Rabbit Proof Fence

Exploitation in Rabbit Proof Fence

            Rabbit-Proof Fence, Phillip Noyce’s 2002 film (based on the book by Doris Garimara), tells the story of three mixed-race Aboriginal girls: Molly (the oldest and the main character), Daisy, and Gracie. The film takes place in 1930 Australia when Aboriginal children were kidnapped and forced to attend a re-education camp for “half-castes” by the official Protector of Western Australian Aborigines. Neville, the film’s protagonist, seeks to teach the half-caste children in the ways of the whites and gives them training so the half-castes can serve as laborers and servants to white families. He eventually hopes to breed out the Aboriginal blood in the half-caste lineage and seeks for them to be absorbed into white society. The majority of the film focuses on the girls’ daring attempt to find a way back home after escaping the re-education camp; however, it gives key insight to how people of color are seen by white society, even if the people of color were the natives to the land.

Diagram of where the rabbit fences were placed

            One of the most shocking parts of the film is how Mr. Neville is considered the, “the legal guardian of every Aborigine in the State of Western Australia.” The Australian government systematically took away the right of parents to claim guardianship over their own children. Consequentially, the government is making the claim that the Aborigine people do not deserve or are not able to raise their own young. Instead, white society and government sees themselves as their savior. Thus, it is evident that the white culture in Australia did not see the Aborigine people as suitable to provide to society. Instead of respecting their way of life or putting the onus of adaptation on the Aborigines themselves, the Australian government forced children to attend re-education camps. These camps, aside from forcibly removing children from their families and homes, trained the half-cast and Aborigine children to serve as indentured servants to white families. All they were given to look forward to were low paying jobs in the domestic and cheap labor markets and exploitation. As Marx states in Capitalist and Pre-Capitalist Societies (referenced and cited in another analysis post), the survival of the dominant class is dependent upon the continued exploitation of the lower class. Thus, of course the dominant class would want to indoctrinate a whole race of people to commoditize themselves as indentured servants with little to no other alternative in employment and life chances.

Rabbit Proof Fence. Dir. Phillip Noyce. Perf. Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh. Miramax Home Entertainment., 2003. Netflix Stream.

Beasts of No Nation Analysis

BEASTS OF NO NATION

            Cary Fukunaga’s 2015 film, Beasts of No Nation, tells the story of a fierce warlord training a young orphan to join his group of guerilla soldiers. It presents the audience with the plight of a child-soldier.

When watching the film, along with common sense, one can easily recognize that having children serve as soldiers is a heavy-handed slap in the face to Human Rights. When people with so called “normal” lives think of childhood, they think of innocence and positive growth. All across the globe, human rights groups fight for children to have access to an education so as to afford them some life opportunities. In addition, children ought to feel safe and allowed to discover themselves without having to fear immanent death. These rights, along with many others, are taken away from vulnerable children with little other options. The Commander takes advantage of these orphaned children by offering what appears to be a new family through the brotherhood of a guerrilla force, “All of you that have never been listened to before and have seen your family killed, huh, you now have something that stands for you. You now have something that stands for you!” The Commander teaches and indoctrinates the children to hate the enemy government and teaches them how to kill. Children in any case are easily impressionable, especially when they do not have a family unit’s support. Thus, the Commander takes advantage of their situation to have the children serve him for his own evil gain. This violation of Human Rights has large sociological implications in the child soldiers’ lives. For one, as stated earlier, their life chances are greatly reduced. Because they do not get the opportunity to receive a formal education, they already stray away from the path of a happy, stable life. In addition, their experience is emotionally scarring and leaves them unable to cope with the world outside of guerilla warfare.  As Agu, a child soldier and the film’s protagonist, expresses, “I saw terrible things... and I did terrible things,” “... I just want to be happy in this life. If I'm telling this to you... you will think that... I am some sort of beast... or devil. I am all of these things... but I also having mother... father... brother and sister once. They loved me.” It is evident that these child soldier’s rights and childhood innocence are being stolen away from them by the evil grips of war.

Civil Rights Museum

Civil Rights Museum Impact

On Friday, November 21^st, our class visited the Civil Rights Museum in Atlanta, GA. The Museum was largely dedicated to presenting the movement of the long 60’s where African-Americans took the charge in denying their alleged fate to be second-class citizens. The movement called for an end to legal racism and sought to protect the rights of minority groups.

            While walking through the museum’s exhibits, I gained a fresh and larger appreciation for all the men and women who put their life on the line to secure rights for all Americans, no matter their creed or color. They recognized that they had to be the ones to finally put an end to de jur racism and put this country on the right path to maybe one day letting us live without racism. The exhibits told the story of some who gave their life to fighting for the cause of justice struck a deep chord. I cannot imagine how much courage it took to protest when you knew that some bigot police chief can send his pseudo-army/cronies of police officers to round you up and do anything with little to no repercussion. The lunch counter exhibit experience gave me a slight glimpse in how it may have felt to be one those peacefully protested but still had to face violent opposition. A few seconds into the exhibit, I had goose bumps all over even if I was well aware it was not real. In addition, the museum emphasized how well the movement was able to bring very large and sometimes isolated groups together to rally America towards a better future. They were able to have not only African-Americans participate in the movement, but also socially conscious and brave white-American young men and women to participate. In addition, they inspired other movements in the United States, like field worker and migrant worker rights under the leadership of Cesar Chavez. Without inspirational leaders from the first wave of the Civil Rights Movement, there may not have been the Grape boycott that finally pushed farm corporations to recognize their field laborers as actual people than just someone controlled by the means of production.

            The museum serves as a great reminder of how far we have come; however, we must acknowledge that we have a very long way to go. Nonetheless, the U.S., along with the rest of the world, is a much better place and I am greatly thankful for all those who contributed to the movement. The Civil Rights movement was a tremendous example of taking sociological principles and findings and using them to enact positive change in the world. In other words, they were able to see the disparity and stratification and acted upon it.

The Refugee Crisis

Terrorists Refugees and Racism

Syrian toddler found to have drowned and washed up on the coast of turkey.

TThe Syrian refugee crisis has been and continues to be an enormous headache for individual governments as well as international entities (like the European Union). The crisis arose from how the Assad regime in Syria has not been able to protect its own citizens from both rebel groups and Assad’s own military. Because of the constant violence throughout the country, the U.N. has estimated that 6 million people have been displaced within the country. In addition, approximately 3 million refugees have fled the war torn country[1]. Thus a problem has been created on finding countries to host all the refugees. It must also be taken into account that the violence and war in Syria has been by large a product of Western governments prodding where they should not; thus, they must take a responsibility to amend their transgressions against the Syrian people.

            Aside from Germany, who has pledged to take in a significant number of the refugees who have fled war in Syria by migrating to Europe, few Western nations have stepped up to take in refugees. In the United States, governors and senators are coming out to oppose letting the U.S. or their respective state taking in any of the refugees. Especially after the Paris attacks, people reject refugees on the basis of a fear that a terrorist may find him or herself an easy path to the United States by claiming to be a refugee fleeing the war in Syria. This fear-fueled sentiment is inherently racist as it falsely associates the people fleeing violence with those trying to perpetuate it merely because they are of the same “race”. We automatically categorize foreign, Middle-Eastern Muslims to be terror threats. This is a ridiculous generalization to make. It would be equivalent to looking at every white Christian in the same way as one look at a domestic terror threat like a KKK member or a school shooter.

            The social construction of race is so powerful that we inaccurately assign drastic behaviors to whole groups of people who share little to no similarities other than living in the same general region and sharing a religion (even the sects of the religion and the method of practice/ideologies can be very different). These racist notions blind us and restrict us from assisting those who need our help.

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[1] "Syrian Refugees." Syrian Refugees. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://syrianrefugees.eu/>.

Human Sex Trafficking

Link to where image was published

Human Sex Trafficking

Human sex trafficking is an enormous human rights issue across the globe. Sex trafficking “uses violence, threats, lies, debt bondage, and other forms of coercion to compel adults and children to engage in commercial sex against their will.”[1] It is clear that human sex trafficking is an affront against human rights across the globe; however looking at its demographics gives one key insight into how the structure operates and continues to exploit certain groups of people, which offer a lot to a sociological perspective.

The picture shows a young girl having her mouth covered by what seems like a man’s hand (along with the words “Sex Trafficking” in the frame).  It hints at how vulnerable people are often singled out and brought into the deplorable business of forced sex work. According to the Polaris Project, a group dedicated to spreading awareness and stopping human trafficking, traffickers frequently target “runaways and homeless youth, as well as victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, war, or social discrimination.” Beyond creating its own moral issues, human sex trafficking capitalizes on those who society has already seemed to neglect. It takes advantage of people with already stifled life chances and exponentially worsens their condition of living. Traffickers essentially act as agents of social deprivation in the way they “prey on those with few economic opportunities and those struggling to meet basic needs.”(U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services)[2] Interestingly, but not surprisingly, a few of the shared characteristics of the victims of human sex trafficking include, “poverty, young age, limited education, lack of work opportunities, lack of familial support, history of previous sexual abuse…” (Dept. of Health…) Although no social class or general group is immune to falling into the grasp of sex trafficking, it is clear that those with less chances and education, like an oppressed lower class, face a larger risk of being exploited by traffickers. Additionally, traffickers try to target the most vulnerable group in the United States: (According to the Polaris Project and Dept. of Health) “Minors are among the most vulnerable populations,” Traffickers deceive, manipulate, and coerce minors into the sex trafficking world. The Polaris Project reports that in New York City minors are brought into the forced sex work world as early as 14 and 13 years old for both boys and girls (including transgender youth). This trend is alarming in that the people we must protect the most and who have already suffered is continually being exploited in our society to satiate some disgusting and carnal pleasure.

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[1] "Sex Trafficking." Polaris. N.p., 2015. Web. 01 Nov. 2015. <https://polarisproject.org/sex-trafficking>.

[2] Clawson, Heather J., Nichole Dutch, and Lisa Goldblatt Grace. "Human Trafficking Into and Within the United States: A Review of the Literature."OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PLANNING AND EVALUATION. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2010. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.