Transportation from Past to Present

Jeremiah Bui
5/14/13
Final Essay Prompt
Every wonder how race plays such a huge role in the world of transportation? It’s always a matter of color of the skin or how much money a person has. People take buses to travel from one destination to the next but the question is, why don’t they just walk instead? In this case, race is an important role because of how people react around each other. Transportation to certain areas using buses or car rides is usually for safety because who knows what might happen to them if they travel by foot, many scenarios can be thought of this. What I’m going to write about is how transportation is so conflicted with race from the past to the present, how it was used in the past, and how these two correlate with each other. In the past, transportation was tough. Places where I needed to go and where I need to be. It’s not like today, where cars are everywhere. It was either bus or walking because money was a huge problem on my end. But as time went by new inventions for easy transportation were built. Public transportation was not open to everyone since it was limited, but today, in the present, there are quantities of buses and most people have access to it. I feel that white people used the buses a lot more while Blacks and Asians relied on bicycles and walking and buses on rare occasions. The issue here is that safety and money were a huge problem because others actions were thought negatively due to their poor choices. When I was little, my parents bought my brother and I, two bicycles’ and my older sister used roller-blades. When my household only had one car around at the time, we would rely on walking and running most of the times. Using buses for long distance purposes such as: from a friend’s house or a shopping mall. When my siblings and I go out for groceries, we would rely on walking back and forth instead of the usage of having to use the bus unless we’re really heavy on baggage and we can’t carry it all home. There was a Laundromat across from where I live, so I would carry my basket full of dirty clothes for laundry. Going to school, was something my parents would worry about since it’s always safety first, so my Dad would drive me to school in his car instead, though, there are certain days where he was too busy to pick me up, I would walk home. Transportation was available to everyone but my family chose not to ride the bus because of safety issues and money as well. Blacks were thought of negatively because of their reputation. They were known for robbery, killing and beating up people. That is why my family avoided the buses and took on foot instead, but on foot is also dangerous, so we always travel together with at least another person.
The historical occurrence I will select will be from Nell Painter: Creating Black Americans, in chapter 2, page 27, when Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped. He was kidnapped at the age of eleven and ends up being sold during the slave trade. He was traded around numerous times during the six or seven months on his journey to the Atlantic coast. Equiano was one of 50,000 Africans sent to America for slavery in 1756. But he was not purchased because he was too small to do the heavy work of sugar plantations. Equiano visited several parts of the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds, where he learned to read and write in English, and after saving up money as a peddler, he purchased his freedom in 1766. I selected this historical occurrence is because it’s not every day when you would get kidnapped from your Native homeland and taken elsewhere across the world to do slave work. He was able to ride on a boat with other African Americans pass the unknown seas and later learn English on his own. I understand the role of race in this moment because my parents were once on a boat ride to escape the war but it’s not in the same context as how African Americans were treated. My parents escaped for a better life and were on the boat for countless days until they were on the designated point. Hearings about past relations about boat rides across the Atlantic piqued my interest on how transportation in the past carried this many people. From one of my online sources, Britannica.com, it said: “African Americans, who fought for freedom from tyranny abroad, helping to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany in World War II, for example, returned to the United States and were denied the right to register to vote and some were beaten or killed while attempting to do so. In much of the country, blacks were forbidden to share the same spaces, including schools, public transportation, and recreational facilities as whites. I selected this as one of my sources because it shows significance in how hard the African Americans worked for their freedom and rights, but compared to the present, almost all takes what they have for granted. The right to bully others because they were bullied in the past, to do anything they wish to do because of their recent actions, to talk big and not get penalized for it. Because of these actions, other races think negatively of them. I understand this role of race in this moment because of how rights were fought for and it wasn’t taken for granted. I question myself sometimes why they take their past ancestors work for freedom, liberty and rights to do things for granted. Though, not all are the same because they actually work towards the dream of equality. I knew someone in the past where they were subjected to do slavery work because of his harsh decisions and actions. Of course, he sat through it and went with it for a couple of years but instead of running away, he fought for his freedom. His name was Reginald Brown, a tall African American, at the age of 65. He fought back for his freedom by talking directly to the person on why he should do things such as work for him or other slave related activities. He stood up and went to court to fight for his freedom and rights on how he was treated wrong by another man when the slavery was long gone. Within the book, The Anti-Slavery Picknick, a collection of speeches, poems and songs was intended for use in schools and anti-slavery meetings. “A song called the “Colored Man’s Opinion of Colonization” denounces plans to transport free blacks out of the United States”. Blacks fought for freedom in the past so much to the point where they fought for their freedom for their future ancestries. One of the quotes from the poem said, “This is our home, and this is our country. Beneath its sod lie the bones of our fathers; for it some of them fought, bled and died. Here we were born, and here we will die”. Having that said, I know African American’s fought and opposed of the colonization. Deep down, most of the African Americans today know of this situation but ignores it because they have their own lives to worry about. That much I understand but they don’t have to take the rights and freedoms for granted. I selected this as one of my sources because the poem expresses their desperation to stay with their words and to live within their home without having to deal with more fighting for rights when their fathers fought for it already. I understand this role of race in this moment because not all wants to work under an environment where they have to work towards another dream of freedom when it was already fought for. It’s the same for my parents when they came over to the United States to find a new life and a fresh start. The fight for freedom and rights were the same, to live within for a certain amount of years to gain trust from the United States and to become a citizen. In conclusion, public transportation was available to everyone; it’s just a matter of safety and the usage of money. Race played its role in the world of transportation because of its freedom and rights. Everyone is obligated to ride with others of different colors; it’s just how most would react towards it. Many bus drivers today are obligated to refuse the right of transportation to anyone, and based on how their dressed, how they choose to project themselves. Race and transportation together correlates each other a lot because of what had happened in the past until now.