OP-ED Project: The Herero Genocide
The Herero Genocide
The Herero tribe was very unlucky but sadly enough the outcome was predicted. They ultimately had to fight not only for the land that was taken from them, but for their very humanity. The Herero genocide started simply by the Herero trying to get back their native land and ended in most of the tribe being wiped out. This was a very tragic event that should’ve never occurred because the Herero should’ve never lost their land. The Herero genocide was a natural outcome of the racist attitudes and greed of the German colonists.
The Herero was an ethnic group in Southern Africa. Most of the tribes resided in Namibia. They speak a lot of the Bantu and Otjiherero language. The Herero people were farmers and pastoralists. They made a living tending livestock. The men would often use their dogs to go hunt for meat and hides that they would then trade for tobacco and sugar.
This genocide was caused because of the raciast opinions of Germans. The Germans were racist way before this event. For example look at the Berlin Conference. Germans did not care about the lives or voices of the people living on the land they were taking over.
This genocide was very unfair but even before the war the Herero people were not treated equal on their own land. When the Germans took over the Herero’s land they did not take into consideration the lives of people already living there. In the article titled the “Herero revolt and genocide 1904-1907” it states, “The Herero people's freedom and culture became heavily restricted as German control grew…”, this is explaining how the German slowing started taking control over the Herero before the revolt. The German came and took the Herero's land then continued to take away their freedom. This loss of freedom was the first step towards the genocide.
In the same article the writer goes on to say “Their rule was oppressive and the indigenous cultures were gradually being destroyed”. This is helping explain how the Germans were oppressing the Herero and because of their culture not only taking away their freedom. Even before the war tribes were being oppressed and destroyed.
In addition to the whole genocide, the German people were very negligent. When the Herero decided to fight back against the oppression of the Germans, they showed that they were more merciful, while the Germans descended from oppression to genocide.The Herero spared the lives or German women and children but the German killed any and all Herero. The article Herero and Nama Genocide states, “They [the Herero] murdered 123 German settlers and traders, but obeyed their leaders’ orders sparing women, children, non-German whites and missionaries.” This explains that even though they were going through a whole genocide the Herero were still thoughtful as to not kill the “innocent”. The same article goes on to explain how the German were the complete opposite and killed anyone and everyone by stating “The Germans killed men, women and children, and slaughtered the wounded and captives.” This goes to show that the German were negligent and ties back to how they did not value or care for the lives of anyone else.
This wiped out most of the Herero population. Knowing that this whole genocide started because the Herero fought for their land and their rights back you’d think more Germans would have died because it was a war against them. It's the complete opposite: “...that resulted in the deaths of about 75 percent of the Herero population, considered by most scholars to be genocide.” The Herero simply wanted to get their land and their freedom back which ended the whole tribe. Knowing that makes this a lot more tragic just because they were trying to get back what was already theirs and ended up failing miserably. This goes to show that the genocide was very unnecessary and unfair.
One thing that makes this even more devastating is that it is still very unknown. This was a mass genocide that wiped out huge populations but a lot of people have still never heard of it. The article The Forgotten Genocide: Herero and Nama states, “That is not to say that the 1904 genocide of the Herero and Nama people is completely unknown, but rather has received significantly less attention than most genocides of the past.” When most people hear of a genocide that involved Germans they usually think of the Holocaust. Yes, the Holocaust was a very tragic and horrible event but it happened decades after the Herero genocide because not enough people know about it so it was able to repeat. This goes to show that even though it was a huge part of history not many people know about its damage. This could all simply be because in this genocide dark skinned Africans were being killed but during the Holocaust white Europeans were being killed. That could be why the Herero genocide recives so much less attention and builds on how this is very unfair.
This was a tragic, unfair event that more people need to know about. The Herero never deserved what happened to them and more people should be taught this. The story of the Herero needs to be taught more so something like this doesn’t repeat once again. This was a very obviously racist war and more people need to learn about it. Hidden history uncovers many things like the dangers of racisms and how someone's view of skin color can wipe out a whole population.
The Herero tribe was very unlucky but sadly enough the outcome was predicted. They ultimately had to fight not only for the land that was taken from them, but for their very humanity. The Herero genocide started simply by the Herero trying to get back their native land and ended in most of the tribe being wiped out. This was a very tragic event that should’ve never occurred because the Herero should’ve never lost their land. The Herero genocide was a natural outcome of the racist attitudes and greed of the German colonists.
The Herero was an ethnic group in Southern Africa. Most of the tribes resided in Namibia. They speak a lot of the Bantu and Otjiherero language. The Herero people were farmers and pastoralists. They made a living tending livestock. The men would often use their dogs to go hunt for meat and hides that they would then trade for tobacco and sugar.
This genocide was caused because of the raciast opinions of Germans. The Germans were racist way before this event. For example look at the Berlin Conference. Germans did not care about the lives or voices of the people living on the land they were taking over.
This genocide was very unfair but even before the war the Herero people were not treated equal on their own land. When the Germans took over the Herero’s land they did not take into consideration the lives of people already living there. In the article titled the “Herero revolt and genocide 1904-1907” it states, “The Herero people's freedom and culture became heavily restricted as German control grew…”, this is explaining how the German slowing started taking control over the Herero before the revolt. The German came and took the Herero's land then continued to take away their freedom. This loss of freedom was the first step towards the genocide.
In the same article the writer goes on to say “Their rule was oppressive and the indigenous cultures were gradually being destroyed”. This is helping explain how the Germans were oppressing the Herero and because of their culture not only taking away their freedom. Even before the war tribes were being oppressed and destroyed.
In addition to the whole genocide, the German people were very negligent. When the Herero decided to fight back against the oppression of the Germans, they showed that they were more merciful, while the Germans descended from oppression to genocide.The Herero spared the lives or German women and children but the German killed any and all Herero. The article Herero and Nama Genocide states, “They [the Herero] murdered 123 German settlers and traders, but obeyed their leaders’ orders sparing women, children, non-German whites and missionaries.” This explains that even though they were going through a whole genocide the Herero were still thoughtful as to not kill the “innocent”. The same article goes on to explain how the German were the complete opposite and killed anyone and everyone by stating “The Germans killed men, women and children, and slaughtered the wounded and captives.” This goes to show that the German were negligent and ties back to how they did not value or care for the lives of anyone else.
This wiped out most of the Herero population. Knowing that this whole genocide started because the Herero fought for their land and their rights back you’d think more Germans would have died because it was a war against them. It's the complete opposite: “...that resulted in the deaths of about 75 percent of the Herero population, considered by most scholars to be genocide.” The Herero simply wanted to get their land and their freedom back which ended the whole tribe. Knowing that makes this a lot more tragic just because they were trying to get back what was already theirs and ended up failing miserably. This goes to show that the genocide was very unnecessary and unfair.
One thing that makes this even more devastating is that it is still very unknown. This was a mass genocide that wiped out huge populations but a lot of people have still never heard of it. The article The Forgotten Genocide: Herero and Nama states, “That is not to say that the 1904 genocide of the Herero and Nama people is completely unknown, but rather has received significantly less attention than most genocides of the past.” When most people hear of a genocide that involved Germans they usually think of the Holocaust. Yes, the Holocaust was a very tragic and horrible event but it happened decades after the Herero genocide because not enough people know about it so it was able to repeat. This goes to show that even though it was a huge part of history not many people know about its damage. This could all simply be because in this genocide dark skinned Africans were being killed but during the Holocaust white Europeans were being killed. That could be why the Herero genocide recives so much less attention and builds on how this is very unfair.
This was a tragic, unfair event that more people need to know about. The Herero never deserved what happened to them and more people should be taught this. The story of the Herero needs to be taught more so something like this doesn’t repeat once again. This was a very obviously racist war and more people need to learn about it. Hidden history uncovers many things like the dangers of racisms and how someone's view of skin color can wipe out a whole population.
Reflection
I am most proud of my visual art piece because I put my style into it. Most of the time when I'm making an art piece for school I don’t make it completely how I want to, it's usually bland. Since I had a very good understanding of what I was making my piece about I put my own touch in it so I'm very proud of it.
One of the things I found difficult was simply researching. This was difficult just because I don’t like reading a lot and so it was hard for me to persevere through getting all the sources I needed. I dealt with this by listening to the article if the website had that option. I can’t avoid this difficulty but I can just try my hardest to persevere and find other options to deal with these difficulties.
I learned that there is so much that we haven't learned about history. Specifically I learned that there are many tragic events that no one knows about simply because it wasn’t taught because it wasn’t white/american history. I think I'll be able to show this in my final project by touching on what's happening in the world right now, so much is going on but Americans don’t know about a lot of it just because it doesn’t affect them directly.
I have grown by improving the organization of my writing. Before my paragraph would be out of order and they would make sense but it would be all over the place. The peer critique helped me with knowing how to order my paragraphs and add background information.
I gave myself an 8 because it explains me perfectly. I am almost always ready for class but on occasion I'll forget my computer or a pencil, I usually stay on task and do my work when it's time to get engaged but sometimes I zone out or get off task for a minute, and I usually listen but often have a headphone in. I can improve simply by taking my headphones out when it's time to listen. I can also try better to always remember my materials and stay on task better. I will practice engaging when i need to for the rest of this semester.
Satirical Devices In a Rube Goldberg Machine
For this project we were told to create a satirical piece, with a message, using the different satirical devices we learned about in class that we would have to add into the Rube Goldberg we were working on in Physics. We took a bunch of class periods learning about the different type and ways satirical devices are used and the ways that they imply different "moods". We then took a couple weeks to create a piece of art using at least 2 of the devices that would show and strengthen a message we as students were "passionate" about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eVqKC48PRg
My satirical piece is a drawing of two polar bears and melting ice caps. The polar bears are having a conversation using sarcasm and understatement. This is supposed to send the message that global warming and climate change are a whole lot more dramatic than humans see it, it affects the animals so much more than it affects us humans. The sarcasm was used as one of the polar bears talking about how it wanted global warming to happen. The other device i chose was an understatement, you can see this in my piece as the response of the other polar bear. This polar bear is talking about how global warming and climate change is just starting to affect animals which is not true in any way, it has been a problem for many years humans just do not see the consequences. I chose both of these because I think they both add a joking yet very harsh aspect to the problem.
The most interesting thing I learned over the course of this project was that a lot of satirical devices are used harshly but are “disguised” to not be rude. For example irony is using language that would typically be used for something the complete opposite just to make it sound nicer. I think this is interesting because it shows a lot about how humans communicate with each other. You can see this in my final project because the polar bears are intended to be speaking in a rude tone but because of the satirical devices and language I used they do not seem fed up.
Continuing what I said in the last paragraph, I think the role of satire in society is just to disguise rudeness. Some factors of making satire more or less effective in the tone and timing. If you're having a conversation in person and you are trying to use a satirical device you would need to know when it's necessary and/or fits into the conversation.
The most interesting thing I learned over the course of this project was that a lot of satirical devices are used harshly but are “disguised” to not be rude. For example irony is using language that would typically be used for something the complete opposite just to make it sound nicer. I think this is interesting because it shows a lot about how humans communicate with each other. You can see this in my final project because the polar bears are intended to be speaking in a rude tone but because of the satirical devices and language I used they do not seem fed up.
Continuing what I said in the last paragraph, I think the role of satire in society is just to disguise rudeness. Some factors of making satire more or less effective in the tone and timing. If you're having a conversation in person and you are trying to use a satirical device you would need to know when it's necessary and/or fits into the conversation.