonio, TX says, “We need to root out racism,’ he said, ‘because that doesn’t represent the vast majority of Americans who do have a good heart.’ (Allen, 2019)

The department that has the responsibility for this problem is The New York Police Department. They must control these kinds of behavior with their police officers. The executive branch by lay must maintain that laws of the United States are obeyed but they do not do anything about this problem.

One solution to this problem could be that executive branch must be obeyed, if not government must punish these police officers and send them to jail. Police officers must obey these laws because if not they will be punished. Another solution is that the New York Police Department must be stricter with the people that want to become police officers. Not everyone deserves this right, because officers must protect people and hot hurt them.

The United States must have election to this kind of problem. We must elect people that can help us with this discrimination with our country, because deserves to be safe even when we have different color.

Government must stop this law abuse, because police officers are killing and hurting innocent people just because of their skin color. This is a serious thing that our people is facing everyday in their lives. The New York Police Department has to take care about their police officers, they are not doing what are supposed to do. They are breaking the law, and they must be punished for these kinds of behavior for black Americans. American citizens can protest to the government to this problem. American citizen can contact to their representatives to talk about this problem and show them proves about the unfair behavior that police officers has with the community.

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Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass

Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass have both played a monumental part within slave culture. During their era (mid-nineteenth century), white Americans had different views and stereotypes of African Americans. Jacobs and Douglass both use their writings to help shed light on how African Americans were viewed during this particular time period. Both of their writings have allowed readers to gain somewhat of an understanding of the ways African Americans were sometimes stereotyped.

Harriet Jacobs has been subject to the utmost savage of acts that are of being enslaved. She was stripped of all rights and freedoms as being a slave and went through hell on earth. She was owned by a white man, forced to make new slaves, not being able to have any rights as a white man, and overall being considered a lesser being because of the color of her skin. Her story describes the horrors that she went through, speaking out by showing others her first-hand experiences based on her time being enslaved.

In her writings, she describes how she was stereotyped as just a piece of property, a method in which to produce more slaves, and as a lesser human being. All of which just because of the color of her skin and gender. Jacobs only just realized that she and her other peers were slaves when she was around the age of six years old. She came to that realization when she saw the inhumanity of her father’s labor, and how she held such a different status than those of white people.

The worst part was when she found out that her grandmother was involuntary birthing children so that there could be more slaves. Jacobs writes this narrative to show the struggles and hardships that the enslaved women went through and how her perspective is very different from those of society. As the society at that time viewed and stereotyped African Americans in a way in which that tried to justify the cruel acts of slavery.

Back in this time period women of any race were considered less of a human being, but being black and female was like getting handed the short stick. She tried to reach out to other women in this passage by inspiring them, by encouraging them, and by informing them that change needed to be made. Harriet Jacobs shared her stories, helping her fellow female peers gain respect for one another by evoking true emotion in the readers to shed light on the common views and stereotypes of African Americans.

Fredrick Douglass shed a lot of light on the views and stereotypes of African Americans. In one of his passages, he talked about some of the stereotypes society had about the day of the Fourth of July. One of his main points proceeds to talk about the factual status of how a slave is viewed as a man by the government. Confused as to why the general white population considers a slave to be a man but in reality, they do not have the same rights that the white people think that they do, whether they believe so or not.

This describes a possible stereotype where African Americans were thought to be treated as slaves and that their treatment was of no true concern for the general public. He also talks about the stereotyping of the wrongfulness of slavery. He seemed as if he was blown away at how he would have to even argue the wrongfulness of slavery, and rightfully so. He talks about how the wrongfulness of slavery is so intense that if you were to ask anybody about it, they would most definitely say that slavery is wrong. This simplified way of thinking shows how the idea of slavery can be broken down from a concept to a bare-bones idea that needs no justification.

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