Preview

Violence In African Americans

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4023 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Violence In African Americans
Fighting Violence with Violence From the beginning of time conflict has always existed. When conflict is confronted, majority of the time it is answered with violence. The definition of violence from The Oxford Dictionary is "the use of force to cause injury, damage, or death." Violence can come in all forms and may or may not be intended. World history teaches that violence influences wars the most. A simple act of violence can have a big impact on people and how they react to it. Almost always when a violent act is committed it is answered with even more violence. From person to person the reason for violence will be different. Commonly it is because of revenge or anger. However that might not be true for everyone or every war. In "A People 's History of the United …show more content…
violence is different from many others, because as the passage says, the Native Americans were curious and friendly to strangers. They did not create any conflict and the Spaniards saw that as a weakness. Columbus and his men used violence to make the Native Americans into to their servants. This mindset continued with the Spaniards and the treatment of the Native Americans. Howard Zinn writes, " The cruel policy initiated by Columbus and pursued by his successors resulted in a compete genocide"(H.Zinn, Pg.6). The violence that Columbus inflicted on the Native Americans had no reason other than greed. The Native Americans did not show any obvious threat to the Spaniards, but they still wanted to show they could take everything the Native Americans had. The Native Americans population slowly started to die. However, as history shows, when violence is inflicted on someone and they are trapped sometimes there are no other answers but to respond with violence, and that is exactly how the Native Americans started to feel. The Native Americans felt that in order for them to survive they would have to start revolting and defending themselves. Many popular tactics

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Although all wars are conflicts, not all conflicts are wars. Conflicts don’t always have the involvement of armed hostiles, battles or even the involvement of the military. Conflicts can range from anything as little as an argument between politicians, all the up to an official war. Many people believe since World War 2 there have been less conflicts; however there has simply been less conflicts between nations and more within nations. One of the biggest reasons for this is that 90% of countries are made up of different ethnic groups and cultural groups. Some people do not like different types of people in their country which leads to conflict.…

    • 1392 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    "We shall never understand the natural environment until we see it as being an organism," wrote Paul Brooks in The Pursuit of Wilderness. Paul Brooks was accurate with his statement because if land isn't treated as an organism, it becomes property. Property requires ownership, and ownership then leads to a need for money. Where money is involved, a corrupt system develops, and a vicious cycle is sparked into action. Therefore, it is our duty to stop this cycle.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bartolome De Las Casas

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages

    After reading the short text called “A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies,” by Bartolomé de Las Casas, I was surprised at the brutality and coldheartedness of the Spaniards towards the Indian natives. I knew that they did some horrible things from previous history classes and what not, but actually reading about some of the specific things they did was a bit hard to take in. An example of this is the following quote: “And thus pregnant and nursing women and children and old persons and any others they might take, they would throw them into the holes until the pits were filled, the Indians being pierced through by the stakes, which was a sore thing to see, especially the women with their children.” Throwing defenseless and harmless…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The colonists that came brought horrible things to the Native Americans, like diseases, weapons, and the idea that they were superior. In Cabeza de Vaca, the violent interactions can be seen between the Natives and the Spaniards throughout the entire narrative. In the very first encounter Cabeza de Vaca recalls, “And although they spoke to us, since we did not have an interpreter we did not understand them. But they made many signs and threatening gestures to us and it seemed to us that they were telling us to leave this land”(p. 54). Right from the beginning, the colonists did not have a respectful relationship with the Native Americans. This continues on through the narrative, and includes raids, fights, and even enslavement. While this violence was a horrible event that cannot be overlooked, America today would not be the same without it. In fact, it might not even exist. This violence was necessary for the formation of today’s…

    • 1930 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery in the United States has been practically glorifying prejudice based on race. In fact, most of the slaves have been African Americans. Also, the slavery in all across North America has had existed for about 168 years. By 1804, most of the Northern states abolished slavery institution, but the invention of cotton gin in 1793 increased the use of slaves in the South. However, after the Civil War, the victory of the Union eventually freed all the blacks across America. Besides, the history remembers how evil and cruel it was to allow slavery in the nation. Although some people might think that allowing slavery in the U.S. is legitimate, I believe that the slavery of African Americans is logically illegitimate because African Americans have been victimized only because they were born with darker skin color. Moreover, taking away their basic rights, putting them into terrible conditions and damaging to Africa, shows the victimization of the Blacks in America.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Violence In Ancient Egypt

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages

    So much violence occurred at certain periods in the Old Testament because this was a time when people and the world were coming into existence and still finding their way. Man had been created but had yet to receive the laws by which they were to live and operate their daily lives. This was a very different time as their was no moral code to live by yet. Various ethnic groups existed and lived side by side. This existence much like today lead to different groups of people living with different beliefs and worshipping various deities. Living closely with one another and having varying values certainly caused conflict and violence to occur. Additionally factors such as regular exposure to violence and war caused people to become conditioned to the sight of violence. Years of oppression by the Egyptians through slavery played a role as people were forcibly made to carry out duties.…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the start of the seventeenth century, Native Americans greeted European settlers with much excitement. They regarded settlers as strange, but were interested to learn about the new tools and weapons Europeans brought with them. The native people were more than accommodating to the settlers, but as time passed, Europeans took advantage of their generosity. “Once these newcomers disembarked and began to feel their way across the continent, they forever altered the course and pace of native development.” Native Americans and Europeans faced many conflicts due to their vast differences in language, religion and culture. European settlers’ inability to understand and respect Native Americans lead to many struggles that would eventually erupt into violent warfare.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Inside of each and every one of us is a set of primal instincts, one of these instincts is an inner burning desire to fight and protect ourselves and the things or people that we care about. For centuries fighting has been a prominent part of human history; we have waged wars, experienced hostile attacks and are exposed to violence on an everyday basis through the media. Throughout the past few decades however society has been desensitized to fighting and now accepts it as a complex sport as well as a form of entertainment.…

    • 2076 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Is War Inevitable?

    • 3317 Words
    • 14 Pages

    We have known violence since the story of Cain killing Habile, however war came later. Is war in the nature of human beings or did it come along with evolution? Many of the ancient cultures that still live till now know no violence and no concept of warfare. War became crucial in our lives because of our ancestors and the state of development they knew. The stories and the myth of our elders influenced our vision of war. Idan Barir wrote:” I’d grown up with images of the glorious fighting of 1967 and wanted to be like those great Israeli heroes who had entered the old city of Jerusalem.” (Par.1)Moreover, the culture inherited by warfare is mostly destructive and repulsive. There is no place for an open mind you have to execute the orders or it is your life and the life of your companions that is at stake, “We were trained to believe that every Palestinian was a threat.”(Barir, par.3) Even patriotism one of the great values derived from the martial institution can be poisoned in times of war. Barir wrote:” Every morning we’d have a meeting on a big porch overlooking Tel Aviv. My commander would point out across the land trying to make us believe that this was the land we were defending.”(par.5) In that time the Israeli army where conducting raids in Jenin and were not under attack that is why there was nothing to defend! Furthermore, war creates discrimination and hatred against the rival even if the other was pacifist and had nothing to do with war he will be hated. For example Barir stated that when he was in Jenin many Israeli women were protesting for peace and commander made joke implying that it is easier to deal with Palestinian if they bother you “you can shoot them in the head.”When there is a war it is like life has no value anymore; the concepts of bravery, honor and valor that once…

    • 3317 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rampant Violent Crime

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Violence was always there. It's not a new invention. Since the beginning of time, there has been violence. The first murder is mentioned in the bible. Much before there was even electricity.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I personally do not agree that violence is the only effective weapon available to the oppressed people. It is not the only way for people to get their view across or secure their rights and justice. However, throughout the history of mankind, violence has been widely used as a method to gain control over a person or a group of people or a nation. Unfortunately, the present day media is also filled with news of violence. What exactly is violence? Violence can be described as an act of intentional harm to some individual or group. Violence can be physical, mental or sometimes even emotional. It disturbs peace and harmony in the society and slows down the overall development. Securing ownership over land and resources, power hungry leadership, extremism, racism, sociocultural differences, ethnic and caste conflicts are causes of violence. For example, the violence between the Indians and the Pakistanis over the land of Kashmir is motivated by the desire of securing land and resources. The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is driven by religious differences and extremism. There are constant fights between different tribes in many parts of Africa. These African tribal conflicts are usually motivated by ethnic and caste differences. Centuries prolonged conflicts between the "blacks" and the "whites" were the results of racism. There are still residues of similar conflicts in different corners of the world.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This question is something that not to many people think about when it comes to violence. Violence is a horrible thing because of what it does to families but it’s also something that i believe to be somewhat necessary. Worldometers.info reports that the world population is growing at an alarming 80 million per year. While who.int reports that Nearly one third of the 5.8 million deaths from injuries a year are the result of violence. Our population is growing faster than it ever has. The amount of deaths that is caused by violence is almost necessary to have to help stop over population. Looking at population from this point of view is very strange but when thought out and the statistics are presented the whole thing makes sense. One last point is that violence is how we solve a lot of things. People say “violence never solved anything” but truly it has. People who decided that going a pacifist route instead of being violent are really no different. The only thing different is the tools being used to solve these problems. The belief that violence is something that can’t solve things is invalid. Just look at any war in the history of the human race. We solve almost every thing in a violent way in some degree. In the revolutionary war we disagreed with how britain was running our government and how invasive they were. How did we solve this? With a very violent rebellion against them. We solved that problem and gained our freedom with…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A World Without Conflict

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Our society is full of battles with malevolence. A world without conflicts and hostility is unnatural, because human beings are not able to live harmoniously and peacefully, we fight to survive, and we are simply just imperfect. Where there are people, there’s war.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Violence

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Violence is of several kinds. One can exhibit violence in physical, Psychological, or sexual form or simply by neglecting someone to the point of deprivation. The extent of violence ranges from self, to family and friends, to community and the largest expression is the entire war situation between and/ or within the nations. Violence has affected civilizations. It is evident from the historical facts that wars that are the epitome of violence have ruined millions of lives. Those who resort to violence justify their action by citing various reasons but in the end it is only the personal perception that leads to such kind of behaviour.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Choral Speaking

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages

    many more are being injured and suffer from a range of physical, sexual and mental abuse!…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays