Author Archives: Haroon Ahmed

Extra Credit Blog Post (women and Indians)

by Haroon Ahmed

Chapter 19 is titled “surprises” because new kinds of people started to emerge in the 1960s and 70’s. these groups of people were silent for so long and during these times, they found the courage to get out from underneath the rock.
Women were one of these groups. they already obtained voting rights, but they just like men, they wanted more. Since the beginning of time, women have been known as housewives, they cooked, cleaned and took care of the children. world war 2 brought change to this, that is when women stepped up to the plate. but by the 60s they were getting even more recognition. 23 million woman workers earned a paycheck and their numbers were growing. one thing that was surprising is that many women started going to jail due to sit ins and protests. age did not matter; older women like Ell Baker, Amelia Boynton and younger women like Gloria Richardson and Annelle Ponder. Fannie Lou Hammer became famous for her quote “I’m sick of tired of being sick and tired”. women are known for their gossip, but now instad of talking about nothing they started to talk about “the problem”. women all knew what it was, and they started to do something about it. this was a very important movement because women wanted to be recognized, and in the summer of 1964 women went on strike against their own husbands, they didn’t cook or clean or do anything. Shirley Chisholm a black congresswoman said “the law cannot do it for us, we must do it for ourselves. women in this country must be revolutionaries”

Another group were the Indians. people thought that they were gone but they were always here, it is their country. one indian was arrested in the fish ins, he was a veteran of the Vietnam war. once he was arrested he stated “i hereby renounce further obligation in service or duty to the united states”. hat is saying something.Indians adopted the American way and they fought back with newspapers. they created editorials and started their own paper, Akwesasne Notes. one of the most surprising event is when more than 600 Indians took over Alcatraz. they made it the center for indian life. they wanted to depollute the air and start fishing again, basically go back to their native ways. But the U.S kicked them out. so the Indians started to do something about it. in 1969, the indians started a convocation where they spoke out.
we have learned from the past that being silent does nothing. if you want to start a revolution you must speak, and then you will succeed.

It never said that

by Haroon Ahmed

Southern Declaration on Integration (1956) 

“The original constitution does not mention education. Neither does the fourteenth amendment. The debates preceding the submission of the fourteenth amendment clearly show that there was no intent that it should affect the systems of education maintained by the states…”

The majority of the whites in the south never wanted to let blacks have education. They pushed as far as they could, even after the 14th amendment was passed the blacks still didn’t get the full package of being an American. This quote shows how the Blacks still had no political rights. They have fought multiple wars and still dont have enough respect to learn in the same class room as white folk. During this time period (1950s) Black Americans have been freed for almost 100 years yet they have been treated as slaves. from a political standpoint, the blacks have no rights. And from a social standpoint, they are nothing but workers, they are not part of society.

The author of this believes that if they integrate races in schools, then the system of public education will be destroyed. He based his ideas and beliefs on the constitution and stands by it.

“I’m an oilman”

by Haroon Ahmed

Daniel Plainview considers himself an oilman, a true oilman. During the early 1900’s oil became the real goldmine for Americans who were to put in the money. If they have the right spot, the risk versus reward leans towards reward. In There will Be Blood, it skips a substantial amount of time and the time that is skipped is time where daniel is building his empire. Oil or industrialization, is Daniel’s business, it is his life.

Daniel bases his life on finding oil, if he thinks that there is a substantial amount in the ground, he will take his resources and drill it out. In the scene where he declines the town’s offer, i believe that there wasn’t much oil in the ground, thats why he didn’t bother with the towns differentiating views about whether they want to drill or not. But if there was a lot of oil, he would have ignored the talking and tried to reassure them of how good a drilling could be. Daniel is an entrepreneur, he took his money and invested it in something that he knows can make him a lot of money. But it not only affects him, but like the invisible hand theory, affects everyone around him. The moment i believe that is most important is when he gives his speech to the town where the Sunday family resides. I believe this speech justifies Daniels job. He talks about how him drilling the oil well is going to benefit the whole town. The line that got to me was when he said if i start drilling, bread wont be a luxury item anymore. I believe it does do good to the community even though they’re getting ripped off.

Like Daniel explained in his speech, industrialization is shown as progression. Its advancing these towns that have no tourism or any technology and by doing this, its making the united states progress as a whole.