Letter- "An Open Letter to My Sister, Angela Davis

[jthimelrick]

1. I really like roe's interpretation of the letter. The purpose of this letter was to show how the seperation in this country continues to grow even though many say that it isn't a problem. Putting black people in chains and keeping them in prison shouldnt make anyone feel any safer, because the real criminals, those who are unjustly putting people in prison, are still free to cause terror and hurt more lives.
2. I don't like this piece because i think the author doesn't do a good enough job of seeing other peoples opinion, but instead writes solely what he believes to be true. If the author had not been so opinionated but instead saw the problem from all points of view and cut right to the chase, then the letter would have been much better.
3. ( answering Roe's fourth question) no I don't think white people actually thought blacks were animals, they were just foreign people who white people didnt understand and were therefore afraid of, so they treated them like animals to be feared and therefore tied up.

[trevorsocarras]

I couldn’t agree with Veronica more. I think the overall meaning of the letter is that Americans are led to believe that the races should hate each other. I think that James was trying to tell his sister about his views of how the world is and how it should be. He states that air and water belong to all mankind and not to just one group of people. One groupd of people should not get more or less air or water than the other. I believe that James thinks this country is separated by races and led to believe that the African Americans should hurt each other. This is what James says will cause the end to America. I completely agree and think that killing one group of people is wrong and that we as Americans should fight for each other’s lives as if they were our own, instead of fighting against each other. We as Americans are doomed unless equality is achieved through the unity between races.

I personally didn’t like the letter because I thought it was very confusing to understand some of the points James was trying to make. I thought that James had good intentions in trying to fight against racism. I also thought that this letter was very one sided and that it discussed only racism against Blacks and not any other racial group in our country. Racial hatred exists in this country and it is towards many groups of people. I believe that racism is one of the biggest things that our country needs to fix in order to truly be a country of democracy and equality between people, as mentioned by James.

To answer Morgan’s question, I don’t believe that he had hatred toward white people. I think that he fought for equality for all people. Yes, he used examples for racial hatred towards blacks but his intentions were for the entire country. Throughout James’ letter he mentions the progress of America and how people should be fighting for each other and not against each other. This is why I think James hated fighting and was a peace maker for all people and especially wants America to be the land of equality where all are welcome.

1.What is James referring to when he wrote, “The victims of a system whose only fuel is greed?”

[darbycasey]

1. For the most part I agree with what everyone has said. In this letter we see James' view on segregation in America. He believes his segregation between blacks and whites is just getting worse because now even blacks are turning on each other for no reason. He believes that the younger generation can make a change and I think that is why he wanted this poem to be an "open letter."

2. I also didn't like this letter very much. I found it a little confusing and didn't like how he contradicted himself a few times. However, I did like the point he was getting at. I think he was trying to say the first step in fighting this racism was for blacks to stop fighting each other and that this change is up to the younger generations. He noticed that between his father's genetation and his generation there had been no changes so now it is up to the next generation to make these changes towards a united country.

3. In response to Veronica's question: I think Jame's is saying that the war between brothers is a civil wat rather than a racial war because of the differences between the North and South. In the North we could find free African Americans and in the South we could still find slavery present. Therefore, it is a conflicted country's problem, not a conflict between races.
My Question: Why do you think James is so concerned with this problem in the U.S. when he doesn't even live here?

[alexmaravic]

1. The speech was clearly about the prejudice and segregation between whites and blacks from James' point of view. He talked about how badly the whites treated the blacks and how white people are the reason why black people are miserable. He continued on and on about the various ways he felt black people were oppressed by white people. The writer seems to think that black people have done nothing wrong to deserve the racist treatment they had been getting, which is generally true.

2. I really did not like this piece because I disagreed with the whole thing. Yes, black people were mistreated for many years but that was in the past and society has made a lot of progress since then. Blaming white people for everything is not going to solve anything, just make black peoples lives worse. I felt that James was a bitter person who just sat there and wrote in anger about things that weren't 100% accurate.

3. (Answer to Veronica's question) I think that James meant that every person living in the same country are "brothers". We should all put race, gender, and other things like that aside because we are all part of something greater. I think it's considered civil war and not racial war because some whites fought on the side of the blacks as well so it's not fair to say all whites hate all blacks.

Question: What can you infer about the author's life and personality by this piece?