Bodies That Don't Count in American Culture

In Sharon Holland’s “Death and the Nations Subject” the argument is that black people in the United States have historically and socially been considered dead. Holland’s argument is stemmed from the lack of cultural depth in the black community because of how white colonists stripped African Americans of human nature. When I say human nature, I am referring to the need to know your cultural background and what makes you who you are. With slavery Africans had no control over their lives. Their bodies were used as free labor and their minds were blocked because they weren’t allowed to learn to read or write. The slaves were forced to forget about family members and heritage from Africa and accept being treated as a white mans possession. Slavery was a form of oppression forcing people from Africa into American culture because they were considered less than human and therefore didn’t need or deserve to maintain their own culture. Holland discusses how African Americans today since slavery have experienced “genealogical isolation”(15). I completely agree with this idea. As a black female I do not have the privilege to trace back my ancestors like many other white Americans I know who are from Italy or Russia. This is a really sad reality for myself and members of the African American community who do not identify with being “African.” Sadly, when I am asked where I am from, I can only trace back to the south where my great-great-great grandparents were slaves.

I really love Fondly do we Hope, Fervently Do We Pray and the documentary discussing the conflict Jones internalizes when writing and choreographing this production. Coming from an era when as a black child it was impossible to relate to or befriend white people, Jones was taught that the white man was his enemy historically and socially. Jones grew up believing that the only man he could love or believe in was Lincoln and that was because he pioneered the abolishment of slavery. Unfortunately along with the abolishment of slavery, Lincoln was a harsh leader and was just as cruel to black people as anyone else. Jones could not consider Lincoln a good man, yet he was grateful for Lincoln’s contribution to freedom in the lives of African slaves. Though Lincoln did not push for equality of African slaves and white people, he allowed black people to begin building their history as human beings unlike their previous decades as property.

Black people in the United states were and have been historically counted as less than human. There is a strong relation between social and phyical death. For one, being apart of a race that is not counted socially as important in a society or nation-state, it is very hard to be counted as important when your life is physically at stake. For example, the living conditions in Urban densely populated areas with mainly African American residents the plan is to impose “urban renewal”. Unfortunately tha only benefits the bodies that count socially, and therefore the bodies that do not count socially (African Americans) are forgotten in the process and forced to relocate for the betterment of the community. Times are tough for African Americans who have been historically null and void in American culture. Drawing for ancestory in an environment that oppressed you for generations and stripped you of your heritage is like trying to wake the dead.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdivmg_fightingwordsdraft_shortfilms

this video depicts the heritage of an African country- I thought it was interesting on how it talks about the black identity being challenged even in Africa because of colonialism.