How do you make gray, is it as simple as adding black to white or white to black? There are many different ways to make gray, for example, there is a warm gray and a cool gray. Wait, isn’t all gray, gray? How do you identify the various shades gray when you are using the same colors? I give this analogy of the difficulties it is to create gray the same way, editors Kamari Maxine Clarke and Deborah A. Thomas describe the difficulties in the production of blackness in Globalization and Race: Transformations in the Cultural Production of Blackness. I agree with Clarke and Thomas’ argument that racial inequalities is so deeply rooted with social prejudices that it has inhibited who belongs in what geographic location based on historical racial
This raises another question on how do we see blacks in Canada, in the Caribbean, in Germany and in Britain. In the essay written by Jaqueline Nassy Brown, Diaspora and Desire: Gendering “Black America” in Black Liverpool, she states, “That there is not actual space that one could call the African Diaspora…” (73). Brown argues “Diaspora” has become a buzzword for globalization discourse and that is commonly mapped space for racial formation (74). In addition, Brown contents gendered ideologies between black Liverpool and black America are social spaces that are experience, bridged, and traversed differently (75). Brown’s ethnographic research investigated black identity of black Liverpudlians beginning in World War II and the Civil Rights Movement in correlation to their relationship with black Americans. She point outs the sexist dynamics between black male and black female Liverpudlians. The black men who were predominately seaman relocated from Africa refuse to date black Liverpudlians women and married white English or Irish women. Their mulatto children produced from this union where called “half castes” (76) and struggled with their identity of blackness due to the fact their African fathers refuse to discuss Africa. Their experience and desire to understand blackness was much different from local black Liverpudlians. Interestingly, when black American GI’s came to Liverpool it created three geographical spaces: first, the introduction to black culture and music; second, the production of black hierarchy of black American GI’s; and lastly, the migration black Liverpudlians women marrying the GI’s to live the American Dream
Before entering into the main body of his writing, Allen describes to readers the nature of the “semicolony”, domestic colonialism, and neocolonialism ideas to which he refers to throughout the bulk of his book. Priming the reader for his coming argument, Allen introduces these concepts and how they fit into the white imperialist regime, and how the very nature of this system is designed to exploit the native population (in this case, transplanted native population). He also describes the “illusion” of black political influence, and the ineffectiveness (or for the purposes of the white power structure, extreme effectiveness) of a black “elite”, composed of middle and upper class black Americans.
Professor Colin Palmer, author of “Defining and Studying the Modern African Diaspora,” is a Jamaican-bred historian.1 He studied at the University College of the West Indies/London and the University of Wisconsin.1 Dr. Palmer has taught history classes at Oakland University and the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York and has served as the Chair of the Department of History for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.1 Additionally, Palmer has written numerous books on Black culture, including Slaves of the White God: Black in Mexico, 1570 – 1650, Human Cargoes: The British Slave Trade to Spanish America, 1700 – 1739 and Passageways: An Interpretive History of Black America.1 Based on his upbringing, schooling and work experience, Professor Colin Palmer is more than qualified to write about the modern African diaspora.
Race as a factor in inequity. Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) posit that race continues to be a significant factor in determining inequity in the United States. Race matters in society. If we look at high school drop out, suspension, and incarceration rates of men of color in America we see a disproportionate amount of men of color marginalized and profiled by society. This is further compounded by the perception that male faculty of color cannot be educators or at least are not often conceptually visualized in that capacity (Bryan and Browder, 2013).
Race and discrimination have been an important and popular topic for Hollywood to take on in the film industry. Many movies have been made about the subject using very conventional approaches; however, Alien Nation takes a more unconventional approach to the subject. Even the title of the movie alludes to the bigger meaning behind the film. Alien Nation; alienation. With the use of sound, makeup and costumes, and estrangement of the Newcomers’ characters Alien Nation sheds light on the racists attitude often seen displayed in America.
Mercer, K. (1994). Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. London: Routledge.
While comparing the sociology of race relations beginning in the 1920’s with the first Chicago School period and ending in the 1960’s with the development of the civil rights movement, one will find an era where the dominant sociological thoughts are rooted in what will eventually show to be a flawed perspective. Also, these sociologists begin this new thinking in an era that appears to be full of great enthusiasm as their discipline is transitioning out of a place where race is looked at from a biological aspect, which was found to be an untrue perspective, into an era where the standards are controlled by one race. Additionally, one will find this new perspective to be filled with many great additions to the discipline; however, the vast majority of these additions will prove to be flawed in some fashion, which will lead once again to a failed perspective. This failure is mapped out extensively by James B. McKee in his work Sociology and the Race Problem: The Failure of a Perspective. Furthermore, one will find that James McKee offers an analysis on many presumptions and viewpoints expressed by prominent sociologists, during this time, that assist in the eventual breakdown of sociological perspective.
"Social Forces." The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order. Oxfordjournals,org, 2007. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
This week’s articles carry a couple related, if not common, themes of imagined, if not artificial, constructs of race and identity. Martha Hodes’ article, “The mercurial Nature and Abiding Power of Race: A Transnational Family Story,” offers a narrative based examination of the malleable terms on which race was defined. To accomplish this she examines the story of Eunice Connolly and her family and social life as a window into understanding the changing dimensions of race in nineteenth-century America and the Caribbean, specifically New England and Grand Cayman. While Hodes’ article examines the construction of race in the Americas, Ali A. Mazrui’s piece, “The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Sai, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond,” looks at the construction of African identity. Although different in geographic loci, the two articles similarly examine the shaping influences of race and identity and the power held in ‘the Other’ to those ends.
Mankind hates mankind. Humans are innately afraid of change and difference. This could’ve possibly stemmed from an instinct from caveman times where anything different was deadly. In today’s age, we often treat people who are diverse whether it be age, gender, or race, differently. We treat other human beings as hostile because they are different, and when I think about that I wonder why can’t we be friends.
“Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to divide and to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom, and deserves to be met head-on and stomped out.” These wise words were spoken by Pierre Berton, an author of non-fiction novels. In our society, racism is everywhere, and has been in our past as well. Racism is ruining our world, and it is becoming tolerated. It is a threat to our society by affecting not only one person, but all those who are involved, whether it’s the bystander, the victim or the one who was being racist.
“Black, white and brown are merely skin colors. But we attach to them meanings and assumptions, even laws that create enduring social inequality.”(Adelman and Smith 2003). When I first heard this quote in this film, I was not surprised about it. Each human is unique compared to the other; however, we are group together based on uncontrollable physical characteristics. Eyes, hair texture, and skin tone became a way to separate who belongs where. Each group was labeled as having the same traits. African Americans were physically superior, Asians were the more intellectual race, and Indians were the advanced farmers. Certain races became superior to the next and society shaped their hierarchy on what genes you inherited.
Racism is often considered a thing of the past, with its manifestation rarely being acknowledged in the United States today. Race: The Power of an Illusion, is a documentary that addresses the legacy of racism through its significance in the past, and its presence in society today. To understand racism, it is vital to understand the concept of race. Race is a social invention, not a biological truth. This can be observed through the varying classifications of race in different cultures and time periods. For instance, in the United States, race has long been distinguished by skin color. In nineteenth century China, however, race was determined by the amount of body hair an individual had. Someone with a large amount of facial hair, for example,
James Walker’s The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, 1783-1870 is a comprehensive study of black loyalists as a unique community in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. Part of Walker’s book is in direct relation and defense of the work Christopher Fyfe had done previously, History of Sierra Leone. Walker’s view on the subject is, even though Sierra Leone is such a small area comparatively to the rest of Africa, important developments and significant trends developed in Sierra Leone and Nova Scotia that are worth examining. The main topic that he looks at is Black Loyalists and the effects they have had on history. Through the book Walker uses Fyfe’s contributions to the study of Sierra Leone and is arguing that it is important for us to look at and to expand on it back to Nova Scotia. The most significant reason walker wants more attention to be draw to the development of the Black Loyalists community is that they had influenced other societies to a good extent. Contributions to other groups of people have been deemed important, but walker feels that an understanding of the development of the Black Loyalists is lacking. This book is slightly older, being written in 1976, a while before Atlantic studies had been developed as a way of looking at history.
America has had discrimination against minorities for a long time and it will continue to have it until people treat minorities with respect. Discrimination is when people treat minorities bad because of their skin color, ethnicity and the place they were born. For immigrants, the problems they had to arrive in America were not a good experience only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the population. Most immigrants came to the U.S. to have a better life and give education to their children. Almost all immigrants have experienced discrimination at some point in their life and even some are still experiencing it today. Most Latinos don’t have a choice but to deal with it when they get discriminated because they know they are illegal.
Prejudice refers to one’s biased opinions and ideas of others, based on secondary information. Hence, the internalized ideas concerning the prejudiced members in society does not result from personal experiences, but information from third parties. Where prejudice is prevalent, the social relationships between the concerned individuals become strained and unmanageable. The existence of equality in society discourages the frequency of prejudice on racial grounds. The content of this discussion explores the concept of prejudice, as it relates to racial inequality and discrimination. The discussion features the Emmanuel AME Church shooting scenario, which characterizes racial discrimination and inequality. The discussion further examines the role