Yesterday, July 14, 2010, we covered the white boad with a list of terms associated with "Critical Thinking."
Homework was to read The Known World up to and including Chapter 6 and to catch up on other assignments. The freewrite was to summarize the first few chapters of TKW, but students hadn't annotated the book so were unable to complete the assignment.
We concluded with a matching of wits, re: fallacious arguments (Chapter 5 WLTC).
Today we started the class with the film: "Three Black Panthers & the Last Slave Plantation." See http://3blackpanthers.org/
Freewrite
Respond to the term: "resistance" when reflecting on TLSP. What recourse did the enslaved Africans (African Americans) have against the forced bondage. Define the term in light of the subjects. Offer analogies and include euphemisms related to slavery and imprisonment.
How does one make such an abstract term vivid and clear? How does one make it walk or live?
Today we will continue looking at fallacies and complete the handout and exercises from Diana Hacker.
Homework:
Complete TKW and be prepared to answer selected questions about the book. We will write three short essays next week based on themes from TKW such as: family-- both enslaved and free Africans and whites; violence, resistance, education, health-- both mental and physical, work or labor.
Wednesday's presentation will be based on an argument taken from TKW. Students will take a theme, preassigned and present their argument to the class. We will also practice using a Venn diagram in this presentation (if possible) at this time as well.
Revision and addition to homework assignment
Do Exercise 8A (201)in the book. Also read and review Chapter 8 (200-209). We will do the exercises in class Monday along with the argument exercises we didn't get to this morning. We shared successful essays, so students could hear what a passing essay sounds like. Thanks to students who shared.
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Resistance for the Angola prisoners means not letting themselves be subjectified to the prison and their social system. A prisoner usually has their sentence lessened if they plead guilty to a deal presented by the prosecuter, they also get lessened sentences if they stay quiet and follow the ideals of the prison and other authority. In the case of the Black Panther Party members they face usually the full sentence because they stand by their innocence and political views. In a sense these people are not only prisoners but political prisoners. The Angola prison system is equivilant to the slavery system in the past. The prisoners work till they die or until their sentence is up. Slaves in the past worked until they died or worked enough to buy themselves out of slavery. The conditions that prisoners live in are no better than the slaves of the past food is scarce and beatings are events of normalcy.
ReplyDeleteResistance is an act of opposing. To have opposition often creates a barrier between people. Well in the prison system and in particular at Angola State Penitentiary resistance in many aspects was prevelant. Inmates of the prison encountered resistance from administrators of the system. They were not provided with adequate clothing and food because they had been enslaved by the workers of the penitentiary. A lot of the workers were white and racist towards the black inmates. They abused their authority to feel superior to the men that were locked up. Angola State prison was once a plantation and to have built a prison on that land recreated slavery within the prison. Some inmates were betrayed by other inmates who took on roles as administrative spies for the prison sytem. Men were rapped and killed in prison by both spies and prison workers.
ReplyDeleteTo make resistance visible people have to engage in things they believe to be moral. It is unfortunate that often, things that are immoral outweight things that are positive. Slavery is something that not only white people acted on but black people too. Having white masters meant that a person of African descent was inferior to that white person. Africans abided by white people's rules and some of them eventually owned slaves as the white people did. They had been conditioned to believe that slavery was something that was okay because it was profitable, kept families together and would at some point allow them to have freedom.
For the enslaved men of the past and current imprisonment of men at Angola resistance is a way to join together as prisoners to overcome those in charge. Before the Black Panther party was established in Angola prisoners were focused on gang and racial divisions within the prison and not their guard’s behavior which was the real problem. Prisoners raped and fought each other staying separated in their different gangs which made them less powerful as a whole. After the Black Panther party was established in the prison, prisoners joined together start strikes and to stop rapes. They formed a resistance within the prison walls not only made of Black Panther party members but throughout the entire prison. Before Angola was a prison it was group of plantations that were run by white slave owners. The work on the plantation was done by slaves. Currently at Angola prison the work is done by the imprisoned men that reside within it. Most of the guards are white while eighty percent of the prisoners are black. When Angola was converted into a prison from a plantation the former slaves ended up back in their same positions working the fields because of vagrant laws which allowed Angola to imprison men from on false charges the street to fill empty spaces left by the former slaves.
ReplyDeleteHahn I liked that you talked about political prisoners because this meant inmates had a voice. However, they were not often heard they did speak up about the unjust prison system.
ReplyDeleteThe Angola 3 consisting of Robert Wilkerson King, Herman Wallace, and Albert Woodfox were part of a resistance group known as the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther’s ideologies provided Blacks and other oppressed peoples in American with alternative ways of resisting American-style repression politically, economically, racially, and/or socially. Members of the Angola 3 were sent to Angola on three separate charges. In the film, 3 Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation, members of the Angola 3 spoke about the terrible conditions the prisoners were subjected to in Angola. According to Woodfox, physical force was used to handle dispute between prisoners and guards. He spoke about their struggle with the unsanitary way their food was being served to them, as it was also described in King’s book. He further mentioned the dire conditions in prison such as inadequate food and clothing, constant violence, police brutality, and unsanitary conditions. To combat the problems, members of the Angola 3 and Black Panther Party, along with many other prisoners, went on hunger strike and refused to conform to other mistreatments such as the rectal searches. These were their ways of resisting to the prison guards abusive and evil behaviors. King speaking on the radio about his experience is another act of resistance. Woodfox and Wallace’s voice on the matter are their way of resisting. Their testimonies voicing out the injustices exploits the negativities and evilness in the penal system is a way to inform citizens and is an act of resistance.
ReplyDeleteChild trafficking can be a euphemism to slavery. Child trafficking exploits children in a dehumanizing way which in some cases forces them into prostitution. One can make an abstract term such as ‘resistance’ vivid in clear by listing groups resistance groups or providing acts that define the term. One makes it walk or live by acting it out such as it was done by members of the Black Panther Party.
Sean, I like the connection and analogy you made between the now Angola prison with the old slave plantation for it really was exactly that. The white slave owners of the plantation correlates to the white prison guards running Angola, while the black slaves of the plantation have transferred their roles to the black imprisoned men. That was incredibly interesting and you have stated it very well.
ReplyDeleteTo Angola 3 black panthers, resistance is most important value against forced bondage. In Angola prison, racism is a wide spread thing, and nobody tries to change it. Resistance is a movement to change the irrationalities for prisoners. Robert Hillary King is still fighting for freedom since 2001. After I watched this DVD, I thought that their resistance is love, because of their acts. Although They have been imprisoned for many years, they are fighting for the freedom of other prisoners. the thing that they want to change is for others, not for themselves. So, I think that resistance in their mind is love.
ReplyDeleteResistance to the imprisoned men in the Angola state prison meant to organize and stop the injustices brought upon them. Which can mean any obstruction to the primarily intended movement or direction. The enslaved African Americans had few recourses to turn to from forced bondage before the rise of the Black Panther Party. In the film, Three Black Panthers & the Last Slave Plantation, prisoners resisted prison guard's attempt to turn prisoners against one another by forming an alliance or brotherhood amongst all the prisoners. Resistance does not necessarily have to do with violence, it is simply any obstruction to the intended movement or direction.
ReplyDeleteSome euphemisms related to slavery and imprisonment are detainment, corrections facility, incarceration, and labor.
One can make an abstract term clear by including a personal definition with clear examples that illustrate that definition. One can make it walk and live by embodying that term. To Martin Luther King Jr., resistance does not have to be violent, it can be done peacefully yet powerfully. He embodied that term by starting the non-violent protests against racial inequalities.
When talking about the word "resistance" there are many different definitions to the word, and each meaning holds a significant meaning. One being a force that is able to withstand motion. As for the film "Three Black Panthers & the Last Slave Plantation." They mention the people of color standing up to the white people and they believe that there should be power to tghe people, and no to the law. It also mentions in the film that the people that were locked up in prison basically worked as slaves in the fields where they worked more than 8 hours a day, and get paid little to nothing for the things they do. Comapred to being in prison and being a slave back then wasn't too big of a difference, there would be a set schedule on when someone would be able to do this and that.
ReplyDelete