Discriminations-comparision

This was quite an intense semester for me, and from both of my classes, I learned and realized A LOT. Pertaining to the two classes that I have taken this semester, I would like to do something that I think may be of interest, and that is to compare and contrast the discrimination of: (1. autistics  (2. African-Americans (particularly enslaved), Native Americans, and women in the history of the United States and (3. the incarcerated. Many of these tie in together, as many times autistic people get in trouble with the law, as most law enforcement officers are still sadly not trained to recognize autism-and also a great number of African Americans and Native Americans are unfairly incarcerated as well.  

There is still a lot of ignorance about autism. Autistic people are burdens, can't do this, can't do that. But whose fault is that really? Is it really that autistic people are incapable of anything-or maybe they simply learn differently and society needs to give them a chance? Could the real truth be that our modern society simply is not set up for autistic people?
When you hear many of the greatest names in history, know that MANY, if not most of those individuals, possessed many autistic traits. I know that are quite a few names-both familiar and not-in my American History textbooks this semester-that definitely showed traits of autism! How can we get the world to see the true gifts of these people?

I'm now on the very last chapter of American History to 1877-Reconstruction. During the Reconstruction era, following the Civil War, freed blacks still struggled to be seen as equal members of society. The Mississippi "Black Codes" were set, and showed that blacks still had limited freedom. A white individual could still beat or even kill a black person and expect no retribution. Freed blacks had very little, if any, money, clothes, food, etc. and most worked as sharecroppers or "carpetbaggers" in order to scrape a living. It still was a least a small step up from slavery, where they were literally considered property. Slaves could be bought, sold away from their families never to see them again, whipped, and killed.
Native Americans also fought for their rights and the land that they had lived on for thousands of years. As a matter of fact, many fought for the British Army during the Revolution-some believe that the British would have given the Native Americans back their country had they won! Native Americans were enslaved as well on Spanish plantations during the sixteenth century. Drawings of Native Americans from early visitors to Jamestown show the primal, savage, subhuman view of Native Americans that most Europeans had at the time, i.e. they were often depicted squatting like apes, wearing little to no clothing, dancing around fires, etc. As a matter of fact, the Native Americans before European contact had a great civilization, and also built great cities on par with London, Paris, and Dublin! But the thing is-they were DIFFERENT. We Europeans didn't understand them-and they really didn't understand us.     
Of course, it was believed that a woman's place was the home. Women were expected to be subservient to men, and for the most part of it it was also believed that women did possess limited intellectual capabilities. There were women, such as Anne Hutchinson, who dared to go against the grain-and were hauled in front of men and banished for it. During the 1800's however, as the issue of slavery became debatable, many women began to challenge their places as well-and show that they were just as capable as men.

The incarcerated. Where do I go here? There is a huge stigma that follows those that have committed a crime-even a minor crime. Just as when the slaves were freed, they truly had no place to go-it's pretty much the same way today for prisoners upon release. Those who have served time are looked down upon everywhere they go. Also, a very real issue is the incarceration of the mentally ill. Way too many mentally ill individuals are locked up in prisons today, simply due to the doing away of the mental health facilities. Not only that, many perfectly sane individuals have entered the prison system-only to literally "lose their minds" after being incarcerated for a time. This is particularly common in maximum-security, or "supermax" prisons. Prisoners have been observed self-harming, including even cutting off body parts, smearing human waste on the walls of cells, and screaming and banging their heads against the walls for hours on end. And they don't get the help that they need. All simply because of the stigma. The well being of the incarcerated-and the mentally ill is not high on the lists of most.

We have also had a "mold" that people should fit into, and if someone does not fit into that perfect mold, they are considered subhuman, and their welfare is not cared for. This is the way that it pretty much has always been, but as has been posted before, there have always been people who have dared to stand up, fight back, and go against societal expectations!