Jovana Milošević

email
Univerzitet u Kragujevcu, Filološko-umetnički fakultet

Racism in North America

Abstract: United States of America, as we know it today, with its status of a melting pot, developed from
Puritans that came on American ground in 17th century. These individuals had to form their, at first, small
community in Virginia. With the help of George Washington and other influential people, they adapted
into a community which reigns over the whole North American continent. The English (Puritans) had to
fight Dutch, German, Spanish, and French first settlers – together with Native Americans – to get access
to the big waste land. When they got their territory, the smart Puritans started to take Africans, both
males and females, as their low-paid slaves. This practice was characteristic for the South, because there
was the fruitful land which needed to be exploited in the best way possible. The profit from it was very
important for both people who lived on the South (South Carolina, Nevada, etc) and on New England
territories. Civil War was the point where this division reached its peak.

Keywords: America, Puritans, Melting pot, European settlers, Africans, American South

Introduction

Puritan current started during the reign of the king Charles I in England. Charles I descended from
Scottish Stuart family, and he was one of the monarchs who considered that they represent the Godlike
figure in their country – which was not rare for that time on other European thrones. However, Scotland
and England, earlier in century, developed the current called Protestantism, which was largely different
from Charles’ politics. Some people, together with English parliament, considered that his religion is
influenced by Catholicism which sailed into England during the reign of Elizabeth I. So, the first Civil War
in England broke out in 1642, when Oliver Cromwell and his army defeated Charles I and his Irish
(Catholic) allies. In 1649, Charles I lost his head because of the Protestant extremists, and this signified
the end of Godlike representation of kings who were to come. Oliver Cromwell started his dictatorship as
Lord Protector in the England, and, luckily enough, he was dismissed by Charles II. During Charles I, there
were separatists who left England and wanted to start their community with new laws. They picked the
new, unexplored ground which was only across the Atlantic ocean – it was America.

Part 1 – Modernism

Richard Terdiman has argued that a particular mark of modernity in Europe—and, ultimately, a central
concern of modernism—is the “memory crisis” arising from people’s sense of:

“the insecurity of their culture’s involvement with its past, the perturbation of the link to their own inheritance”

after the revolutionary period of 1789–1815. This can also be said for the period after the World War I,
where people lost many lives and when Modernism in totality discharged Enlightenment thinking and
some religious beliefs. Actually, the new direction of art presented new beginning in thinking – because
it was needed. Modernists sensed the great change in society – industrialism, growth of cities etc. – and,
as Ezra Pound said, they tried to ‘’Make it New!’’. Racism was said to originate in the need to explain the
contradiction between Christian ethics and the cruelty and degradation visited upon native peoples, for
example in the notion of “the White Man’s burden”—the moral imperative to uplift and rescue pagans
through the superior religion of Christianity. Modernity, then, is founded upon the invention of the
printing press and the spread of mass literacy and numeracy. It is about the growth of competitive
markets, and the hatred of the bourgeoisie expressed by aristocrats threatened by displacement. In
came George Orwell, folklore and rock ‘n roll, out went classical music and the bourgeois entertainments
that were related. Hence, racism went out – since Afro-Americans were less uptight and it was kinda ‘’in’’
to be an outsider – to be against ‘’classical’’ taste of bourgeois circle.

Part 2 – Racism became a ‘’must-have'’

Modernization has made what are referred to as Third World countries to be dependent on the First
World countries in all spheres of social, economic and political life. Modernization perspective is linked
to the modernization theory, which has its origins in American political elites and intellectuals in the
international stage around the post- Second World War era. The cold war and the simultaneous
emergence of Third World societies are prominent factors which are known to have sparked intellectual
interest and resources beyond the borders of American society. One of the words of Truman, according
to Ohlin(1970, p. 25) as quoted in Harrison (1991) on that fateful day was that:

“the policies of the United States are to aid the efforts of the peoples of economically undeveloped areas, to
develop their resources and improve their living conditions”

After WWII there was the disintegration of the European colonial empires in Asia, Africa and Latin
America; which lead to the rise of the conceptual denotations of third world countries, which were in
need of a model of development to promote their economy, and further enhance their political
independence. However, the attempt made to analyze the modernist perspective would not be fruitful,
if it is isolated from the concept of development.

Part 3 – Racism escalated during WWII

The Second World War escalated at the end of Modernism era. So, what does it mean for Modernism?
As we already said, racism during the evolution of Industrialism and during the growth of cities did not
really exist (on the outside). The overflow of multiethnical societies, especially in America, signified
something that did not look much like racism, although it probably still existed in people's minds because
of the, back then, recent history of using Afro-Americans as slaves. However, in Germany, after the great
defeat in WWI, a fatherly figure of Adolf Hitler, who is still blamed for one of the greatest genocides in
history, came on front of the state. He was famous for making concentration camps for Jews and other
minor ethnic groups, including Slavs, Gypsies, etc. This killing can be compared with the mass slaughter
of Native Americans during the 18th century. This urge of Adolf Hitler, was, in short terms, caused by his
hatred for Jews, because they took all the best jobs in Germany, and because he considered only Aryans
worth of living in Germany. He thought that each race should have their small country and should not
mix with other races. Racism reached its peak.

Part 4 – Germany - America - Russia

While America embraced multicultural societies, Germany did everything contrary. This is why America
had to mix it’s fingers in this great diversity which existed between these two philosophies. But why
would this be a problem for America? Are not they on a completely different continent? Well yes, but
the famous globalization and ‘’tolerance’’ which America propagates is not actually that much of a
tolerance. They want to exercise colonization under the cover of globalization. Germany’s politics which
was based on the strong grounds was against globalization and the acceptance of all races. But, they did
not want to reign over the whole world like Americans did (and still do). After the end of WWII,
Modernism ended – but the Contemporary literature and art followed, with some other characteristics.
The Cold War began – soviet Russia against liberal America. But why did America want to participate in
the politics of the completely different continent, once again? The same urge which made it do so in
WWII, made it in the Cold War. Socialism, where everyone is equal, is actually unlike democracy and
liberalism in America. Consumerism and capitalism can be described by Darwin’s phrase – ‘’Survival of
the Fittest’’, unlike socialism - where Fate - so much disregarded in American ‘’Pursuing a dream’’ - is
something which a Russian citizen could rely on. Everything was in hands of the state which could not be
easily shaken.

References:

1. http://sk.sagepub.com/books/modernity-and-exclusion/n5.xml
Chapter 5: Encountering the Other: Modernism and Racism By: Joel Kahn

2. https://clarespark.com/2010/04/08/racism-modernity-modernism/
Racism, Modernity, Modernism

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

Rezime:

Američki modernizam i modernizam u svetu su uveliko prihvatili razlike među stanovništvom. Posebno
različitosti koje se tiču boje kože – s obzirom da je sve veći i brži rast gradova dopuštao i Afro-
amerikancima i ljudima iz Azije da se asimiluju u taj veliki kotao pretapanja. Nemačka je uradila nešto
drugo - želela je sve suprotno. Za nju je bilo bitno jedinstvo jedne rase unutar jedne zemlje – što je bilo
usprotivljeno američkoj politici ‘’globalizacije’’ i ‘’tolerancije’’ – koje su zapravo bili lepši termini za
kolonizaciju celog sveta. Modernizmu je došao kraj, Hladan rat izmedju Rusije i Amerike je počeo – i to
baš iz istog razloga iz kog se Amerika umešala u Drugi svetski rat – nije joj odgovarala politika koja nije u
skladu sa kapitalizmom i navodnom filozofijom da je sudbina čoveka samo u njegovim rukama.

Ključne reči: Amerika, Nemačka, Rusija, Tolerancija, Multikulturalizam, Rasizam, Modernizam