The Revolution of Race

            The revolution that I focused on was the one that happened in Brazil. Race was not a huge contributing factor in the people’s actions in the revolution. It was mostly social status that caused the revolution. It all started with the elites in 1789 revolting because of the reinstatement of imperial control and of new taxes. This did not end well and many people were killed or sent to jail. The only non-aristocrat that was in the revolution was Jose da Silva Xavier who was blamed for all the actions of the elites. He was hanged in 1793. In 1807 and 1808 Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal. He imprisoned the Spanish king, Ferdinand VII, which then caused many wars for independence among the Spaniards. The Brazilian king avoided this same thing by leaving before the French troops invaded. The royal family of Portugal moved themselves and 10,000 other followers to Brazil. This was the only time that a European monarch ruled form one of their colonies. King John VI stayed in Brazil for 13 years and made Brazil equal to the level of Portugal. Brazilian and Portuguese elites were brought together and this was the beginning of the transition for independence.

            Napoleon was defeated in 1815 and made it able for the monarchy to return to Portugal. They remained in Brazil though. In 1820 there was a revolution lead by the Portuguese army. They demanded that John VI return to Portugal and would be a constitutional monarch of the empire. John VI returned in 1821 and his son Pedro remained in Brazil and ruled there. There was however some race that influenced things in the revolution. Portuguese member of the Cortes did not like the Brazilian representatives who they thought as unsophisticated residents of a backward province. The Portuguese also tried to restore Brazil to colonial status. In 1822 Pedro declared Brazil’s independence. This however was one of the few colonies to make a peaceful transition to independence. Pedro became Brazil’s first emperor as Pedro I. Even though Pedro was a main contributor to Brazil’s independence he lost a lot of support. He lived in Brazil since he was ten but he was still Portuguese. It is evident here that even though he lives in Brazil there is still Portuguese in him so he is scrutinized for that. People were skeptical of him since he was native to Portugal. People got even more skeptical and angry with him when he surrounded himself with Portuguese born cabinet ministers. A war occurred over the border of Brazil. The war was extremely unpopular with Brazilians. Because of all the struggles and the hatred toward him, Pedro left his thrown in 1831 and returned to Portugal. Race was not a huge contributor in the revolution but it did affect some outcomes. If people were not so upset of where you were born then Pedro would not have had to step down.

            I chose the article Protesters United Against Ferguson Decision, but Challenged in Unity by John Eligon. I chose this article because the problem in Ferguson has been happening for a while and is a major issue in America at this time. What happened was an 18 year old, Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri. This caused a huge uproar among the African American residents throughout the whole United States. There was little evidence behind what happened and there were lots of different stories told by people. Darren Wilson’s case for murdering Michael Brown was not brought in front of court so he was not charged. This caused protests that soon changed to violent riots. People were burning down stores, cars and looting businesses. As said in the article “If we can’t stand up to the punks and the hoodlums who are giving the protest a bad name, you’re not ready to stand up to the police,” said Ms. Bynes, 35. “You throw a rock and hide behind a peaceful crowd, you’re a coward.”  This story in Fergusson proves that race continues to affect national identity in the United States. Nothing is going to change when there are violent riots. That is making the problem worse and causing the image of the protestors to be worse as well. The article talks a lot about how the riots are not really helping anything. It also talks about new groups that have been formed to fight for Michael Brown. A group called Tribe X marched in a mall and soon all the stores were closed. The leader of this group Alisha Sonnier says, “If you want to really affect people, especially those who are in power, you got to hit their pocket. We as a people cannot allow people to keep making money and a business to go on, and we can’t even get justice when our people die.” I feel that the riots and violence will not stop. When people are angry about something and they don’t know what to do they resort to violence. Some like Ms. Bynes and Alisha Sonnier are the smart ones that take the safe intelligent route. But there will always be the ones who are violent and think they’re doing the right thing but are really making it worse.  

Eligon, John. "Protesters United Against Ferguson Decision, but Challenged in Unity." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/29/us/protesters-united-against-ferguson-decision-but-challenged-in-building-movement.html?ref=us&_r=0>.