Journal #19

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”

---Assata Shakur

         History is filled with examples of oppression and the different forms that it manifests in. The oppressed have tried many ways to fight their way to freedom. However, Assata Shakur argues that a way that the oppressed have never gotten freedom is by trying to appeal to their oppressors sense of empathy and morality. I agree with this statement because oppressors don't care for those they are oppressing since all they care about are themselves and how they benefit from the oppression.

         I remember a quote that asserted that one can't hope for empathy from white supremacists/racists for they have no conscience. Those who have the ability to hurt and kill others because of their skin color are not going to be persuaded by morality and ethical rightness. They simply won't care because it will threaten their power and control over the group that they are oppressing.