Different indigenous communities were a common target for the different systems and institutions of oppression. The foundation of a state built on white supremacy, the pervasive use of African enslavement, and land theft make up the history of many countries. By the time of the European invasions, native peoples had lived in many regions of the world, built extensive networks of trade routes, and provided for their populations by adapting to unique environmental conditions (Dunbar-Ortiz, p. 24). This became changed in pre-colonial times with the first expeditions of Europeans abroad. The pre-colonial indigenous population’s size experienced a dramatic fall in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The timeframe of this decline differed from place to region, depending on when conquest and colonization started. Within their development, Europeans succeeded in building various forms of oppression that directly impacted indigenous populations. This became manifested in the institutions of slavery, systems of land deprivation and theory of race privileges.
European colonists came to different regions in quest of a place to establish a new society, motivated by Enlightenment notions about the natural rights of man, fueled by a passion for religious freedom, seeking property, and avoiding persecution. Within these settings, the theoretical foundation of institutes of oppression was developed. The idea of hierarchy was a prevalent one in the pre-colonial era. Each individual belonged in some way to the hierarchical system, such as children to parents, churchgoers to congregations, laborers to landowners, etc. (Zinn, p. 17). The concept of equality emerged as the dominant school of thought in the 18th century as conceptions of basic human rights spread (Burnette et al., p. 945). Race classification led to the creation of a new hierarchy that was based on what was widely seen as a science.
Through economic infiltration into indigenous societies, European and Euro-American colonial powers established trade imbalances and economic dependence, which they then used to their advantage to ensnare and control indigenous peoples either directly or as protectorates. This became the backbone of the colonial system of oppression. The necessity for land and the effort required to build wealth increased along with the likelihood of European immigrants’ survival.
One of the leading institutes of oppression became the development of slavery. Africans were abducted and sent to the American colonies during the early 1600s as slave labor (Bernard & Smith, p. 151). Other forms of forced labor employed by English colonists included native enslaved people and European indentured servants. Slavery became the primary source of forced labor for white settlers in several of the colonies (Dunbar-Ortiz, p. 37). Africans contributed excellent farming, carpentry, and bricklaying abilities, as well as metallurgy and leatherworking skills, making them more desirable slaves (Burnette et al., p. 945). Early on in the history of colonial America, the majority of Africans’ traits were good, and the colonists relied on this labor force as a foundation for their future.
Various indigenous communities that became deprived of their land, economy, and rights attempted to challenge the oppressors. This was reflected in many ways, however, the main of them was an armed rebellion. The indigenous rebellion at San Miguel de Gualdape is regarded as one of the first such occasions. In 1526, the inhabitants cooperated with local slaves and rebelled against the Spanish colonists because they were exposed to usual restrictive arrangements (Zinn, p. 75). Another brief uprising occurred in 1676, with far-reaching repercussions in the form of a widening of the race gap in the colonial Chesapeake region (Burnette et al., 949). Poor whites and enslaved Africans banded together to struggle against the burgeoning planter class. Despite the different settings, the historical intersection can be compared since the prevalent cause of such rebellions was a natural hostility to the oppression system and its institutions.
Indigenous communities and peoples today are societies that were influenced by their colonial oppression resistance, which allowed them to preserve their customs and histories. The consequences of settler colonialism may still be seen today in the United States and other great colonial empires of the past, such as Great Britain or Spain. The employed variety of systems and institutions of oppression created the historical intersections that are relevant even centuries later. The United States still spends milliards of dollars on military bases, equipment, and personnel rather than social services and high-quality public education, frequently engaging in perceived moderation of other indigenous societies, such as Afghanistan or Iraq. The significant and powerful civil rights, student, labor, and women’s movements of the 1950s and 1970s exposed the economic imbalances caused by more than two centuries of slavery as well as the historical repercussions of other oppressive measures against indigenous peoples.
In conclusion, it can be said that this approach to history shaped my opinion about current developments and their repercussions. The processes, such as the BLM movement did not erupt out of nothing; rather, it became a continuous historical process that reached its another climax within the existing system. The current social justice system is still suffering from the rudiments of past oppression systems, even though they are garbed in democratic globalization values. In the pre-colonial times, people were restricted because of their membership in undesirable social identification groupings as a result of the institutional oppression (Dunbar-Ortiz, p. 19). This is still relevant in the current social justice issues, where similar restriction and barriers are presented. The basis for institutionalized oppression is fundamentally the idea that some people are naturally better or inferior. The effects of these activities are still felt today, despite the fact that they were not always deliberate. Today, indigenous communities continue to experience difficulties in spite of stated improvements in democracy, such as the promotion of equality and free expression.
References
Bernard, W., & Smith, H. (2018). Injustice, justice, and Africentric practice in Canada. Canadian Social Work Review, 35(1), 149-157.
Burnette, C. E., Renner, L. M., & Figley, C. R. (2019). The framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence to understand disparities in depression amongst Indigenous peoples. The British Journal of Social Work, 49(4), 943-962.
Dunbar-Ortiz, R. (2014). An indigenous peoples’ history of the United States. Beacon Press.
Zinn, H. (2015). A people’s history of the United States. Routledge.