Violence: The Final Face of Oppression

Violence is perhaps the most omnipotent face of oppression, it can be the worst case scenario for the other four faces of oppression or act as an underlying factor, which gives it ultimate power. When people think of violence they often think of physicality, but the true power of violence comes within its ability to take on multiple forms. You can inflict psychological violence, cultural violence , sexual violence and even emotional violence on a person or social group. Because of the power that violence possess it is every bit as ubiquitous, if not more, as powerlessness can be. America has institutionalized the faces of oppression. It is in educational systems, it is in prison systems, and it …show more content…
We moved from the era of slavery, where “African Americans” were shackled in chains, beaten like animals, and labeled as property. To an era where “African Americans” and white people, the “natural Americans” were seen as separate but equal. Where laws were enforced to keep them separated, where they live two very different lives. With whites being more privileged having more cleaner supplies and better living arrangements. And blacks having dirty water, poisonous food, and living in the ghetto. To an era where people of African descent are free to walk the streets along with whites, and any other immigrant races. Where every race receives “equal treatment” and is free to work for their status and income. It is because of these drastic changes that people often have the assumption that racism no longer plagues the nation. It is because of these drastic shifts in era that people assume we overcame racism. It is because of this assumption that government officials are able to push the false narrative that black people, through their many years of suffering, have finally overcome racism and triumphed over oppression. That itself is an example of violence. In the reading, “The New Jim Crow” Michelle Alexander states when speaking on Obama's rise to presidency,“There’s an implicit yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this …show more content…
(In the Chicago area, the figure is nearly 80%.) These men are part of a growing undercaste—not class, caste—permanently relegated, by law, to a second-class status. They can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits, much as their grandparents and great-grandparents were during the Jim Crow era.” This is the structural violence that exist within the United States. More blacks live in households of lower income in poor communities than whites do. These poor communities is where the government has decided to wage their “war on drugs.” Which means that the target for police raids, and arrest, and charges on drug possession will be blacks. Because of this more blacks are behind bars. Because of this the relegated to being second class citizens. And because of this they are basically reverted back to jim, borderline slavery. As the documentary 13 had stated the prison has been utilized as a cover up to bring harm to the African Americans. Drug charges bring them to jail where their rights can be violated. Additionally, if they are released their life is worse off than it was before, they can not live in public housing, and it is extremely hard for them to find any job as a felon.