Month: February 2018

The win of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election surprised many United States citizens. However, how surprised can one really be? President Donald Trump’s election was an almost direct parallel to the secession of the Confederacy. The bridge between the two is not racism, or even economics, but cultural anxiety–the worry or concern surrounding societal transitions.

Although traditionally understood as the primary cause of the Confederacy’s secession from the United States, the economics of slavery was not the primary driving force. This is exemplified through the border states’ rejection of Lincoln’s A Plea for Compensated Emancipation in 1962  in which Lincoln offered continuous financial compensation for the gradual emancipation of slaves. If finances were the Confederacy’s primary concern, the states would have willingly accepted  Lincoln’s offer. Rather, the states committed to a war that contributed to the major loss of both people and money. In 2016, it was speculated that economic anxiety was the driving force behind Trump’s election. However, “financially troubled voters in the white working class were more likely to prefer Clinton over Trump,” (Green, 2017).  Again, money was not of utmost importance. Instead, it was the preservation of particular way of life.

The southern plantation owner of the 1800s and the white working class of the 2000s have more in common than race. Each group had witnessed decades of events and ideologies that were perceived to threaten their way of life. The southern plantation owner, in particular, experienced the Compromise of 1820, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott case, and John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry in the span of forty years. Each of these events questioned and even attacked the continuation of slavery and the south’s entitlement to property, violating the southern states’ constitutional rights. In the Apostles of Disunion, the South’s aggravation and fear for their way of live as a  slave society can be seen through the charged language: “the light of our civilization goes down in blood, our wives and our little ones will be driven from their homes by the light of our own dwellings….” This fear is apparent in the white working class as 68% felt the U.S. is in danger of losing it’s identity  and needs to be protected from foreign influence (Green, 2017). Nearly half of the white working class agreed that “things have changed so much that I often feel like a stranger in my own country,” (Green, 2017). These claims are reminiscent of the Confederacy’s own fear for their way of life.

The one thing, however, that is unknown are the specific events and ideologies that led to the white working class’ feeling of isolation. Currently, these events can only speculated. Such would be the increased immigration in the past 10 years as well as the increase in diversity in multiple social spaces. In addition to the increase in diversity, the onset of social media has contributed to the public advocacy for Black, LatinX, Native American, and LGBTQ+ rights, decreasing the apparent media attention on the white middle class. Although these events are not necessarily deserving of a secession, they can be seen as a contribution to white American fear.

Works Cited:

Green, Emma. “It Was Cultural Anxiety That Drove White, Working-Class             Voters to Trump.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 May 2017,               www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/white-working-class-           trump-cultural-anxiety/525771/.

 

After watching Traces of the Trade two times, I have come to have a deeper understanding of the documentary. Though the documentary has many good layers including showcasing the problem of the deep north and conversations about subjects such as reparations and white privilege. On the other hand, it raised quite a few problems for me that I felt was not properly addressed.

One thing that struck me as odd was how nonchalant everyone seemed when they mention the Adjowa and Belladore nursery rhyme. The rhyme struck me as odd and dark because it ended with Adjowa being pushed down the stairs. It was discussed in passing; well my ancestor gave a slave to his wife as a present, and it turns out she was born on a Monday. It just felt like there was a disconnect between the story, where no one was interested in what really happened to the girls and how they lived.

During the tour of Bristol, one of the women got upset because there were shackles in the room and she felt uncomfortable. It saddened me because in that moment everything became center about her, while no one went to the root of the problem or even wondered what the black people might have felt.  If the woman was that upset by being exposed to the little truth, then what might black people be feeling overtime they hear about slavery or encounter racism.

As a native of Ghana, I found it very disrespectful for the family to intrude on the sacred traditions of the festival. Their curiosity and need for closure became more important than understanding common courtesy and respecting boundaries. Even natives don’t stand around to just watch sacred proceeding, it is for those who are directly affiliated with it and not outsiders, so I understood why the black woman didn’t want to acknowledge them.

The Family’s participation in a so-called “slave meal” was pitiful as sad. They were served in fine china and good glasses. It defeated the point of putting yourself in the shoes of the slaves. Instead, to taking time to analyze the meal and go more in-depth, it was kind of skimmed over. During the walk around the abandoned building, some were too jovial for the circumstances and that rubbed me the wrong way.

The documentary was made with good intention the were many hits and misses, and though it achieved a great deal of many things, I don’t think the family put themselves fully into the experience and it was felt throughout the video.

When watching Traces of the Trade I was really interested in the part in Ghana because as I mentioned in class, I went to Ghana a few years ago. I was interested to see where they would go and how different their experience would be. I went with my choir and we were the only group at both the Cape Coast and Elmina slave fort. A few things really struck me about their scenes in the slave forts. Firstly, I noticed they were filming in the back of one of the slave dungeons where an altar for returning descendants and visitors could leave their prayers and offerings for all who had suffered in Cape Coast. During our tour, my group was explicitly told not to film the altar or the priest that attends to the altar and its visitors by giving prayer when asked. I noticed both of these were filmed and there were people in the background at the altar. I found this very disrespectful and insensitive that they would film at such a sacred private place in the slave fort.

I also didn’t like how they made the slave fort seem like a monument to solely show whites their faults. Many parts of the tour I had,  we were shown how descendants have taken back the slave forts to be a monument of hope and a reminder of theirs and their ancestor’s soul value and how it can never be taken away. The documentary briefly mentioned the “Door of No Return” where slaves were transported through to the slave ships on the beach below. What they didn’t mention was that if you re-enter the fort through that door, the opposite side has been made “The Door of Return”. This part of the tour was very powerful for everyone, but especially my friends that were of African descent, because it represented that they had beaten the odds and made it back to their motherland. The documentary also didn’t mention the actual function of the altar that they filmed next to, which is to serve as a space of communication with the past through the offering of goods and flowers which line the adjacent wall to the altar.

Overall I felt the participants ultimately meant no harm, but should have researched more about the places they were visiting along with the research of their families past.