Oppression is a type of injustice that America has seen for decades. It has been around longer than I have. It is when people are treated inadequately by those that believe they are superior. After reading Young’s article on her intake on oppression, she explains how there are five faces of oppression that people encounter. And oppression is not limited to only minorities, they affect anyone that fits into a group that others look down upon. The five faces of oppression that she talks about are exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. I do believe that America uses all five faces of oppression, but I think they use some more than others.
Let’s start with the most prominent one that I think America uses the most, Violence. Violence has been around for ages, it has been one of the most used by Americans to oppress people that are considered inferior to the ones in power. An example of violence is the police brutality that continues to happen to African Americans. Just recently, Tyre Nichols, a black man was pulled over by the police and beaten which led to his death. Another example of violence shown in America is the Charleston Church shooting. Dylann Roof, a white man went into a Charleston church and killed 9 people. This crime that Dylann Roof committed was racially motivated as a hate crime. The ongoing oppression of African Americans in America has been a problem. Another oppression that I would like to talk about is powerlessness another oppression that is used a lot in America. Powerlessness is the distinction between the Middle class and the working class. In society, the working class would be mistreated by others that feel superior to them. Harriet Tubman once wrote, “I would have freed thousands more if they had known they were slaves.” This quote from Tubman shows that most slaves felt powerless that they didn’t see themselves as anything else than a slave. They didn’t see how mistreated they were due to the harsh treatment that they instilled. America uses all five faces of oppression but violence and powerlessness are the two that I wanted to discuss.
