Purpose
This assignment will help you to define and understand the meaning of structural oppression in the United States.
Watch video episode here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy3f7ECQ0fw
Instructions
Thinking about the episode “Awakenings” from the PBS series Eyes on the Prize, and our reading on both civil rights and policy practice, please read the following information, and then engage in discussion board activity. Please write 300-350-word initial post addressing the questions below. Reply to at least two classmates in a 100-200-word post discussing your agreement, disagreement, or addition of literature/ facts to add to the discussion.
Part I:
Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor in Germany who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:
First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out– because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out– because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.
Even though the film portrays a struggle for civil rights that occurred several years after WWII, what are your thoughts about how Niemöller’s quote relates to the messages conveyed in the film?
In what ways does one form of oppression help maintain other forms of oppression? In your discussion, give one example either from the film, history, or contemporary U.S. society.
Part II:
Some institutions in society are housed in “brick and mortar” buildings. Others are embodied, so to speak, in social policies that have been established by law. Some social and economic institutions even operate without having “walls and a roof” or legal sanction, but they make their influence known in less obvious ways. This last group of institutions can be thought of as “the rules of the game” or “just the way things work” in certain places and at certain points in time. These long-standing traditions, habits, norms, and institutional arrangements can have as much to do with social and economic well-being as “brick and mortar” institutions or social policies established by law.
Please identify two of each kind of institution from the film and discuss how they were each operating to affect individual, family, or community well-being.
A “brick and mortar” institution housed in a building;
A law, social policy, or formal rule of some kind;
A less formal institution or institutional arrangement
Please make sure that your posts are grammatically correct and free of spelling errors. You should also cite any resources you use, including “Awakenings” following APA standards.
