In every society, regardless of geographical location, there are social classes created due to financial, racial, age-related, gender affiliated and politically motivated reasons. This picture, may portray abuse of a black person by a white person in mid 1920s, but it has much more complex deep rooted issues tied to it. After industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century, the words like social class, rank, or similar phrases became indicators of hierarchy in a society and took place mainly in Western Europe. Those who had money or political power felt they had a higher status in the society compare those who had less money or political power. Those who had more knowledge, felt they deserve an additional respect compared to those who worked as manual labor and or lived in areas which did not facilitate educational advancement for people.
Social Class has been part of the thread of the society for a long time. When a prince/princess traveled to part of their territory, land conquered by bloodshed and violence, she/he felt they were above all those people in that area, gave orders, had unreasonable requests, or demanded things that only put people of that area in further suffering. This picture may portray suffering of a black person, but it also portrays how normal it looked for a white person to ride a human being and utilize as a vehicle. In 1920s vehicles were a luxury, and where ever this picture is take, it also portrays demand by a group of people to be carried away because they felt they deserve so. Social class allowed for this individual to feel higher, more powerful, and socially capable to dismiss so many other humanly principles and ride another human being and use as a labor vehicle to move around on.
Anywhere we have witnessed excessive power, we have also witnessed neglect for human value. Creation of social classes may be unavoidable, but allowing for social class difference to undermine other human values is a crime of its own. Discrimination that is gender related, between men and women; discrimination that is racially created, between a black person, white, olive, or any other skin color; discrimination between poor and wealthy, discrimination between people of one faith as oppose to another, discrimination between one political party compare to another political party and its followers, all create an opportunity for those who have not learned how to control their desires to put others down to feel higher or treat others with less respect than they deserve to misuse the class and rank difference.
At Freemuslim we believe, it is our good and bad deeds that make us difference, it is how far we travel to reach those who are different than us, it is how much we try to put aside the differences that matters, not some social class or rank that has no true and tangible meaning.
