| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="SecondEssay" |
|---|
It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | | | Terror and Patriotism | |
<
< | As an individual who received a K-12 public school education in Missouri, most of the American history that I learned throughout my 13 years of schooling was designed and presented in two distinct ways. Events that centered around a patriot, that stood up for American Exceptionalism was to always be praised, and those that were at odds or attacked American ideals was often labeled an “other” was to be chastised. Lessons were often not much more nuanced than that. American was good, and the white male figure that fought for take America great was its soldier, its revolutionary, its patriot. | >
> | American history lessons in Liberty, Missouri were never dry, always triumphant, with a clear winner and loser. Throughout my 13 years of schooling, American history was designed and presented in a distinct way: a clear American protagonist was cast against a foreign villain in a poetic series that mirrored the exploits of a justice seeking superhero. Events centered around a patriot, that stood up for American Exceptionalism, who was to always be praised and revered. Those that were at odds or attacked American ideals were labeled aggressors, to be chastised, and enemy to these great united states. Lessons were often not much more nuanced than that. America was good, and the white male figure that fought for American ideals was great, its soldier, its revolutionary, its patriot. | | | | |
<
< | In the two and a half the sophomore student body studied the Civil War; there was no surprise that this discussion lacked the same nuance as other lessons. There was no discussion at the inherently perverted nature of the American social, legal and political system that enslaved a man each day, yet championed for equal liberties and freedoms for all. The conflict was flat-lined to an issue over state’s rights and the authority of the federal government. The lessons left the American patriots, who held their fellow men in a brutal form of demoralizing captivity, or were complicit in a system that allowed other men to do so were left unscathed. Forever regarded in the minds of eager adolescences as those that vigorously supported the American notion that “All men are created equal…”. | >
> | In the two and a half days that the sophomore student body at Liberty High School studied the Civil War there was no surprise that this discussion lacked the same nuance as other lessons. There was no discussion at the inherently perverted nature of the American social, legal and political system that enslaved a men, yet championed for equal liberties and freedoms for all. The conflict was flat-lined to an issue over a collision between states' rights and the authority of the federal government. The lessons sustained the idea of American patriotism. The legacies of men who held their fellow men in a brutal form of demoralizing captivity, or were complicit in a system that allowed other men to do so, were left untarnished. Forever regarded in the minds of eager adolescences as those that vigorously supported the American notion that "All men are created equal". American superheroes. American patriots. | | | John Brown the Revolutionary
The core of early American idealism centers around a discourse of equality, life, and justice. The guarantee of inherent rights was in direct contradiction however, to these claims. At the time the Declaration of Independence was first circulated, even the great American patriot himself, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. | |
<
< | English abolitionist Thomas Day ridiculed the hypocrisy stating, “If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot signing resolutions of independence with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.” | >
> | English abolitionist Thomas Day ridiculed the hypocrisy stating, "If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot signing resolutions of independence with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves". | | | Fellow abolitionist sought to eliminate the duplicity the men that led the confederate allegiances of states and the government’s perpetuation of this injustice. | | | “He’s a terrorist because he broke the law”. The intersection between law, freedom and terrorism is an interesting one. Adversaries of Brown may claim that he is in fact a terrorist because he used violent and illegal methods to attack a government endorsed system (slavery). However, the notion that eradicating an inherently unjust and viciously violent system peacefully is null. How else could Brown have demand freedom from the chains of oppression and subjugation, without taking a sword to those chains? There was no legal remedy for slaves or those that wished to end slavery within the confines of American law. The life and Supreme Court case of Dred Scott let the world know that a black man lacked standing as citizen, let alone a free man in federal courts. How could he have peacefully turned the wheels to one of the bloodiest battles on American sand (the Civil War) without creating a spark in which no one could look away from? | |
<
< | While textbooks and orations often focus on the tragedy of Harper’s Ferry, the reasoning of his actions and his non-violent actions are often not called into play. As an abolitionist taking part in the Underground Railroad, Brown helped in the liberation of hundreds of slaves, established the League of Gileadites, a group formed with the intention of protecting black citizens from slave hunters, and did everything in his power to ensure the end of slavery. What more could one ask for in a patriot? If Brown must be labeled a terrorist for the revolutionary act of self-defense on Harpers Ferry , than every single American citizen that participated in the act of terror by subjecting their fellow man to the brutalities of American slavery, or that were complicit in this system by not actively fighting it, affirmatively repudiating it, or by sitting back and “paying taxes” should be labeled as an American terrorist as well. A terrorist to every American man and woman whose ancestors’ blood taints the bedrock of American society. | >
> | While textbooks and orations often focus on the tragedy of Harper’s Ferry, the reasoning of his actions and his non-violent actions are often not called into play. As an abolitionist taking part in the Underground Railroad, Brown helped in the liberation of hundreds of slaves, established the League of Gileadites, a group formed with the intention of protecting black citizens from slave hunters, and did everything in his power to ensure the end of slavery. What more could one ask for in a patriot? If Brown must be labeled a terrorist for the revolutionary act of self-defense on Harpers Ferry, then every single American citizen that participated in the act of terror by subjecting their fellow man to the brutalities of American slavery, or that were complicit in this system by not actively fighting it, affirmatively repudiating it, or by sitting back and “paying taxes” should be labeled as an American terrorist as well. A terrorist to every American man and woman whose ancestors’ blood taints the bedrock of American society. | | | | |
<
< | Individuals opposed to the actions of Brown often point to Martin Luther King Jr., as a respectable man. That created change without the use of violence. Yet, their respectability politics are limited. The Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s was maintained through the access to vicious attacks on people of color in this country that was spotlighted on television. Now while King has claimed that violence begets violence, his participation in illegal marches, sit-ins, and boycotts (at the very least), show that often illegal actions move social change and society towards justice. MLK writes that, “man-made law” is “no law at all,” when it is, “out of harmony with the moral law” and “is not rooted in eternal and natural law.” Legal action is not always the best action when freedom from a powerful oppressor is being pursued. A man-made law that oppresses another is not in sync with natural law and must be defeated, even if through "illegal actions. John Brown, the patriot embodied this ideal. | >
> | Individuals opposed to the actions of Brown often point to Martin Luther King Jr., as a respectable man, that championed for social and legal change without the use of violence. Yet, these respectability politics are limited. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was maintained through the highly publicized and politicalized access to vicious attacks on people of color perpetuated by white supremacists. Now, while King has claimed that violence begets violence, his participation in illegal marches, sit-ins, and boycotts (at the very least), show that illegal actions often move and accelarate social movements and society towards justice. MLK writes that, “man-made law” is “no law at all,” when it is, “out of harmony with the moral law” and “is not rooted in eternal and natural law.” Legal action is not always the best action when freedom from a powerful oppressor is being pursued. A man-made law that oppresses another is not in sync with natural law and must be defeated, even if through "illegal" actions. John Brown, the patriot, embodied this ideal. American superhero. American patriot. | | |
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. |
|