blog 2-5-14

Hansberry’s idea that in history of man there has always been oppression is a difficult statement to argue with. Wherever there has been man there has been oppression. Think about it, every culture or background has at some time been oppressed. The oppression of African Americans is obvious in U.S history. Their plight has been of such magnitude that it often overshadows the other examples of oppression in the U.S. Italian Americans, Irish Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans, Chinese Americans, Hispanic Americans, Japanese Americans and others have all faced oppression at some point throughout their history. Even the Original colonists were oppressed by Britain. Throughout all of human history there has been oppression, and unfortunately I believe there always will be.

Oppression is still clear in the U.S today and is almost more obviously seen now than in recent years. The Coca-cola super bowl commercial that featured a variety of languages singing “America the Beautiful” was highly criticized. A large amount of the criticism was rampant throughout social media such as Twitter. Personally I think social media such as twitter have made oppression more evident because the sites establish a platform that gives everybody a voice. We cannot change the minds of the people. However I think we can say that those who would be against such things as the “America the Beautiful” commercial are in the minority and are often considered to be ignorant. I am glad Coca-cola aired the commercial, maybe if more large corporations would take similar stances it would help to further eradicate oppressive and racial thoughts in America.