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Mindi Turner
February 9, 2015
ENGL 1050-400
Professor Briggs
Essay #1
Othering: Have we really come as far as we think?
We as a nation have come so far in the past 200 plus years. Yet, we are still plagued with
a major issue that many of us aren’t able to overcome. Othering is still a problem today as it was
200 years ago, it just looks different, but is still very much an issue that needs to be corrected.
We deal with racism on a daily basis. It surrounds us. Othering is not just about skin color. It is
about religions, languages, economic status, social status, political status and so much more.
Many of us participate in racism without fully realizing what it is that we are doing. We do it by
the looks we give, comments we make, who we choose to friend, who we choose to walk away
from. We do it by choosing who to listen to and defend, or belittle and make fun of. People are
persecuted every day for being different than those that surround them. What will it take for us to
really stand together as a nation, not as individual groups? How do we find ways to move out of
the past, yet keep it close so that we can learn from it? We need to learn from the past, find ways
to rise above and teach and influence those around us to do the same.
Many individuals that have come before us and many influential people that are around
us today, have tried and are trying to educate, inform and guide us with words and actions to be
different and to stand for something more. They have shed light on circumstances that impact us,
they have shared personal stories of their lives and lives of other individuals in hopes that
changes will be made.
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In “Reading Culture” by Diana George and John Trimbur there are many speeches and
stories that truly reflect the past and current issue of othering. On page 460 begins the famous
speech given by Frederick Douglass in 1852 “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass
begins telling those individuals who surround him exactly what slavery is like. Douglass states
“But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I have
not included within the pale of the glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals
the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not
enjoyed in common.” (Douglass pg. 465). He goes on to say “For the present, it is enough to
affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. It is no astonishing that, while we are ploughing,
planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges,
building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold…feeding sheep and
cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands,
wives and children…we are called upon to prove that we are men!” (Douglass pg. 466).
Douglass continues by stating “Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he
is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the
wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? It is to be settled by the rules of logic
and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the
principle of justice, hand to be understood? How should I look to-day, in the presence of
Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to
freedom?” (Douglass pg. 467). Even back in 1852 people were calling for change. Have we
really seen that change take place?
Many would say that change has definitely taken place, we are no longer racists, we no
longer “other”. There are no slaves, slavery has ended. They couldn’t be more wrong. Just
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because we don’t own a black man any more, we have not freed ourselves, our nation from this
injustice. The big difference now is we have turned on everyone. Do you feel safe walking down
the streets of Los Angeles, CA? How about Provo, UT? Do we look at a white guy with his head
shaved, with tattoos, differently than we would a black man wearing a business suit? Do our
children profile children they attend school with based on what they look like, how they learn or
even what language they are more comfortable speaking?
In “Reading Culture” by Diana George and John Trimbur Min-Zhan Lu relays her
experiences. “From early childhood, I had identified the differences between home and outside
world by the languages I used in each…In those days I moved from home to school from English
to Standard Chinese to Shanghai dialect, with no apparent friction.” (Lu pg. 148). Lu goes on to
explain her issues with language and situations that occurred from it. When she was younger, her
class only spoke in Chinese. Her teacher found out that she had learned English at home, and
began practicing her English with her. One day the teacher asked her in English to do something
for her. She explains the kids in her classroom gave her a “puzzled look” (Lu pg. 148), they
didn’t understand why she would speak English. They didn’t have to say anything, but I am sure
their faces said it all. I can imagine a similar situation occurring today and the looks that might
be given in a second grade class. It does happen. My youngest goes to school with many
Hispanics, and now after really thinking about it, I have seen the different looks that she has
given the Hispanic children as they talk in a different language to each other or as they greet their
parents after school. Why is this, why are differences pointed out? Why do we feel we have to be
one way around some individuals and another around a different group? On page 523 in the
“Reading Culture” Gloria Anazaldua explains that she, at one point in her life, had to use eight
different languages based on situations that she was in. We aren’t talking about using English,
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German, French because she was in a different country, we are talking about school, home and
work and seven of them were just different forms of Spanish. We should all feel comfortable
enough to be who are. Communication is key, but othering doesn’t have to be. How to we steer
from discriminating against them just because it is harder to communicate?
Communication and racial profiling have very much gone hand in hand in some
situations. Have you ever caught yourself watching the news, and listening to an individual speak
and thinking to yourself “could they not have found someone better to interview?” just because
of the way they speak? Have you ever discredited someone just because of the way they speak
and look? In “Reading Culture” by Diana George and John Trimbur spotlight a writing by June
Jordan titled “Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan”. In this
writing, Jordan spotlights different forms of communications, some harder to understand than
others, but points out that an individual’s message shouldn’t be discredited because it doesn’t
reach some other’s standards. A young man named Reggie Jordan, that was killed, is discussed
throughout her writing. In one portion she includes a letter that Reggie’s brother wrote to the
local law enforcement. I believe the message is powerful, but others frown upon it because of the
way that it is written.
“You Cops!
We the brother and sister of Willie Jordan, a fellow Stony Brook student who the brother
of the dead Reggie Jordan. Reggie, like many brother and sister, he was a victim of brutal racist
police, October 25, 1984. Us appall, fed up, because that another senseless death what occur in
our community, This what we feel, this from our heart, for we ain’t stayin’ silent no more.”
Was the following writing taken as seriously as a letter that may be written perfectly? Even
though the intent was the same, they would be looked at differently.
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In closing, I just want to say that we need to find a way past this. We need to teach future
generations love and acceptance, not hatred. When will it change? When will we live the way
that others have fought so hard for us to live like? When will see each person for who they are?
On our week 3 Discussion, Ashleah Hudson brought out a great piece of Douglass’ speech. She
said “Douglass lets the audience in on his hope that one day we will all realize that there has not
been equality and will hopefully come to the point where we can try and treat others equally.”
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Works Cited
Douglass, Frederick. "What to a slave is the Fourth of July?" George, Diana and John Trimbur. Reading
Culture 8th Edition. n.d. 460-475.
Lu, Min-Zhan. "From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle" George, Diana and John Trimbur. Reading
Culture 8th Edition. n.d. 147-156.
Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to tame a wild tongue" George, Diana and John Trimbur. Reading Culture 8th
Edition. n.d. 521-527.
Jordan, June. "Nobody mean more to me than you and the future life of Willie Jordan" George, Diana and
John Trimbur. Reading Culture 8th Edition. n.d. 157-166.
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Rhetorical Analysis
“A More Perfect Union”
In 2008, while running for President of the United States, Barrack Obama gave the
speech “A More Perfect Union”. He speaks of racism, and slavery. He speaks in ways to
overcome it and be a united nation.
In the “Reading Culture” by Diana George and John Trimbur Obama’s speech is written
in its entirety in what I view as a hope to bring to light what has and is still going on amongst our
nation.
Obama starts out by stating “…a constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal
citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union
that could be and should be perfected over time.” (Obama pg. 476) Obama goes on to say that
“And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide
men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the
United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generation who were
willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a
civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk – to narrow the gap between the promise
of our ideals and the reality of their time.” (Obama pg. 476)
I believe that in this speech Obama is bringing up the past, but doing it so that we may
learn from it. He knows that racism is still very real. While slavery isn’t, we as a nation haven’t
let go of people being different from us.
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Frederick Douglass’s speech given in 1852 “What to a slave is the Fourth of July” and
Obama’s speech, even though given roughly about 160 years apart and in many aspects calling
out and wanting the same things. They both want equality. While Douglass pointed out for black
people, Obama called out for different colors, for male and female. They both want the change
they know can happen.
Our Nation is one that needs to stand together, not break a part. Obama states “…diverse
at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together…”
(Obama pg. 477). He goes on to say that “race is an issue that I believe this Nation cannot afford
to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his
offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the
point that it distorts reality.” (Obama pg. 479).
I believe that what Obama is saying that at a time when so many is against our Country
we need to stand together. Abraham Lincoln said “A Nation divided against itself cannot stand”.
Obama is calling for change, calling for us to be one. It starts with him, and it starts with us. It
doesn’t end, we teach future generations that othering and racism needs to be a thing of the past.
Obama closes his speech by saying “But it is where we start. It is where our union grows
stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two hundred
and twenty-one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia that is where
the perfection begins.” (Obama pg. 483)
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Works Cited
Obama, Barrack "A More Perfect Union." George, Diana and John Trimbur. Reading Culture 8th Edition.
n.d. 476-483.