The speaker of the video starts her speech with some of the earliest definitions of race. She said that people began to apply the term “race” in the sixteenth century, but this definition was not attached to physical features or behavior. Then, she started reflecting on the ideas of colonization, enslaving, and attacking those people who did not comply with the race of colonizers. The speaker also spoke about enslaving African people and how colonizers used them to produce various products. In addition, there were concepts of justifying enslavement, exploitation, and “white supremacy” in the age of the Enlightenment discussed in the given video. It is interesting to discuss several concepts and look at how the race struggle can impact contemporary life.
Some ideas are mentioned in the video, for example, the enslavement of Black people and their children. For instance, African people were enslaved and forced to work on producing tobacco for colonizers to sell and receive money. Obviously, enslaved people did not receive anything for their work. The most shocking fact mentioned by the speaker of the video is that children of enslaved people were “automatically” enslaved as well. It becomes one of the cruel things because children started working barely after their birth. In addition, this family enslavement created a vicious circle from which people could not get out; generations were forced to be slaves in any case.
One more aspect that is essential to discuss is the concept of otherness from which people suffered. As was mentioned above, enslaved people had to execute work and did not receive anything for it. It is called exploitation; enslaved people often overworked and, as it is known, died right in the working place. People who came to colonize the territory where “other” people lived strived to exclude Black folks from the country.
They imposed the label of “other” on those people who were different in their skin color and other physical traits. In addition to this fact, the speaker mentioned the idea of Thomas Jefferson, who stated that “Black people require less sleep” than white European males (“The Origin of Race in the USA” 05:55–05:58). It becomes an outrageous fact that might undermine the natural law and any logic. In fact, all people require slightly the same sleeping time to recover their forces and processes in the organism. Jefferson stated this idea because of otherness; he could not identify with Black people and treat them as the same personalities.
As mentioned in the video, most European colonizers thought that the Black race should be subordinate to the whites. However, I sincerely cannot entirely agree with this statement because it contradicts human nature. Nobody should come and proclaim himself superior to others. Unfortunately, this long period of enslavement of Black people provoked many problems. For instance, it is known that Black people face difficulties when they want to receive a decent job, buy property in a safe district, and do other things that can be unavailable.
Nowadays, Black children are subject to bullying in their schools because of skin color. Black people still perceive the impact of enslavement and feel uncomfortable about this issue. It all happens because of years of struggle between races. It is clear that everyone must be assured to live a happy life without race voltages within the society. This way, our lives will become more prosperous, and the effects of the past will be obscured far away from today’s life.
Works Cited
“The Origin of Race in the USA.” YouTube, uploaded by Origin of Everything. 2018. Web.