Dhimmi laws and Jim Crow
Its no wonder why Democrats side with Muslims, they both so much in common:
http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/ess...noritylaws.htm
Quote:
Nations, governments and specific people groups over the last two thousand years have instituted various minority laws to control, subjugate, eliminate, or humiliate the targeted people. These laws treat a group of people unequally based on a difference. This essay talks about two notorious groups of minority laws, the Dhimmi and Jim Crow laws. We will observe the differences and similarities of these two different types of laws. A Dhimmi means a “protected person” in Arabic and was someone who had chosen to be a second-class citizen under the protection of the Muslim army living on land within the borders of an/the Islamic nation(s). The Jim Crow laws were laws used right after the Civil War of the United States to limit the freedoms of the newly freed African-American citizens. Though, during different time periods and for different reasons and purposes, the comparison of these laws also shows remarkable similarities.
The Jizyah tax and other minority laws directed at Christians and Jews subjugated them as second-class citizens with special obligations and limitations to their actions. The first such laws appeared when Mohammed conquered the Jewish fortress of Khaybar around 628 A.D. Mohammed offered the captives three options, similar to the ones other Jews and Christians were offered in the decades to come: convert to Islam, become a Dhimmi, or die. The tribe refused to convert to Islam and so chose to become a Dhimmi. Dhimmis had to agree to (some of if not all of) the following rules: not to intermarry with Muslims, not to hold any public office, not to entice or convince a Muslim into another faith, not to ride the “noble beasts” (camels and horses), not to have their churches higher than the Mosques (Muslim worship building). They were not to carry weapons, had to wear different clothing than the Muslims, build their homes with low doors, and they were to give free labor for the Muslim community upon request. Also, in certain places, they were not allowed to build or rebuild churches, not meet publicly, hold parades or mourning ceremonies publicly or wear/carry crosses. Also many small detail were added to show submission (i.e. such as lowering their eyes in the presence of a Muslim). Though most of the time not all of these rules were applied or enforced, they clearly set apart the Dhimmi as a lower class of people. As many probably noticed earlier, I spoke of most as “choosing” the Dhimmi status, you must understand they chose it as the better choice than losing their life or converting to Islam, not very favorable options.
Though these laws might seem very harsh, many chose to remain silent instead of object because, at first, only the Christians and Jews had the privilege of becoming a Dhimmi. All the other “foes” of Islam that were not “People of the Book” did not have this option and either converted or died. This status of Dhimmi also had some benefits, such as not having to participate in the Jihad Wars, limited protection and not having to pay the Alms tax, which other Muslims paid. This status encouraged the minority to become Christians and to live as Dhimmi people, inferior compared to the Muslims. These laws usually prevented religious “mixing” or “mingling” so that there would be an obvious “elite” religion and people group. Since the Muslims had Jihad Wars against all infidels (unbelievers), this status of Dhimmi somewhat protected the Dhimmi minorities against raiding or invading Muslim armies. In the culture and time period, there was so much killing over power and so many harsh laws everywhere to control the people, that these laws might have seemed similar to other minority laws and seemed normal.
If we leap ahead in time to somewhere around 1875 A.D., we start getting a glimpse of the history behind the Jim Crow laws. The history of the nickname Jim Crow is irrelevant for this essay and usually meant a synonym of Negro. The setting is shortly after the Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamation. According to this proclamation, all slaves are [were] freed, something that destroyed the economy of the South and left questions on how to “control” these ex-slaves. During the Reconstruction of the South, many states desperately tried to stop the African-Americans from voting or rising in status through discriminatory Black Codes. These were like the state laws about slaves before the Civil War, except a couple of improvements were added and it replaced the word “slave” with the word “black”. Because the Union Army still controlled the affairs of the Southern States, these failed to take action. But once the Union Army left, the upper-class White southerners still tried to control the blacks, using intimidation to keep them from voting and later through (more acceptable) Jim Crow laws. Later, after a Supreme Court decision to uphold “separate but equal” clauses in the famous Plessy vs. Ferguson case, many states passed Jim Crow laws forbidding blacks use the same public transport vehicles or sit separately. After a while many more such laws were passed to segregate the blacks from the whites. This happened throughout USA, not just in the Southern States. These type of laws started changing to include not only prohibiting blacks and whites from using same facilities but also to affect almost every aspect of life. There were different restrooms, waiting rooms, and hotels. Most importantly, the schools were strictly segregated, frequently leaving the black schools with much less funds, experienced teachers and resources than a neighboring “white” school. This picture (?below?) shows a segregated water fountain and a classic example of the different treatment the different races got.
Later, laws developed to undermine the voting rights of blacks also. These are the most known Jim Crow laws. Things such as the grandfather clause (laws that restricted the right to vote to people whose ancestors had voted before the Civil War), literacy tests, poll tax and white primary all were designed to keep blacks or the poorer class in general from voting. These laws are both similar yet unique compared to the Dhimmi laws. The prejudice was not based on religion but race, yet the general ideas of not mixing (or intermarrying) and of maintaining the dominance of one group over another still remain the predominant concerns. Just like with Dhimmi laws, the Jim Crow laws prevented the oppressed group from taking office positions (in this case by preventing them from voting their own representatives into office). The Jim Crow laws generally came from an existing prejudice by the general ruling population of the South, while the Dhimmi laws seemed in general to be prescribed by the leaders but not necessarily enforced by the people and local leaders over all. There is another significant difference also. Whereas the Christians and Jews generally constituted a small percentage of the population of the Arabic nation(s), the African Americans in some areas comprised not the minority, but only the oppressed group. The Dhimmi laws were very straightforward and the expected national policy, but many of the Jim Crow laws had to be passed in a way to get around already established anti-discrimination laws of the Nation. For example, to prohibit blacks from voting, they had to make the literacy tests apply to whites as well, but conveniently make a loophole for white poor farmers (illiterate), conditioning that as long as they could read a portion of the Constitution to the satisfaction of an overseer, they could vote. The Supreme Court had to also sidestep (but in essence, contradict) a couple amendments such as the Civil Rights Act of 1875, in order to allow states to continue segregation.
In conclusion, Jim Crow laws were a backlash to the laws granting equality to a freed minority group and lasted for only a century as the culture slowly changed to accept them as equals rather than inferiors. Dhimmi laws however, were part of the religion and laws governing Muslim lands and still exist today in some Muslim lands.
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(hint: Democrats were the southern slave owners. Democrats created the Jim Crow Laws.)
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08-03-2006, 08:35 AM
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