Chances are you did not know that Italians were also victims of lynching.
1) How does this piece of information FIT with the new info you have encountered in the course so far?
2) What was your immediate reaction when you found out as opposed to rational thoughts that "explained" the phenomenon (by that I mean that, given the context and human nature being what it is, even something like that can be "explained.)
3) What else do you begin to suspect that is being kept hidden from you about history? And why is it kept secret?
REPLY TO THE CLASSMATE WHO WROTE THE COMMENT IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOURS (that means you will have to come back to check.)
1)We have been looking at racism and stereotyping towards entire tribes/groups through various mediums (cartoons, films, etc.), and the lynching of Italians unfortunately fits right in with that concept. Ignorant white Americans seized any opportunity they could find in these lynching cases as an excuse to violently attack Italian immigrants, while the police force/law enforcement simply stepped aside. This reveals the racism towards Italians that is embedded in every facet of Southern American society, even in an aspect as high up the social scale as law enforcement. This directly ties into what we have been learning in class up to this point, in the sense that mistreatment of entire groups of people has happened before, is happening now, and will continue to happen again in the future. Tools such as media help those select few at the top expose the American public only to what they want them to see and hear; the rest is omitted (such as all the good these mistreated tribes can give to the country).
ReplyDelete2)My immediate reaction to the Italian lynching cases was one of utter shock; shock in the sense that I was completely unaware that Italians had been victims of lynching, and a shock that stemmed from the occureance of such despicable acts.
3) Considering everything we have discussed and explored in class thus far, I am beginning to suspect that the oppression and mistreatment of MANY groups in America have been kept hidden and left out of most textbooks. As I mentioned above, those at the head of the country hold direct influence over the general American public, and as such, they have the power to expose them to (or never reveal) particular notions/attitudes/ideas. If knowing about the maljustice towards a specific ethnic group might hurt the "image" of an American leader at the time, they will simply use outlets like the media to exploit applicable stereotypes and bury anything that might otherwise influence public perception in a positive light towards these groups. MUST FIT THEIR AGENDA AND THAT IS IT
1)On the first class meeting professor Carasi spoke about the discrimination against new Italian immigrants many years ago. The political cartoons that the professor showed me were ones that I had never seen before. Now that I know italians were victims of lynching, it just proves how much they were discriminated against and hated in America.
ReplyDelete2) My immediate reaction was anger, I felt angry that these people were murdered in cold blood just to “prove a point”. I do not believe that there is any explanation for the lynching of any human. When you put race, gender, or sexual orientation aside we are all humans, and we all deserve basic human rights.
3) I believe the number of minorities murdered throughout history is much higher than we actually know of. I believe this happens as a sort of “white washing” of history.
Hey Sydney,
DeleteI completely agree with your take on a "white washing" of history. The majority (Anglo-Saxon white) would take advantage of the minorities and walk away with their hands clean, as minorities had barriers in place such as an inability to speak the language and differing traditions that prevented them from exposing these injustices to the world. The ignorant majority in society would also control the media, and with it the power to influence how the public perceives certain groups of people and events. We have seen it time and time again, which is why I also believe that there were many other instances purposely left out of the history books.
1) I literally had no idea that Italians were victims of lynching in the United States. But then again, before taking this course I didn't know many things about the stereotypes of Italians in America, and being that I am Italian I find that very disappointing.
ReplyDelete2) My immediate reaction was literally "what the hell" because although I know that there were some subgroups of white people in history who were treated rather poorly, I didn't know that Italians were among them. I had no idea that Italians were targeted not only by the media, but by 'angry mobs' of men, just for being who they were and being where they were from.
3) Being a history major, I know a lot of things are kept under wraps, and you have to dig really far to find them. History is 9/10 told from the perspective of the victors, of the 'superior,' so if you want to find out more about subjugated groups of people, you have to dig deeper to find it.
1) The lynching of Italian Americans fits with what I have learned so far because the perception of Italian Americans was one of them being a violent group. The lynchings are a result of the fear that others have of what Italians as a group are capable of and therefore the reasoning is that to kill these people is actually for the common good.
ReplyDelete2) When I found out I was definitely taken aback and surprised. I wanted to read more about what the reasoning was behind it all. I have always heard and read about the lynching of African Americans but this was the first time that I have heard of other groups being lynched.
3) These events make me very nervous. I think that most of us grow up with a respect for authority and believe that when needed, those in power will protect and defend us. What we have seen so far is the opposite. We have been witness to corrupt and dishonest media as well as authorities. The reason for most of the dishonesty seems to be a desire to hide their own incompetence and bad judgement as well as their involvement in some very atrocious acts.
1) I was never aware of the harsh racism that Italians faced in America. Finding out that they were a victim of lynching fit with the other examples of racism against the Italian people such as the cartoons and short films.
ReplyDelete2) Immediately, i was shocked and disgusted. Especially once I read that the lynching in New Orleans was the biggest documented lynching in US history. Another immediate reaction was anger not only for the fact that innocent people were targeted and murdered for no apparent reason, but also angry that information like this has been almost hidden from me after studying history for nearly a decade as a result of media propaganda.
3) Racism in American history often focuses on African-American discrimination and segregation, but after reading what happened to Italians in history, I am beginning to suspect that this sort of discrimination existed for man minorities throughout history. I also believe that what we are taught is just a generalization of what actually happened. I suspect that even more disgusting racial acts that many of us are completely unaware of are being hidden from us. Perhaps this is the case because some minorities feel ashamed to talk about racial discrimination against them, therefore many acts aren't recorded or passed down to future relatives.
Dear Gabriela,
DeleteI think that we are all very surprised at some of the horrible things that we have learned so far and more so at the fact that we had no idea!
It is very distressing to see that in order for us to learn the truth, we sometimes have to go digging for it.
Before the first time that we met in person, I did not know that Italians were ever discriminated against or were victims of lynching. To be completely honest, I never really knew what the term lynching met. Being Italian and not being aware of what Italians went through shows how little everyone knew about what Italians went through.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction to finding out what Italians went through was shock. I immediately though of the holocaust and how horrible Jews were treated and it reminded me a lot of what Italians went through and how they were treated. I was not aware that many people were after Italians and wanted them hurt and dead.
I'm not sure if I would consider Italians being victims of lynching a secret, I just don't believe that people cared enough to educate themselves about it. The holocaust was just as bad if not worse than the Italians lynchings and we know so much about that event in history. I do believe that people simply did not care and never cared about the Italians to learn about their history in the United States.
1) In our first class we were talking about our stereotypes toward Italians, so my answer was more positive toward them. I always thought that Italians very rich, smart and welcomed people in America. But at the end of the class my opinion changed, I realized that not all of them were smart or rich at the time they came to America. Also I did not what lynching means at the beginning, after I did learn about it proved that all of those negative sides of Italians life were true, and they really had very hard time in America before.
ReplyDelete2) My reaction was surprised, because all of these new information was not same as I thought about Italians. I thought they were same as they are know; strong, rich and smart. Unfortunately, I was wrong, all human beings were discriminated in different ways so was Italians. I also was very upset because of people was in such bad situations. Why people do to each other such things that will hurt their whole race or country.
3) I was surprised with information that I got about lynching but I was not as surprised when I find out all of these information was hidden. The reason for that is that in my country that I lived before hiding such a bloody, negative events was usual. Our government did not want us to know about such things so we would not panic and be presented as a politically calm, peaceful country. So may be Americas government wanted same thing and scary thing is that those numbers of dead people could be more that we see now.
1) Since the fist day of class we have been introduced to stereotypes associated Italians. And this new piece of information FITS with this topic because it is another form of how they have been abused for years. I had little knowledge of how Italian immigrants were treated and perceived in America prior to the fist day of class.
ReplyDelete2) My immediate reaction was complete shock. There should never being a reason/ "explanation" for using such cruel forms of mistreatment for any human being.
3) There are a surplus amount of information being hidden from us. Although I do find some truth to the fact that some information is being hidden from us, I also believe that we as individuals are also to blame. We either blindly accept information, choose to believe it, and/or do not spend time researching to see if the information we are presented with is true or if there is another side to the story.
1.) Being an Italian-American, I can admit that I was not aware that Italians were victims of lynching. I find it very interesting how the lynching of many other groups of people are extremely known by the public, whereas, Italian lynching are not. Reading more about Italian lynching further proves that Italians were suffering from more than just discrimination while arriving in the United States.
ReplyDelete2. My initial reaction was disbelief. I had to do my own research to see if all of this was actually true. I was in disbelief when I found out about Italian lynching because all my life I was never aware of it. Being an Italian, I would have figured that I would have heard of Italian lynching at least one time in my life.
3. After learning about Italian lynching, I asked myself the same questions that are in this part. I found it very interesting that Italian lynching has been “swept under the rug” by many American historians. It is hard for me to come to a reasoning as to why this occurs, but if I had to guess I would say it is because Italian lynching occurred a lot less frequently when compared to lynching of other groups of people.
1) It definitely was news to me that Italians were victims of lynching. This piece of information fits with the material we have learned in class thus far in how brutal Italians are stereotyped, and perceived which instills such hate and biases in people that then lead to actions such as lynching.
ReplyDelete2) My immediate reaction was a state of shock. You hear about stereotypes all the time, but you never think about how far people with such mentality can go until the actions are already done. It was disgusting to see how Italians were portrayed through cartoons, and shorts. However, going beyond that and lynching individuals without any evidence for having them detained in the first place, is out of this world tragic. My reaction was scared of the thought that even in this world we live in today, people hold their beliefs in silence, and it only takes one person to voice their true colors before you have all these people coming out of their shells to support and that is how these groups form and cause unlawful harm and not get penalized for it.
3)I believe, like many other things that are kept hidden from American History is done to protect an image that they don't want tainted. This is suppose to be a land of the free, justice for all, but America has not become a "great" country that it is, but pure good. It's history isn't as pure as the motto they want to be known for, and that is why they try to keep their dirty work hidden.