Zuniga 1

Regina Zuniga
Professor Batty
English 114 A
21 October, 2014
Stripping You from who You are
Many people have gone through experiences that may have been unforgettable. The
holocaust being one of these events impacted the lives of many families in a negative way. This
tragic experience occurred 1933 through 1945 causing the deaths of many people. With this
event came many forms of propaganda that had a negative connotation towards the Jewish
people. It would depict them in a very inhumane manner causing there to be many stereotypes.
The Germans were very racist towards the Jews, that the way they believed them to physically
appear due to the images placed by the Nazis were very incorrect. In the reading Black Men
and Public Spaces by Brent Staples, he gives personal examples to get his audience to see that
racism still occurs in the world even though it is said that we are all created equal. Coming
from somewhere that you do not choose to be from, but have grown to be can be an adjustment,
but to embrace it and not have to hide the beauty of who you are would be something great;
sadly life isnt like that people constantly judge others causing one to have to accommodate
those who fear you and see you as different. The cartoon in which I am describing represents this
dehumanization, the stereotypes and the racism of which the Jewish community had to face
during these times and how the article presented represents the racism and stereotypes that still
exist within other races.
Hitler was one of those who believed that having a pure race or a superior race would
make them stronger. He blamed the fact that German Aryans and non Aryans marrying and

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mixing was the cause of their loss in the first world war. Hitler then began to take action to
eliminate German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies,
homosexuals, and Jews. He would put them in concentration camps where they would be
experimented on, tortured, not fed, and killed in gas chambers. He caused a genocide, killing
millions of Jewish people. Very few survived these camps. The beliefs that German Aryans had
towards the people that were not pure Aryan or Aryans were horrible. These people believed that
they were better than those who were not pure and all this was brought through the usage of
faulty images and propaganda.
They were shown images that represented Jewish people, but had absolutely no real
features of them. For example, in a political cartoon they show an Octopus hugging the earth.
This political cartoon represents the Jewish people attempting to take over the world. This was
created by the Germans representing an inhumane appearance of the Jewish people. It provides
faulty evidence of them because not only do they include tentacles on their body, but the face
included to the body of the octopus is not appeared to look human. The colors used are white and
blue. The blue represents a sad mood, but it also gives you an upsetting feel because of the way
that the image is created. The image is not looking straight at you, but just looking at it, it shows
disgust and anger. The Nazis created this to give off a negative vibe to those who would see this
image because of how it is hugging the earth with its tentacles giving a sense of them having
power and that is why they must extinguish them. The image also includes a star, which is the
symbol of the Jewish people. Lastly, the colors used to represent the earth and the star dont
stand out as much as the blue used in the human octopus due to the fact that they are trying to get
the people to pay attention in the characteristics of it shown. This cartoon was published in
Germany in 1938 by Josef Plank. The underlying message of this political cartoon is to represent

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the perspective of what others believed the Jewish to be. It was created as a stereotype or as a
racist image to depict them as less and as people who are just not worthy. The racist actions that
Jewish people went through in a way connect to what Brent Staples has to go through because he
is an African American man.
In the reading Black Men and Public Spaces by Brent Staples; Staples explains in the
beginning of his story how he and a white woman were both walking on the streets of Chicago
at night, when suddenly she feels very frightened and begins to pick up her pace, she disappears,
becoming his first victim. He uses experiences to show his audience how racism and
stereotypes still exists in our world. This was written in the year 1986 and although, it was
written a while ago these stereotypes still continue to occur in the year 2014. Staples believes
that racism towards African Americans causes them to have to adjust and accommodate those
who fear them because of all the misjudgment that has been created of them due to their physical
appearance and history. For example Staples says, I learned to smother the rage I felt so often
being taken by a criminal (Staples 186). This here just shows us how he wants to get his
audience to feel the mistreatment and how he has had to put all the misjudgment to the side. How
he must accommodate those who fear him by moving with care, or simply by having to whistle
classical music so that others can see that he is not a danger, but yet that he is intelligent and
educated.Their appearance brings groups that are not African American terror. For example, he
states in his reading, I was on assignment for a local paper and killing time before an interview.
I entered a jewelry store on the citys affluent Near North Side. The proprietor excused herself
and returned with an enormous red Dobermann pinscher straining silent to my questions, her
eyes bulging nearly out of her head(Staples 185). This helps prove the racism that people have
towards colored males. They are judged on a daily basis due to their appearance. Therefore, he

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uses his experiences as a form to get others to understand that those who are not of color still fear
those who are. Like the image that falsely represents the Jewish people, the characteristics and
history that represented African Americans in the past still follow them till this day.
Going through such horrible experiences because you are not believed to be ideal or
you are seen as a threat due to your physical appearance it has a toll on you that at a point you
just dont know how much more of these stereotypes you will be able to put up with. The Jewish
people went through a genocide because they were not seen worthy enough by Hitler. So he
decided to kill them off. He helped create incorrect perceptions of these people by dehumanizing
them not only in pictures, but also in the way in which he forced them to live. Connecting with
all the stereotypes the reading by Staples also helps show how till this day African American
men go through stereotypes causing them to have to accommodate to society so that they will not
be feared. It is not okay for society to think so poorly of others we are all humans and we
deserve to carry ourselves as we please and not as others want or expect us to do so. Making
someone else feel worthless and as if they do not belong in this world is not a just thing to do.
Everyone should be treated equally and nor should anyone be dehumanized due to others
believing that they are the superior ones when clearly they are not because there is no superior
race in this world. We are all special in our own way, making us unique, but equal.

Seppla

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By: Joseph Plank

(1935-1945)
Work Cited Page
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Plank, Josef. "Churchill and the Great Republic: Seppala, Jews as an Octopus Encircling the Globe."

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Library of Congress. 1935-1943. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/wc0213.html

Staples, Brent. "Black Men and Public Spaces." 75 Thematic Readings: An Anthology.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. N. pag. Print.