A Brief History
On May 13, 1998, Jakarta (or Djakarta) Indonesia experienced race riots directed against the ethnic Chinese minority. These Indonesians of Chinese descent owned many of the shops and stores, creating jealousy and ill will, resulting in looting and rape. Many countries have minorities that are discriminated against, either officially by law or by common practice. Here in the US we are most familiar with discrimination against African-Americans, but here and around the world there is much more than that. Here are 10 examples of minority groups struggling against such oppression. What groups would you add to this list? (We know, Latin Americans in the US, but that is soon going to be a moot point when the Latin population becomes the largest ethnic group in the US within a few decades.)
Digging Deeper
10. Albinos, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Albinos among the Negroid populations of Africa are commonly perceived as objects of fear and loathing. Witchcraft performed as part of native religions often results in the murder of human albinos, and to a large extent people afflicted with the disorder are shunned. Suffering from vision problems and sensitivity to the sun, albinos have it hard enough without the extreme discrimination from their fellow humans.
9. Indians and Pakistanis, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Enterprising people from the Indian sub-continent have emigrated to Africa and worked hard to open businesses, becoming a shopkeeper class in many areas. Local native Africans frequently have resented the success of these immigrants and have sometimes reacted violently toward them, venting their envy and resentment. This backlash against newcomers perceived as making money off the poorer natives is manifested around the world, such as against the Arab, Korean and Indian store owners in American ghettos and the Chinese merchants described in the introductory paragraph.
8. Muslims, China.
Muslim populations in China occasionally make it to the international news when the Chinese government harshly cracks down on them for protesting or advocating change. With 1 to 2% of the Chinese population being Muslim (perhaps 20 to 40 million people) 10 of the 55 Chinese minorities are Islamic. Most of the Chinese Muslim population is well integrated with the rest of the country, but it is the Uyghur people of the far western part of the country that have earned the enmity of the government by advocating for their own separate country (Uyghurstan?) This population of around 8 and a half million people feels oppressed and yearns for independence.
7. Catholics, US and others.
It is hard to believe that the largest single religious denomination in the United States can be an oppressed minority, but of course when you add up all the Protestant denominations (and others) Catholics are greatly outnumbered. Catholics have been targeted by the Ku Klux Klan and in states like West Virginia and Indiana have been attacked and harassed. Only with great controversy was John F. Kennedy elected the first (and only) Catholic president of the US, and only after he made a famous speech announcing his independence politically from the Vatican. Just as Jews and African-Americans, Catholics have been historically excluded from some exclusive clubs and organizations, although in the past few decades laws against religious discrimination and an easing of public bias has somewhat relieved the situation. The fact that many US Catholics were of Irish, Italian, Spanish and Polish descent became part of the prejudice against those groups. There is still tremendous unspoken scorn, fear and disdain for the Roman Catholic church and other countries predominantly Protestant, Communist, Muslim or Buddhist discriminate against either all Christians or Catholics specifically.
6. Handicapped/Crippled/Disabled People, All over.
Luckily, in the US with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) the circumstances for these people are changing, and other progressive countries are doing similar things, so this group may rank much farther down the list in the future. Still, anywhere there are stairs and no elevators or ramps, narrow doorways, high door sills, bathrooms not adapted for handicapped use, street curbs and other monumental obstacles for the mobility of people suffering from limitations there is tremendous disadvantage for them. Although most people do not say so, handicapped and disabled people rarely get a job they are qualified for and can ably accomplish because of perceptions that they are less capable or will be a “problem” somewhere down the road in the workplace. Even physical appearance outside the norm (such as burn victims, cancer victims, and other disfigured people) results in discrimination in many aspects of how these people are treated by others. The mobility part of this problem is changing, but the rest is changing ever so slowly if at all.
5. Kurds, Turkey and Iraq.
Kurdish people understandably wonder how many other ethnic groups have gotten their own country in recent years and they get ignored. In Turkey and Iraq the Kurds are treated like captive people and insurrections are put down harshly. Left wondering what hit them when George H. W. Bush encouraged them to revolt from Iraq in 1991 and the US failed to supply the expected assistance, the Kurds were once again beaten back into submission. Apparently pressure from Turkey, a US Nato ally, keeps the US from orchestrating a Kurdish state on the Iraq-Turkey border.
4. Native Americans, US and Canada.
Laws are one thing, but practices are another. Native American populations were given “reservations” to exist on land a fraction of the size of their original territory, usually with a minimum of resources (as apparent at the time of drawing the borders) and poorly suited for farming and animal harvesting. Ill will toward the scorned and defeated native people of North America remains to this day, as witnessed by the insensitivity to the persistent clinging to racist sports names like the Cleveland Indians (with their Chief Wahoo), Washington Redskins, and Atlanta Braves.
3. Jewish People, Muslim Countries.
With all the news about the Arab-Israeli conflict and the hate mongering speech against Israel and Jews by officials from Iran and other countries, you may not realize that Jews live in many of those countries. Many Jews lived in Iran until the 1979 Islamic revolution convinced most of them to get while the getting was good. In Islamic countries, Jews are usually officially second class citizens and denied certain rights, such as voting. Of course, historically Jews have been discriminated against pretty severely at times, such as in Spain with the Inquisition and in Germany during the Holocaust. Russia and the Ukraine have historically conducted pogroms against Jews, and other supposedly liberal countries have had many cases of discrimination as well (such as the KKK in the US).
2. Palestinians, Israel and other Countries.
Like the Jews in Muslim countries, Palestinians in Israel do not have 100% of the rights and privileges of Jewish citizens. Israelis seem to think Palestinians have a homeland, and that it should be Jordan, but Jordanians think differently. Most other Arab countries do not welcome Palestinians and allow them to work low class jobs in service industries.
1. Women and Girls, Muslim Countries (and others).
The largest group of people listed here, female humans are not even a real minority as they outnumber men around the world. Still, in Muslim countries more than others they are discriminated against by law and by public sentiment. Not allowed to drive cars, initiate a divorce, make contracts, go to certain places, and forced to obey dress codes in some countries, women are second class citizens in much of the Muslim World. In China with a law limiting families to one child, female babies are sometimes killed, and in modern countries female fetuses are often aborted. A common practice in countries ruled by Islamic laws is “female circumcision” or the removal of the clitoris of young girls, so that as women they are denied even pleasure from sexual activity. In Pakistan sentiment is so strong against girls being taught to read that a teen aged female activist was the victim of an attempted assassination. Even in the United States where women are by law “equal” there is controversy today over the statistic that women employees earn only 77% as much as a man doing the same work, and getting a law passed mandating equal pay for equal work seems impossible.
Question for students (and subscribers): Which groups have been most oppressed in history and why? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Berzoff, Joan. Falling Through the Cracks: Psychodynamic Practice with Vulnerable and Oppressed Populations. Columbia University Press, 2011.
Potocky, Miriam and Antoinette Y. Rodgers-Farmer, eds. Social Work Research with Minority and Oppressed Populations: Methodological Issues and Innovations. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Riddell, John. Workers of the World and Oppressed Peoples,Unite! Proceedings and Documents of the Second Congress of the Communist International, 1920 (Volume 1). Pathfinder Press, 1999.
The featured image in this list, a photograph of shops looted and goods burned on the streets in Jakarta, 14 May 1998, by the Office of the Vice President of The Republic of Indonesia, is in the public domain in Indonesia, because it is published and distributed by the Government of Republic of Indonesia, according to Article 14 item b of the Indonesia Copyright Law No 19, 2002.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2175 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2175">44 Comments
Yo bro just letting you know that the fact about the women thing islam getting their stuff cut is not true, that’s a cultural thing, not a religious thing!
The culture developed around Islam
Yeah or Islam has developed around the culture. It all depend on how you look at it, for a lot existed long before Islam came to be, and wars and oppression has existed just fine in place where Islam is not. So culture, religion, nationalism, materialism and political ideologies often influence each other greatly.
So it is probably not completely true to say that culture develop around Islam, nor that religion is not apart of culture. It is all connected and started long before Islam came. If we talk broadly all of them share in part in the blame, but if you want to get specific then you have to go much deeper into human nature.
Religions and cultures shape each other, quite true.
England has ill-treated Scots for 800 years, says Archbishop: Justin Welby risks inflaming independence debate with comment
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Hello! Based on your name, do you any have turtles as pets? If so, what kind? My awesome girlfriend has three turtles! 🙂 In any event, we have an article on this site about a psychic turtle you may enjoy at https://www.historyandheadlines.com/july-13-2014-psychic-turtle-predicts-outcome-2014-world-cup/ as well as an article about Scottish independence at https://www.historyandheadlines.com/september-18-2014-new-king-scotland/ that you may also enjoy! Thanks for reading and commenting! Sincerely, Dr. Zarzeczny
Dr. Zarzeczny,
No turtles here,had a red-eared slider as a kid, in a little plastic enclosure w/plastic palm tree! LOL I have had a lifelong connection to turtles,from a poem a classmate wrote about me in 3rd grade to many hours lazing on a huge turtle hang-out rock on the Eel river.I’ve decided if I have any say about it I’ll be a turtle in my next lifetime!
I wanted to thank you for your article on oppression,after reading a wonderful blog on the Southern poverty law center http://www.tolerance.org/blog/guideposts-equity I decided to do some research on the history. I have 3 strong passions in my calling to become an activist and advocate. I’ve been looking for my niche in the most recent, providing a healthy work environment for all, as a civil right.Although I have no formal education I want to become an asset for this cause. (I’ve found it difficult)
Recently I was designing the background for my custom personal checks to reflect my passions. I had decided to use the bullet points of the blog attached as one of check background. I hope you continue to contribute your interesting articles for folks to enjoy and learn from!
Namaste to you and your wonderful turtle loving girlfriend!
Rhonda Murphy
Dear Rhonda Murphy,
Thank you for your nice response! It is a real pleasure to have such respectful and thoughtful readers!
All the best!
Matthew
Oh and thank you for reading my contribution about Scotland, I’ve wanted to open minds to the oppression that is current and not continuing to focus on past local events! It’s a part of world history, some of the events have horrified me, the plight of African women suffering from fistulas and the hope Ann Gloag provides.To the eye opening view of world wide injustices (After watching Rabbit Proof Fence) I realized instead of focusing on past injustices that can’t be reversed in our country, we need to focus on making things better!To insure things like this don’t happen again! And of course attempt to share a love for all my fellow human being! <3
You mention Kurds but not Armenians, when Turks and Kurds have been killing Armenian and other Christian civilians together for centuries? Learn some history. They only turned on each other like hyenas and jackals after all the Christians were killed.
You mention Kurds but not Armenians, when Turks and Kurds have been killing Armenians and other Christian civilians together for centuries? Learn some history. They only turned on each other like hyenas and jackals after all the Christians were killed.
Killing? For centuries? You go learn some history, ignorant?
Such a load of crap. The so-called “Palestinians” are oppressed by their own leaders, not those who are shooting *back*.
Glad to learn blacks were never oppressed.
Does the Transatlantic Slave Trade ring a bell? How about that crime against humanity known as the America’s “peculiar institution”? Jim Crow? Black Codes? Lynching? Segregation? Racism? The Klan? Police Brutality? Does any of this sound familiar? Probably not.
Glad someone else isn’t blind to the obvious overlooking here in this article.
Transatlantic slave trading is no longer in effect.
Also over 95% of the African slaves went to South America, not the US.
Jim Crow laws are no longer in effect.
Black Codes are no longer in effect.
Lynchings no longer happen at the same rate, and only 3446 blacks were lynched by the KKK in 86 years.
Segregation is no longer in effect.
Racism is everywhere.
Klan is disbanded. Look up “Black Hebrew Israelites” if you want to see a current hate group.
Police brutality is illegal, it may still happen, but the citizens have the right to sue. Can you say that for another country?
There’s a big open world out there, most countries treat minorities far far worse than the US. Keep up with the times, as well. The one’s posted here are current, not 100 years old…
This is the mind of racism White Supremacy: diseased, delusional and full of lies. Too wicked to reason with and too stupid to argue with. I don’t have time to go back and forth with you so I’ll just do it like this. All kingdoms fail and the white man’s kingdom will fail too. Look around and you’ll see that it’s falling even as we speak. Then all of the people you murdered on on your way up the ladder will see you on your way down. Then you’ll remember all of the things you seem to have so much difficulty recalling now. Oh happy day!
Author’s reply: This list is not all inclusive and is not meant to be. Obviously there are many oppressed minorities throughout the world. In choosing to list only 10, there necessarily are many that are not mentioned. It does not mean we are unaware of those people that have been or are being wrongly treated.
No reasonable person expects you to list all of them; just the most grievous. In that regard you failed – miserably. That’s all I’m saying.
The list is not meant to be and is not labeled “The Most Oppressed.” We picked groups we think people would find interesting and stimulating of conversation. It’s not a contest. Obviously many other groups are valid entries to such a list. Feel free to add those groups you think are more deserving of mention. Thanks.
I forgot. This is America, a place built and waxen rich on the backs of a people whose pain and suffering NOBODY “finds interesting”. Case in point? This blog.
Does not even mention the complete cleansing of Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities from Pakistan. Once a region of all faiths, Pakistan today has less than 2% religious minorities. Blasphemy laws, forcible conversions and abductions of women, are the norm. In 1971 the Pakistan Army carried out a genocide in East Pakistan aimed at killing or driving out all Hindus.
This is a bit stupid. For one, the gender pay gap doesn’t account of different work habits, such as leaving when they have a baby, taking maternity leave, working fewer hours on average. There is very little biased due to gender in the US. In fact, one study even found that, if two identical resumes went out, except one was a man one was a woman, the woman was more likely to be hired.
And how is the name Braves for a football team racist? Calling another people brave is racist now?
The name, Braves, does not sound racist to the author, but Native Americans object to it and the “Tomahawk Chop” chant Atlanta fans do. The only real judge of what is offensive is the person offended. Female workers call in sick more often, have more incidents of “light duty” and generally can do less physically than men. Additionally, employers hate to invest time and money training someone just for them to leave because they got married or had a child. These factors, and others, are often ignored by militant feminists. On the other hand, many women do not call in sick, do not have children, are quite strong, and stay on a job for a career. These women are tired of being paid less than a man doing the same work. Obviously, many men are physically wimpy, sickly, lazy, or generally poor workers. Perhaps the solution is to treat people as individuals instead of as part of a group.
If you look at career women’s wages compared to men’s they are nearly equal. Nowhere near this 77% or 78% bs. They also tend to choose degrees that normally make less money than others. Technical degrees, such as engineering and computer sciences, tend to make more typically than social work and education, and tend to be fields that many women just aren’t interested in. Not that this isn’t a problem with the society (how girls are raised compared to boys), but it definitely shows there is not as much bias towards women as we are being led to believe.
Feminists insist on equality, yet they are more biased against men than the average man is against women. You should hear how many feminists plan on voting for Hillary Clinton based purely on Clinton’s gender.
These are valid arguments, and represent a worthy part of the discussion.
Weird list. It is presented as a list of people facing discrimination at present, and uses this as an explanation as to why Blacks (whether in the US or other countries) and Latin-Americans aren’t included.
But why then are, for example, Catholics (even US Catholics!) included? The explanation given is that Catholics used to be attacked by the KKK and excluded from country clubs. Ok, but I thought this was about the present? If you’re going to include Catholics because of past discrimination you should include blacks also.
But the author fails to realize that blacks face discrimination – severe discrimination, including genocide – in places like North Africa (ever hear of Darfur?).
It’s a ridiculous list.
That’s the best explanation I’ve seen. Good point.
I was certainly surprised to not see blacks in the US (and possibly others) on the list, but not so much for Latin-Americans. Obviously they can face discrimination, but I just don’t think the discrimination to them on a history-scale is enough to classify as “oppressed”.
Would have been more interesting if he had expanded on the line, “There is still tremendous unspoken scorn, fear and disdain for the Roman Catholic church” by exploring how it came to be that, today, the people most likely to have “scorn, fear and disdain” for the Roman Catholic Church are people who were raised Catholic, at least in the US. This is a genuine observation, not a dig.
Good point, and you could add other religions to that list too such as Jehova’s witnesses and Mormons. You can add white witches too, homosexuals, gypsies and if you include nations who has been conquered by others the list becomes huge, you can even include children and spiritual people in that list, and at some times intellectuals too.
But perhaps the people who has faced the greatest oppression are poor people, and they are probably the least recognized as being oppressed.
The point about poor people is well taken! This is indeed an oppressed minority (or majority in many cases). Along the same lines the working class can also be considered oppressed, but probably not a minority.
I have always found the example of being excluded from exclusive country clubs to be the least troubling of all examples of bigotry.
That’s not to say it’s not wrong. But discrimination against really rich and privileged minorities from joining exclusive country clubs is about as low as it gets on the sympathy scale, especially when you consider that most of the ‘oppressed minorities’ in these cases who are denied entry to some exclusive WASP country club are typically white Jews or Catholics who would probably have no problem with the club’s exclusivity if it only excluded blacks.
In any case, in 2016, this has become something of an urban legend. Perhaps as late as the 1960s there were still exclusively WASP country clubs, but is there any compelling evidence that this sort of discrimination still persists today? I seriously doubt it.
But even if it did – while deplorable – it’s pretty low on the list of examples of discrimination to address. The country club class? Puhleeze.
Palestinians in Israel do get discriminated against but nonetheless have full rights
This is not the best researched or written
We do not take exception to anything you say about Palestine etc, but regardless of borders and everything else, the fact remains that Palestinians get discriminated against in many places. As to which Israelis made the comment about Jordan being the place for Palestinians, when I was in Israel I was told that repeatedly. Not a scientific sample, just my personal experience. Perhaps it is more accurate to say “Some Israelis.” I admit that. The Arab population of Israel was around 50% in 1985 and is now only 20%. Certainly these Arabs were not treated as poorly as Jews in Muslim countries, but in fact they do not have full rights. In a perfect world each ethnicity, religion, nationality, etc., would have its own homeland, but that pretty much cannot happen and minorities will be at least somewhat oppressed, officially or through less overt means. It’s human nature, alas.
Correction: In 1985 Israel’s total population was 4,266,200, of which 3,517,200 were Jewish and 749,000 were Arab of various backgrounds (Muslim, Christian, Bedouin, Druze). So, that means 82.5% of Israel’s population then was Jewish. (Source: Israel
in the Middle East: Documents and Readings
on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations,
Pre-1948 to the Present, Ed. by Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz, Brandeis University Press, Waltham, Mass., 2008. (pp.571-572))
Today Israel’s total population is 8,522,000: the Jewish population makes up 6,377,000 (74.8%); 1,771,000 (20.8%) are
Arabs; and, those identified as “others” (non-Arab Christians, Baha’i,
etc) make up 4.4% of the population (374,000 people). (Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem, Israel http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/hodaot2016n/11_16_134e.pdf
I am not certain if you are distinguishing between Palestinians residing in the West Bank and Gaza and are citizens of the Palestinian Authority and Israeli Arabs who are full citizens of the State of Israel. You seem to be conflating the two populations. Israeli Arabs do face discrimination, but this has diminished over the years, and they are full citizens. This includes the third largest party in the Knesset (Parliament) is the Joint List, an Arab party; Arabs sitting on all levels of the judiciary including the Supreme Court, Arabs at all levels of the military, including generals and Arabs at all levels of faculty and administration at Israel’s instiutions of of higher education. I could go on.
Make no mistake, I would much rather be an Arab Muslim in Israel than an Arab Jew in any Arab country!
Ironically, there are virtually no Jews left in the Arab world, ethnically cleansed by the Arab governments, most now live in Israel and make up the majority of the Jewish population.
It sickens us that the Jewish populations in Arab/Muslim countries (to include Iran et al) has been treated so poorly after centuries of being good patriotic citizens of those countries. Ethnic, religious, and racial hatred is incredibly stupid in the modern world, and yet it seems as if it is having a resurgence.
“6. Handicapped/Crippled/Disabled People, All over.” Who’s said “crippled” in the last 50 years?! FYI “handicapped” is pretty passé too. These days, at least for people interested in fighting stigmas against marginalized groups, it’s preferred to use person-first language, as in “people with disabilities” instead of “disabled people.” People tend to find it more humanizing when they’re recognized as a human being first instead of being labeled primarily by an immutable trait that’s source of discrimination they’ve experienced. (The exception is some autistic people have embraced the label as a way to reappropriate it.) In any case, when in doubt, it’s always good to ask.
Your list is totally false and biased i cant see any sense in what you have wrote, what about Rohinga,? C.A.R.? ,kashmir? ….and so many others? You didn’t figured out the real list
We didn’t figured the “real” list because we chose to list only 10. Obviously, there are many more, and we welcome your comments about what other Oppressed Minorities are out there, and a brief explanation of why they are oppressed. We certainly do not mean to minimize or trivialize any other group’s problems.