America's Racist Society
analytical Essay
3178 words
The relationship between whites and blacks in America can be thought of as a mountain, as we ascend the peak through time racial clashes seem to be fewer and fewer. America has had a very racist history, but now more than ever equal opportunity is being granted to minorities. Blacks and whites are getting along better than any other time in the past, but there are still problems preventing these two groups from blending completely in society. Stereotypes about the violent behavior of blacks, seriously affects the relationship between whites and blacks in society because white people are fearful in the presence of blacks. Evidence for these stereotypes and reasons why this stereotype is so widely regarded will be thoroughly discussed in this essay, starting with my own personal experiences. When I was growing up, I did not live in a community with many Blacks and because of this I never got a chance to have many black friends. Throughout middle school and high school I noticed that the majority of black students remained isolated to their own racial group. They seemed to keep their distance from the white kids or maybe it was that the white kids stayed away from them? Occasionally when fights broke out in school it seemed that the black students were always the ones involved. This was something that I noticed but didn’t think much of it at the time. Looking back and reflecting on what I saw, these skirmishes involving the black students could have inflicted a sense of fear in me. I saw their violent behavior first hand and that probably caused me to think of them as violent and something to fear. That wasn’t the only thing that influenced me to think of blacks in that way, but what were the others? Could the media, ... ... middle of paper ... ...them to make a conscious effort to behave in a way that would eliminate the stereotypes. In my experiences I have found that my role models have a huge impact on what I do and how I think. These people influence me to be who I am and add wisdom where I would normally be clueless. The black community is not the only group who needs to be educated about stereotyping, whites need to be educated as well. White people are often the ones using the stereotypes and for that reason they need to be informed of what they are doing. Once the white community realizes what they are doing they can make an effort, just like the blacks, to stop classifying people who are different. If the judgment of others who are different stops then racial issues will become much less prevalent. Once racial conflicts preside then ethnic groups in society will be able to peacefully coexist.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the relationship between whites and blacks in america can be thought of as a mountain, as we ascend the peak through time racial clashes seem to be fewer.
- Explains that the majority of black students remained isolated to their own racial group. they saw their violent behavior first-hand and that probably caused them to think of them as violent and something to fear.
- Analyzes how news stations report on crimes, whether they are committed by blacks or whites, regardless of skin color. the news station is building on the stereotype that blacks are violent people.
- Analyzes how the media fuels stereotypes about blacks, while music and pop culture also add to the violent black stereotype.
- Explains that sociologists william comanor and llad phillips examined data collected by the national longitudinal survey of youth (nlsy) and found that the most critical factor affecting the prospect of a male youth encountering the criminal justice system is his father.
- Opines that educating the public about stereotyping and the problems associated with it would stop it from being used so often.
- Explains that stereotypes are a way for people to convey what they have learned to how they live their lives.
- Analyzes how black rappers focus their music on the ghetto, where blacks are still being socially and economically repressed. the media makes a big scene by reporting on issues involving professional athletes.
- Analyzes how the national crime victimization survey (ncvs) backed up the stereotype of blacks being violent based on statistical information.
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- analytical
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- explanatory
- Stereotypes And Stereotypes Of Black Malesanalytical essayIn today’s society there are many stereotypes surrounding the black community, specifically young black males. Stereotypes are not always blatantly expressed; it tends to happen subconsciously. Being born as a black male puts a target on your back before you can even make an impact on the world. Majority of these negative stereotypes come from the media, which does not always portray black males in the best light. Around the country black males are stereotyped to be violent, mischievous, disrespectful, lazy and more. Black males are seen as a threat to people of different ethnicities whether it is in the business world, interactions with law enforcement or even being in the general public. The misperceptions of black males the make it extremely difficult for us to thrive and live in modern society. Ultimately, giving us an unfair advantage simply due to the color of our skin; something of which we have no control.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the negative stereotypes surrounding young black males in today's society, stating that they are perceived as violent, mischievous, disrespectful, lazy, and more.
- Explains that young black men are stereotyped in the business world, which can cause disadvantages at the collegiate level, internships, and even professional levels.
- Explains that stereotypes of young black men, translate into our interactions with law enforcement officers as well.
- Analyzes how stereotypes affect young black males everyday in the general public, such as sharing an elevator with a caucasian woman or being followed around stores by security to ensure they aren’t stealing.
- Concludes that stereotypes of young black men make it difficult for them to thrive and live peacefully in our society.
753 wordsRead More - Invisible Man Blindness Quotesanalytical essay3) Stereotypes of Race “Who, Negroes? Negroes don’t control this school or much of anything else – haven’t you learned even that? No, sir, they support it, but I control it. I’s big and black and I say ‘Yes, suh’ as loudly as any burrhead when it’s convenient, but I am still the king down here” (Ellison
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how ellison explores blindness by exploiting the most valuable property of the optic white paint, its ability to conceal the blackness of a piece of coal.
- Narrates how they slit the man's throat in a deserted street, holding him in the collar with one hand, and opening the knife with their teeth, when it occurred to them that he had not seen them.
- Analyzes how the quote strengthens ellison's purpose by supporting the assumption of the narrator that the man was white and he was black.
- Explains that negroes don't control this school or much else — they support it, but i control it. i'm big and black and i say ‘yes, suh’ as loud as any burrhead when it's convenient.
- Analyzes how ellison's quote emphasizes that black people are still regarded as inferior to white people, even by black people themselves. bledsoe expelled the narrator from his college for taking mr. norton to the golden day
- Opines that they are not ashamed of their grandparents for having been slaves. they were told they were free, united with others, and socially separate like the fingers of the hand.
- Analyzes how the quote at the beginning of chapter one tells the manipulation on the narrator's grandfather by white people and how that manipulation was handed down.
- Opines that puppets are a walking zombie who has learned to repress not only his emotions but his humanity.
- Analyzes how the quote reinforces the narrator's invisibility and the control white people have over black people.
- Opines that the nigguhs up at the school come down to chase them off and that made them mad. instead of chasining me out of the country, they gimme more help than any other colored man.
- Analyzes how ellison exploits blindness by showing that trueblood now believes that doing the wrong thing equates to receiving a reward, and acceptance by the white people.
1120 wordsRead More - Everybody Hates Chrisanalytical essayThe assumption that black people have lesser moral values and have a greater inclination towards violence is not new. According to Herman Gray, “Blackness was constructed along a continuum ranging from menace on one end to immortality on the other, with irresponsibility located somewhere in the middle.” (Gray) T...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the negative representations of black, lower-class people in the media, such as poor home lives, absent parents, and the belief that black people are violent and aggressive than white people.
- Analyzes how the episode begins with chris explaining that he had gotten involved in a fight with the school bully, caruso, and was beaten up and lost.
- Analyzes how the assumption that black people have lesser moral values and a greater inclination towards violence is not new.
- Analyzes how chris' father gets unnecessarily large amounts of sausage for the family to compensate for not being able to provide meat for his family before.
- Analyzes how caruso bullies chris on a daily basis at his school. chris gets detained and misses his bus home from school because he doesn't want to make his mother mad.
- Analyzes how herman gray refers to the often-confusing american beliefs towards black integration into society.
- Analyzes how gray's "stereotypes extend into the television & video age" portrays black characters as ridiculous, outlandish, sassy, and took on more comedic personalities than dramatic ones.
- Explains that black characters who populated the television world of the early 1950s were happy-go-lucky social incompetents who knew their place and whose antics served to amuse and comfort culturally sanctioned notions of whiteness, especially white superiority and paternalism.
- Analyzes how the characters are meant to be comedic, but the obvious black character stereotypes that have been present on television for so many years are clear.
- Analyzes how "everybody hates chris" displays in a comedic fashion the typical black stereotyping that is unfortunately still so common in everyday television.
1180 wordsRead More - Racism in the United Statesanalytical essayIn his essay, Robert Jensen claims that Caucasian Americans feel that in order to be considered a true "American," your skin must be white in color. He uses hurricane Katrina as an example, saying that, "...one of the hurricane's most enduring legacies is the way it made visible the effect of racial and class disparities on who lived and who died... (Jensen, par. 1)." According to what was shown on television, it would appear as though the black community garnered the bulk of the destruction, but when investigated closely, such an assumption would be proven to be absurd. Of course, racism has not been entirely eradicated from the American society, and no one racial group can honestly plead complete innocence to displaying racist behavior at one time or another. Singling out an entire group of people in a racism accusation is ridiculous, to say the least. There is a considerable lack of documented support for his claim; the basis of his argument is a matter of opinion or point of view on the situation. The way people perceive each other is dependent on the individual, so accrediting a racial population in its entirety with a very broad accusation of racist behavior is certainly unfair. Sure, there are certainly racist white Americans living in the United States as of to date, just as Jensen suggests, but the mass of the white population in our country has no personal gripe with another race, illustrating that the author's claim is inaccurate.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes robert jensen's claim that caucasian americans feel that in order to be considered a true "american," their skin must be white in color.
- Analyzes how reverse racism is a personal bias towards racial or gender groups, which is innocently overlooked by the culprit when he/she is trying to benefit members of his/her own race/gender group.
- Analyzes how society has adapted well to the influx of varying races into american culture.
- Explains jensen, robert, "the heart of whiteness: confronting race, racism and white privilege."
- Analyzes how jensen's first point was to cite that president bush is racist against black people because of the poor response to the tragedy caused by hurricane katrina.
911 wordsRead More - Critical Analysis Of Brent Staples's Black Men And Public Spaceanalytical essayThroughout history, as far back as one could remember, African- American men have been racially profiled and stereotyped by various individuals. It has been noted that simply because of their skin color, individuals within society begin to seem frightened when in their presence.In Black Men and Public Space, Brent Staples goes into elaborate detail regarding the stereotypical treatment he began to receive as a young man attending University of Chicago. He begins to explain incidents that took place numerous times in his life and assists the reader is seeing this hatred from his point of view. Staples further emphasizes the social injustices of people’s perception of African-American men to the audience that may have not necessarily experienced
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how brent staples explains the stereotypical treatment he began to receive as a young man attending the university of chicago and emphasizes the social injustices of people’s perception of african-american men.
- Analyzes how staples brings forth credibility and harvests a certain amount of trust within the reader which further strengthens his relationship with the audience.
- Analyzes how staples evokes emotion within the reader by discussing events that he witnessed as a child as well as another incident that occurred during his lifetime.
- Analyzes how staples brings forth the idea of a hasty generalization by presenting real-life examples that he and other african-american males went through.
- Analyzes how staples utilized various appeals such as pathos, ethos, and an overall hasty generalization to accurately and effectively present his argument to the audience.
1002 wordsRead More - Minstrel Show Archetypesopinion essayIf we begin in a mental state of believing that all stereotypes are at least partially rooted in truth we have already alienated blacks from whites a fair deal. To do so not only makes the stereotypes in question seem harmless, but also socially ingrains that some part of it is the truth.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that the most troubling element of stereotypes are typically their alleged roots in reality. this is what i find dangerous about the archetypical characters found in early 20th century minstrel shows.
- Argues that if we begin to believe that all stereotypes are at least partially rooted in truth, we have already alienated blacks from whites a fair deal.
- Argues that stereotypes like this force even modern black women to white wash themselves, their own personalities and appearances, in order to appear sophisticated to pass as civilized.
- Opines that black men must overcome archetypes put in place roughly a century ago and whiten themselves in order to not be automatically viewed as criminals. the modern version of the coon is not too different from the character that began it all.
- Opines that the most worrisome archetypes are those of the savage and pickaninnies.
- Opines that while african americans suffered a period of dehumanization and slavery in america, we have not seen full scale national genocide of black americans.
- Opines that stereotypes are not irrefutable truths, and that they are still used to justify the way that blacks in america are treated.
507 wordsRead More - Racism in America Todayanalytical essayDating back to the beginning of times people have always been looked at different depending on the color of their skin or what your religion, race, or beliefs may be. It is in our human nature to not like people for certain things that they are. Many will argue that in this day in age we are no longer at a race war but how can you be so sure when you actually open your eyes and see reality. Rapper Kanye West once said “racism is still alive, they just be concealing it” and these words are everything but false. You must ask yourself the real question about racism and it is how could you ever cure such a thing in people’s minds? People are free to think and believe what ever they would like and old habits such as racism will never change in people.
In this essay, the author
- Describes brunner, haney, borgna, and elissa's civil rights movement timeline (14th amendment, 1964 act, human rights law).
- Argues that people aren't treated differently based on their skin color, religion, race, or beliefs. the civil rights movement, which started in 1955, is still alive.
- Cites botalava, terrazas, jeanne, and aaron's frequently requested statistics on immigrants and immigration in the united states.
- Analyzes the house joint resolution proposing the 13th amendment to the constitution, january 31, 1865, enrolled acts and resolutions of congress, 1789-1999, record group 11 and national archives.
1042 wordsRead More - Systematic Racism In American Societyanalytical essayOh, Is There Still Racism?: Systematic Racism in American Society The lack of awareness among society surrounding racism is a problem of great proportion. Everyday people go on with their daily routines, unaware of the discrimination and inequalities around them. A lot of the time those who are unable to recognize these injustices are people in positions of power who are not affected by them.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that racism still runs rampant among american society and until it is completely acknowledged true equality will never be achieved.
- Analyzes beverly tatum's essay, "defining racism - can we talk," which examines what racism looks like in america.
- Explains that a white student asked them what they would be teaching the following semester, and i assured her that there was still racism. she suggested that she sign up for my course.
- Analyzes how tatum discusses the roots of racism, arguing that it starts when people are young as they have limited interactions and lack of firsthand experience with people who are different.
- Analyzes how tatum argues that racism is a system of advantage based on race as opposed to prejudice.
- Explains that smog in the air is visible and less apparent, but we are breathing it in day in and day out.
- Analyzes how racism is ingrained into american society and has dreadful consequences if not addressed.
- Explains that racism is so deep-rooted in today's society that people have been trained to unconsciously ignore it despite the powerful ways it can affect them.
- Explains how the woman was able to shop in department stores without being followed by suspicious salespeople, send her child to school confident that the teacher would not discriminate against him on the basis of race, and speak with her mouth full.
- Argues that the benefits of a racist system exist, but the only group of people who do not see it are those who are benefiting from it.
- Analyzes how carrie ching discusses racism and the lack of the discussion around it in her essay "personal voices: facing up to race."
- Explains why a person whose great-great-grandfather emigrated from china 150 years ago is still called an ‘asian-american,’ whereas he or she becomes just plain old ‘american in one generation.’
- Analyzes how ching encourages everyone to spark the change within themselves and open their eyes to all the racism around them. when it goes unchecked, it perpetuates a racist society.
- Opines that racism is more complex now than it was in the past. racism is now systematic and structured into political and social institutions.
- Explains that in an expensive restaurant, managers and servers are usually white, while busboys and kitchen help are mostly people of color.
- Opines that racism is ingrained into a system that benefits white people. it's not about treating an individual differently based on their race.
- Opines that the lack of awareness around racism is what keeps it going unchallenged. education and critical thinking skills play a major role in identifying these issues, but sometimes people simply cannot acknowledge the benefits.
1842 wordsRead More - Racism in Americaanalytical essay“E Pluribus Unum”, “Out of Many, One”; Originally used to suggest that out of many colonies or states shall emerge a single unified nation, but over the years it has become the melting pot of the many people, races, religions, cultures and ancestries that have come together to form a unified whole, and even though America prides itself on being this melting pot racism is still alive and well today. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, the country that calls to so many; calling to them with the promise of freedom and prosperity, to live their lives as they see fit. As stated in the National Anthem, America is "the land of the free and the home of the brave." America is the country where dreams can come true. So if America has emerged as a single people and nation, why does racism still exist?
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how america has become the melting pot of people, races, religions, cultures and ancestries that have come together to form a unified whole. america is supposed to be the land of opportunity, the country that calls to so many.
- Explains that america is one of the world's leading agricultural countries and has the third largest population.
- Analyzes how the president has endured racial taunting in his first year of office, dealing with sly to all out blatant innuendos on the internet, email, books, television and even cartoons.
- Analyzes how women in america are discriminated against in their personal life and in the workplace, as exhibited by the national committee on pay equity.
- Opines that to end the oppression of women, america needs to look at the problem as a whole and not just as individual parts.
- Explains that america is a very diverse country, with many different cultures and races represented, and people of their own race and culture living different lifestyles.
- Opines that racism needs to be understood, and people need to take the first big step to understand and acknowledge it.
- Opines that america is freedom, a place where opinions can be voiced without having to live in constant fear of being punished for specific beliefs.
1115 wordsRead More - Racism in Americaexplanatory essayBlack youths arrested for drug possession are 48 times more likely to wind up in prison than white youths arrested for the same crime under the same circumstances. Many people are unaware how constant racism has been throughout the years. It is important to understand the problems of racism because it is relevant to society. Racism in America is very real and Americans need to know it.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that black youths arrested for drug possession are 48 times more likely to wind up in prison than white youth. racism in america is real and americans need to know it.
- Explains that racism is a belief that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others
- Opines that racism is one of the most revolting things within the vicinity of humanity. stereotypes is a common cause of racism.
- Explains why it is important for children to be around other races at a young age to ensure that their minds are used and adapted to being around them.
- Explains that humans are selfish creatures, caring about their own problems at the expense of hurting others. when individuals aren't trained to respect others, the potential to become racist increases dramatically.
- Explains that a dramatic cause for racism is found in people who have low self-esteem.
- Opines that racism is a counter-argument to the totem pole. some people are ignorant, but some approve of it. adolf hitler created the perfect race.
- Explains that dehumanization, or racism, can be subtle, and people who don't believe racism is a problem often define slavery by honoring those who know to "stay in their place."
- Opines that racism is a radical circle of unfortunate misunderstandings and negative view points.
- Cites "the 4 causes of racism." yahoo! 22 apr. 2007.
1088 wordsRead More