Based Off Suspicion

Living in America in 2018 often feels like living within the walls of a news station. It seems like every day there’s another narrow minded shooter, another questionable twitter blast from our President, or another sexual misconduct accusation. Flashback to the 1600s to the age where Puritans ruled, things were undoubtedly different. There was no social media or apps that could immediately notify us of another headliner, but does that mean the same atrocities weren’t occuring? Throughout history minorities have always been oppressed, that was just a societal norm at the time. Granting all this, about 300 years later the same oppression is still occurring even after various strides and attempts for racial equality. Since the Puritans were the first American society, the Puritans set the ideals of morals in America. American society has become less moral since Puritan times because civilians are still being penalized for the attached stigma that is perceived to be true about their race.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, took place in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1642. The Puritans made it very apparent that they strongly disapproved of the Native Americans. Chillingworth, the legal husband of Hester Prynne, the protagonist in the novel, even refers to them as “savages”. The reasoning for this ostracism has been discussed in every American history class. The Native Americans were not white and were not Christian, and therefore, in the minds of white Puritans they were inferior. In reference to her mother, Hester, Pearl states, “You are the most sinful woman in the whole world, not counting those heathen Indians” (Hawthorne 68). In Puritan Society, Hester’s sin was one that would go unforgotten, and there was a widespread belief that she should pay for the sin she commited. Pearl alludes to the Indians as if they were born corrupt, and were inherent sinners, but all they did was defy the ideals of Puritan society for the sake of their own individuality and culture. Unlike Hester, who was the one to blame for the sins she commited. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is another book based off the principles of the Puritan Religion. Although, it was inspired by the Red Scare, which speaks to the continued lack of morals in American society as the Red Scare occurred during the 1950’s.  The novel takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during the notorious Salem Witch Trials. The novel describes the many women accused of witchcraft, but one of the first accusations made was of a black slave, Tituba. Tituba was an easy target. As a slave she was already looked down upon in society. Despite any actions she could have taken no one would have listened, Tituba was a black woman. In the scene where Tituba was being accused by Abigail, who was a white Puritan woman, she begs for the reverend to believe her that Abigail is the one in the wrong. Tituba cries, “You beg me to conjure! You beg me to make charm-” (Miller 44). Tituba desperately tries to convey to the reverend that Abigail is the one who is lying, but because of her race, she is allocated with blame. This speaks to the lack of morals in Puritan society because the reverend immediately rules the possibility of Tituba’s truth because she is black.

Throughout the past hundreds of years, America has made great strides for justice and equality of racial minorities, but even with all these movements, racial injustices still occur everyday. Trayvon Martin was an unarmed black teenager who was killed due to a white man’s “suspicion”. The New York Times describes the violent acts George Zimmerman inflicted upon Trayvon Martin when he, “…knocked him to the ground, punched him and slammed his head repeatedly against the sidewalk…. The jury agreed that Mr. Zimmerman had been justified in shooting Mr. Martin because he feared great bodily harm or death” (Alvarez). Throughout the case it was made very clear by the defense that Trayvon Martin was not a threat. The supposed gun was actually just a bottle of Arizona Iced Tea. Mr. Zimmerman saw the color of Trayvon Martin’s skin and immediately became suspicious, largely due to the stigma around African American men in society. On behalf of America’s lack of morals surrounding racial stigmas, a teenager was brutally murdered based off of a suspicion.

Tragically, murders of racial minorities are not a rare occurrence in American history.  A CNN article about Trayvon Martin’s Case states “Trayvon Martin will forever remain in the annals of history next to Medgar Evers and Emmett Till” (Simon). Medgar Evers and Emmett Till were two falsely accused black teenagers who lost their lives based off of a suspicion. Medgar Evers and Emmett Till both were lynched in the 1950’s during the Civil Rights Movement. Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012, over 50 years later. American society has showed little progression in the likes of morality considering the same injustices of racial minorities are still taking place.

When taking a look at the history of America, racial injustices have always been a prominent role in conflict. But throughout all the strides and movements Americans have made, these injustices still take place everyday. American society is less moral today than in Puritan times because we’ve come to agreements, we’ve had empowering civil rights movements and racial justice figures who will forever be engraved in the lines of history textbooks, but the oppression of minorities are still occurring. America has witnessed all of these tragedies. Americans have celebrated racial equality in our educational system, and the termination of Jim Crow laws. Despite all this, America is still less moral because we still choose to act immorally. Trayvon Martin, a young black teenager from Florida and Tituba, an enslaved black woman from the Barbados are no different from each other. With hundreds of years in between them there race still determined there fate. They were both accused based off of suspicion by a caucasian, and both of their lives resulted in death. A suspicion based off of skin color shows no morality today or in the 1600’s. Although if in 2018 after our country has evolved, slavery has been abolished and movements have been made and these brutal acts are still occuring, American society proves for itself that it has become less moral.

Works Cited

Alvarez, Lizette, and Cara Buckley. “Zimmerman Is Acquitted in Trayvon Martin Killing.”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 July 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/us/george-zimmerman-verdict-trayvon-martin.html.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Harper, 1950.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Penguin Books, 2016.

Simon, Darran. “Five Years after Trayvon Martin’s Death, a Movement Lives On.” CNN, Cable

News Network, 27 Feb. 2017,

www.cnn.com/2017/02/26/us/trayvon-martin-death-anniversary/index.html.