Field of Inquiry: Politics, Power, and Justice
Global Issue: Consequences of Aggravated Violence in Minority Communities on Women and
Children
Introduction:
All throughout history women and children have been viewed as weak and powerless.
This eventually manifested as systemic oppression due to years of constantly being handed the
shorter end of the stick. Often, when oppression intersects with being part of a minority group
the consequences increase tenfold which precisely explains the Global Issue I have chosen,
Consequences of Aggravated Violence in Minority Communities on Women and Children. My
Field of Inquiry is Politics, Power, and Justice.
In the two texts I have analysed, the depictions of the impacts of violence on women and
children are specific to different minority communities but the impacts are the same regardless of
the change in place, context and time. The picture from Stranger Fruit depicts the despair and
inner turmoil of the mothers of African-American men or boys who lost their lives to police
brutality; whilst in the speech Beyond Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr. speaks of the tragedies
witnessed and endured by the Vietnamese women and children at the hands of the American
Military during the Vietnam War.
Non-Lit Text:
Stranger Fruit is a collection of photographs by John Henry, that depict a black mother’s
despair of losing her son as a victim of police brutality. The title itself is inspired by the poem
“Strange Fruit” which was written as a protest against the lynching of African Americans by
comparing the victims to the fruit of the tree.
In the picture that I have chosen, a woman can be seen waiting near a railing and staring out into
space. This is one of the only pictures in the collection that only features a woman and does not
include a man in the picture. Henry shoots the image at eye level while pointing the camera
directly at her, making her the main subject and blurring the surrounding completely. This could
represent her isolation from the rest of the world as well as a mental block due to the possibly
traumatic experience. The woman appears disconnected and lonesome as if she is the only
person in the world due to the angle at which the photo was taken, which draws the viewer's eyes
directly to her. The way that the photo was taken captures the inner anguish and grief of a
mother. Since the image only consists of cool tones and lacks warmth and saturation, which are
typically associated with happiness, this could also be interpreted as a representation of the
subject's inner agony. Additionally, she is dressed entirely in black and no light is falling on her,
which contrasts with the colours in the background and could be interpreted as a representation
of the disparity between the woman and the outside world. Henry might be alluding to the
alienation and apathy of the black community because their views are not taken seriously. To
contradict that depiction, Henry adds no details to the background of the image and only
emphasises the woman's human form, giving both the image and the subject an additional
dimension. This humanises her and differentiates her from the one-tone objects in the
background. The image resonates with the global issue because it focuses on a mother and the
consequences that she has to deal with due to police brutality. There is no child in the picture but
her powerlessness and grief are depicted through her lack of facial expressions and hunched
shoulders that seem like those of someone who has lost all hope and is only left with despair. The
manifestations of community violence on a woman who was not even involved perfectly
showcase the lives of individuals without power because they cannot do anything other than
grieve.
This is what Henry does in the rest of the collection's images as well. The use of a film
camera, which only captures cool tones and lacks warmth, might also be regarded as a deliberate
decision to emphasise how long racism has persisted. The woman in the other image I chose is in
has no light on her and is wearing black clothing, but the official government building has direct
sunshine shining down on it, putting the responsibility on the authorities rather than the women
and children who are the easy targets. In that image, the mother and her children are also by
themselves, illustrating the lack of empathy for the black community because violence against
them has become so commonplace and they do not receive justice for it.
Lit Text:
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, Beyond Vietnam, there is a section where he mentions all the
atrocities that women and children have had to go through at the hands of the American troops
during the Vietnam War. He initially starts that part by referring to women and children as a
group of people who have no choice but to move on since they are not typically at the forefront
of the war. He lists out various things that Vietnamese women and children must do as a result of
military operations.in order to highlight the gruesome things from their perspective as well as
help the audience comprehend the magnitude of the atrocities. By listing everything that ‘they’
had seen or done from Line 1 to Line 7, King emphasises all of the traumatic experiences and
consequences that women and children had to endure without physically being involved in the
war. After that, King explicitly states that most children were killed in order to garner a stronger
reaction from the audience since children are viewed as symbols of joy and innocence. He uses
this as a persuasive technique to appeal to the audience's sense of morality and righteousness by
hinting that the Americans were stripping the Vietnamese of their innocence and joy. In Line 7,
he uses a simile to compare children to a pack of animals thus dehumanising them and ripping
away their innocence in the same way violence does. Similarly in Line 8, the speaks of children
selling their sisters. In stable families, children normally do not have that kind of authority but in
the state of war, they must make decisions in order to survive. By referring to this MLK
implicitly suggests how wars taint childhood. He also specifies sisters since only women are
demanded and sold to soldiers like objects highlighting the differential treatment of men and
women. He asks rhetorical questions in order to make the audience think while guiding them
towards the conclusions he wants them to reach. For example, in Line 12 he asks if the new
Vietnam can be built among the voiceless ones. He refers to women and children as voiceless
ones because they lack power and their opinions aren't considered worthwhile. King refers to
them as such since they are institutionally oppressed and the destabilisation only adds to it. He
also draws on irony when arguing that the Americans had corrupted women and children which
juxtaposes the very goal of the war, to “liberate” Vietnam. MLK uses particularly strong
language like degraded and destroyed to create a tone of indignation which results in the
audience being left with a frustrated mood at all the atrocities. However, contradictory to his
points, King says the phrase “our new Vietnam” in Line 20, taking away autonomy from the
Vietnamese, especially the women and children who already lack it. Finally, at the very end of
the section, MLK asks his audience to speak for the Vietnamese since they are “brothers” but
does not refer to women or children since they are not technically at the front lines of the war.
This discounts all the trauma that they have to endure since it is not acknowledged or
compensated as victims.
Martin Luther King Jr. used similar structures in his other speeches as well. In a Eulogy to Dead
Children, he also repeats the phrase “they have” and lists various things the children have done
or endured in order to place emphasis on the heinous acts. He also refers to children as
“unoffending, innocent, and beautiful”. Similarly in the speech he gave at the mass meeting at
Holt Street Baptist Church, He introduces Rosa Parks as a fine citizen and Christian lady but
does not mention Fred Daniel until the end. He says a lady would be given a seat by a gentleman
but Parks was not viewed as a woman which is a result of constant stereotypes that black women
are not as feminine, but his King’s usage of women and and children as political tools is blatantly
obvious. Due to the fact that they are viewed as weak and oppressed, their stories are likely to
elicit more sympathy and he uses this t as a persuasive tool to manipulate his audience.
Conclusion:
Understanding that women and children are oppressed by the patriarchal system, which
denies them the same authority as males, is essential. As a result, they will experience additional
negative effects on top of those that men would experience. This is a timeless issue that persists
today during the Black Lives Matter Movement of during The Civil Rights Movement. It also
persists across borders to various minorities such as racial or ethnic ones, like the Vietnamese, or
other such minorities. The intersectionality of inequality is a complex issue but specifically,
women and children who belong to other minority groups have it worse.