Journal #19

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”

---Assata Shakur

                             The oppressed are always silenced by the higher powers that rise above them. In order for them to obtain freedom, they have never been able to simply "talk it out." The people who controlled them would never understand, or never wanted to understand that they were doing wrong. Only through riots and protest, overthrowing their leaders, and a fight for justice could they have gotten a simple freedom or civil right. Shakur claims that the moral sense of the oppressors has never been tampered with, or challenged by the oppressed without being shrugged off. His claim is true because many of the freedoms that are seen today were not achieved without a fight.
                            Oppressors have always done things for the benefit of themselves. In slavery, white plantation owners needed free, cheap labor. This increased profit because they didn't have to pay them. When Europeans colonized the whole of Africa, they were simply looking for resources, and didn't care that they they were eradicating people's homes and sources of food and water. The minorities were always outnumbered, stripped of their weapons if they had any, privileges and civil rights. The oppressors used intimidation tactics and strength to push their victims away, never allowing them to speak. Their speech was seen as an act of rebellion, dictators viewed it as being challenged. So, in order to reach a level of freedom, the only option was to act out and overthrow the higher powers.