Final Exam: Somos Una Gente: Sisterhood and Brotherhood

Introduction

The United States has a history of violence against BIPOC, both domestically and abroad. The country was built through the massacre and displacement of Native Americans and with slave labor from people kidnapped in Africa. It was further economically developed through imperialism and colonialism. Taking into account that all of us who live here benefit, even if indirectly, from these practices, the issue of how to work together toward a better world can be a tricky one. bell hooks and Angela Davis think about racial and economic inequalities that divide whites from black people. Anzaldúa talks about the plight of the Mexican who lost part of their land to the US and are envisioned as foreigners in territories that they called home for centuries. How can people who have been at different ends of the stick get together for social change? What makes a sister a sister and a brother a brother? How have different thinkers and organizers assessed the potentials for unity and diversity? What should sisterhoods and brotherhoods look like in non-capitalist spaces for social change, as in the Zapatistas?

The following prompts and questions should be used as steps to help you write a 4,000- word essay. Please make sure you address all of them.

• Read Chapter 2 of The People’s History of the United States, Drawing the Color Line
• https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncolorline.html
• Summarize the economic and social reasons that were solved by enslaving African people
• How does Angela Davis describe the different experiences that black and white woman have in the United States? Summarize her findings.
• Read Chapter 8 of the People’s history of the US, We Take Nothing by Force, Thank god! https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinntak8.html
• Summarize how the US annexed Mexican territory. Name the states that were Mexican territory until the war.
• Read https://m4bl.org/policy-platforms/reparations/
• Explain why Black people want reparations
• Explain how Gloria Anzaldúa frames her call for unity. Quote her on her account of the need for reparations and acknowledgement of past harms before we can work together.
• How do Davis, Anzaldua, and bell hooks deal with difference (race, class, gender, sexuality) within the context of a concept meant to unite (sisterhood) with white people?
• How do their approaches relate to intersectionality and Anzaldua’s call for the uprooting of binary thinking?
• Relate your analysis of sisterhood to your own vision of a better world

Essay Guidelines

Your presentation needs to have an introduction, a body where you draw your argument and present evidence, quotes, and examples, and a conclusion.

Introduction 

Explain the concepts that will help you present your vision and tell us how you are going to prove your points.

Body 

Explain your theories and examples clearly. Develop the ideas that you have introduced earlier. Remember to tie your examples with your author’s concepts or ideas and use quotes appropriately. Quotes need to always be explained in your own words.

Conclusion 

Bring it all together. Briefly recap concepts and examples or illustrations to explain how all of the above ties in with your life and vision for a better world.