Contemporary Leaders Picking up the Slack for Ugly Europeans

When we ask where racism comes from, where do we turn? My initial answer would have been Americans and their treatment of the African slaves. But, Americans weren't American until maybe one hundred years ago, they were British. They were Europeans. After reading chapters 19 and 20, I found out where racism truly came from.

Europeans felt at liberty to go and colonize wherever they felt would be profitable. Instead of politely stepping into another country they trampled on the natives and forced them to live by European standards. And, they definitely had high standards of themselves. First of all they were Christians and they felt that made them far superior because they were "civilized." All other religions were barbaric (whatever). There was a time when Europeans mingled with Asians and Africans, even marrying into their lineage. But, it seems that through this mingling they were really trying to set a base for their military. Once their military was set they were able to create their wealthy society in the new country. Then came a long a scientist who surveyed the brain. He "discovered" the white European had a bigger head and therefore a bigger brain inside making them smarter than the other races, especially Africans. A hierarchy of races was created based on these assumptions they held to be true. Europeans were at the top and all those below were considered inferior. In the minds of Europeans they thought it was their duty to civilize these people. Their tactics: dehumanization and ridding of their traditions. They felt they were "progressive" by "weeding" out the weak so the strong can become stronger, as Strayer put it.

Further into chapter 20 we see the Europeans began to educate the natives using their Western Education. It seemed the natives were given a fighting chance now. They realized that if they could read and write they could move up in life and gain a little bit of respect or at least live the way they used to live within their traditions. Reading and writing was like magic; it was an escape. Europeans didn't want this to happen so they decided natives wouldn't be able to learn science and literature, stating it was inappropriate. It is no wonder where German leader, Adolph Hitler got his crazy idea about the superiority of the white man.

The Europeans of this era truly poisoned the minds of the world. Thank God for people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi and Nelson Mandela who stood up for the injustices in the world.