A Brief Note On George Curley And The Oppressed - 1022 Words

Sarah Garcia Professor Bell History 20W Due: 1 December 2014 Section # 68 – TA George Curley How†¦? and The Oppressed In the year 1941 during the middle of WWII, the Atlantic Charter created between U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was made in a secret meeting to secure their ally status with each other. Highlighted in this charter are rights the â€Å"self† should have, including: â€Å"†¦self-determination and self-government, equal economic opportunity, and the ability ‘to live in freedom from fear and want’† (p. 223). Because the U.S. and Britain were considered the â€Å"great nations†, their popularity led marginalized people involved in social justice movements at the time to catch on to these ideas of the rights of â€Å"self† stated in the charter. These marginalized people realized that if the U.S. and Britain strived so much for freedom, equality, and self-governing, they, the oppressed, should have been left at peace without dealing with people being racist or condescending towards them. Steve Biko, a writer on Black consciousness and the oppressor/oppressed in society, stated a solution to seek true humanity to rid of the problems at hand. I argue that Steve Biko’s assertion about Black Nationalism that â€Å"†¦the most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed† (p. 248) resonated in the writings of participants of the socially marginalized in Black Nationalism and Consciousness, Decolonization, and the