Iconoclasm and the Civil War

In an earlier blog post, I brought up a topic that we had discussed in my American Studies class, Iconoclasm. As I said earlier, Iconoclasm is the term that describes breaking the myths that we learned as kids. Today, after seeing the Civil War group's civil liberties presentation in class, I found another example of iconoclasm. As kids, we learned about Abraham Lincoln, who we called "Honest Abe." We all knew the story of how a customer at his store payed him a few cents too much, and how he walked a mile to make sure he got the money back to them. 

The truth is that these stories from elementary school have little depth to them. I'm sure Abe Lincoln was still a very honest man, but not all the stories are happy. As said in the presentation, President Lincoln took many steps that limited civil liberties during the war. For example, in 1862 he signed the Confiscation Act, which punished people who spoke out against the Union Army.  While Abraham Lincoln was definitely not (the other extreme) a terrible person, it is still important to understand that he was not just the good, honest, perfect man we learned about in second grade.

Most famous kiss really is not as romantic as it seems

I came across this blog post  the other day, about the "most famous kiss." The "Kissing Sailor" is a famous photo of a sailor kissing a random woman, Greta Zimmer Freidman. It was taken on V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day in 1945. For many Americans, this photo is iconic because it depicts the feeling of relief and happiness for the war to be over.

The post talks about how Greta did not know the man who kissed her. She described the moment, saying “It wasn’t my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed!” This blog is making a claim that this event should be considered an act of sexual assault, and that the man had no right to grab her and kiss her.
I found this interesting because in my American Studies class, we had a discussion about Iconoclasm, the term that describes breaking the myths that we learned as kids. For example, in elementary school, we learn that Columbus was the man to "discover America." However, in high school we learn more about how he took over advanced ancient civilizations in the Americas. As kids, we are sheltered from the details of these stories because they are often very complicated, violent or unjust. 

The same thing applies with the "Kissing Sailor." It depicts the happiness after the war ended, but in reality, the sailor was drunk and the two were strangers. I think it is interesting how we automatically want to assume that the story is completely romantic and joyful without looking deeper into the reality of the situation.

The last thing I want to point out is that the blog I have been referring to is centered around feminism. Therefore, it might be very biased and exaggerated the situation to make it seem more like Greta was a victim. This is important to take into consideration, but I still find it interesting to know more about the back-story of the photo, instead of just accepting what you see at the surface.

How to Define Diversity?

After going on a field trip to Chicago with my American Studies class, we had discussions in class regarding the topic of diversity. What I noticed during these discussions was how many people used the word "diverse." The dictionary definition of the word is "Showing a great deal of variety," and I have to agree with some of my classmates. In the North suburbs of Chicago, there is generally not very much racial diversity, to be specific. In Wilmette, the population is  predominantly Caucasian. Asians make up 9% of the population, African Americans 1%, and Latinos/ Hispanics about 2%. 

When looking at the demographics of Chicago as a whole, the city is very racially diverse. As of the 2010 Census, the population is about 31% Caucasian, 32% African American, 28% Hispanic, and 5% Asian. When looking at the city as a whole, it is racially diverse. However, the fact is that Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in America. Pilsen, a neighborhood located in the lower West side of Chicago, is 82% Hispanic. Andersonville, located in the North side, is primarily composed of Swedish immigrants. Although the city has a wide variety of ethnicities,  it is segregated into smaller sections, usually based on race.

Going back to the discussion in class, many people stated that where we live in the North Shore is much less diverse than communities in Chicago. But is it really? Yes, the North Shore has less diversity than the city as a whole. But I think that the individual communities in Chicago are just as segregated as Wilmette is. A place like Pilsen just as un-diverse as the North Shore. The difference is the race of the majority.

This brings up my last point. Do we tend to define diversity as simply having people of color in a community (instead of having people of many different ethnicities)? If a town is 100% African American, would people say it is more diverse than Wilmette?

Feel free to comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts!