A Different Mirror-The Tempest

Ronald Takaki explains “In a Different Mirror” that Indians were not the only ones that had to deal with the English settlers taking over their land and killing them by the hundreds. It all had to deal with being racialized. The Irish were treated like the Indians and were considered savages, but the difference between the Indians and the Irish was skin color. The English settlers viewed the Irish as “different” because although they had the same skin tone they did not have the religious views and beliefs of the Englishmen.
According to the colonists the Irish people did not have the knowledge of God or good manners. The “Tempest” was actually referring to the new world, and was referring to the English settlers moving to America. As more and more people arrived from England problems started occurring such as starvation, and numerous Indians dying from diseases from the colonists. Soon the need for tobacco really forced the Indians away from their lands. The Irish were to be forced off their lands and denied of marriages between the Irish and colonists and forced to learn Christianity as the English viewed it.
There was a quote in the reading that stated God was “making room” for the colonists. A plague had killed a large amount of the Indians which was believed to be a sign also. Since the Indians and Irish were being racialized why did it have such an affect today? It could possibly be because of the numerous races and cultures that are present now, and everyone is not going to get along because that issue is among the inevitable. Overall the cultures are so different that most people may not fully understand how they function.
I thought the reading was interesting and I feel that what was done to the Indians and the Irish was unacceptable. The one part that really disturbed me was when it said a man killed his wife and cut out their unborn child and used his dead wife as a source for food. It makes me sick to my stomach that people actually to these things to one another. It is one thing to starve to death, but it is a completely different issue to kill another human being for food. In the end I think that race should have nothing to do with judging a person for who they are, but then again we all judge people.