Analysis of Two Nations by Andrew Hacker
In Andrew Hacker’s book, Two Nations, Hacker argues that blacks and whites live in two different worlds. He uses statistical evidence to prove that the United States is a nation of inequality, hostility, and separatism. Hacker uses a quote from Benjamin Disraeli in the preface that basically sums up his entire book,
“Two nations, between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each others habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets.”
This book reveals to all the real dimensions of race and how it controls lives and divides society. Hacker analyzes race in every aspect imaginable, such as politics, education, and crime. He shows how those in power use race as means of discrimination and domination.
One issue Hacker addresses is Affirmative Action. I agree with his assertion that whites are afraid of it because they believe that “it is enabling black America to be weak and subservient to the dictates of the society.” However, Affirmative Action may be one of the few programs designed to help blacks.
I also agreed with Hacker’s notion that society concentrates solely on “black crime,” but then looks away in instances of “white crime.” By “white crime”, Hacker means non-violent crimes like embezzlement and “black crimes” are the violent crimes like murder. Because society sees “black crimes” as more dangerous, they tend to ignore “white crimes.”
As insightful as this book was, there was a great deal of things in it that I disagreed with. An issue brought up by Hacker that I disagree with is his perception that rape is a political act. Rape is an act of violence, whether white males co...
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...lack of political representation. He asks the question, “Is it right to impose on members of an entire race a lesser start in life, and then to expect from them a degree of resolution that has never been demanded from your own race?” Well, of course the answer is no. But it also isn’t right to claim that everything in society is there for the sole purpose of holding back the black race, which is what I began to feel I was reading after a few chapters. Overall, I felt the book contained many good points, such as his perception of Affirmative Action. However, I was angry after finishing because of some of his preposterous claims. I.e. his claim that other races have not suffered as severe a level of discrimination as the black race. Other than that, though, he did a commendable job the stances he took on his issues. Hopefully, these issues will eventually be resolved.
A strength I found in Gellman’s book was that it can grab the attention of any reader who has an interest learning more about race, labor movements and the fight for civil rights that took place prior to the 1950’s and 60’s as we more often learn about. The author also ensures to detail the types of strategies the National Negro Congress implemented in working with other organizations and in trying to accomplish their goals. Gellman also takes the time to discuss import people involved besides John Preston Davis and A. Philip Randolph, but also Robert Weaver and Charles Hamilton Houston. The book Death Blow to Jim Crow does a good job of expanding on a otherwise unknown topic, not discussed in history classes or books.
The only flaw that I can find in this highly regarded and seemingly impenetrable work is that Woodward treats African Americans as passive agents in a rapidly changing environment. He gives the impression that African Americans were less participants and more like pawns in a large chess match controlled and governed by these competing ideologies. Although he does make concessions on this point in the final chapter, which was a later addition, throughout the book he consistently describes how external forces were acting on freed slaves and what little role they played as actors in the racial struggles of the Jim Crow era.
Race-thinking: what is it? Isn’t the world past the issue of race? Do races even exist and if so, what does it mean to have a racial identity? Is colorblindness possible and how important is it? These are the questions Paul Taylor addresses in the book “Race: A Philosophical Introduction”. Paul Taylor is a self-proclaimed “radical constructionist” who will maintain that race is very real in our world and in the United States as a whole (p. 80). Taylor takes care to ensure he addresses the real needs concerning racial dynamics in the U.S., referencing historical events, prevailing policy affairs, and even pop culture to explain that everyone capable of forming opinions ought to have some sort of grasp of the concept of race-thinking. As Taylor will analyze, race and race-thinking “has shaped and continues to shape private interactions as well as the largest political choices” (p. 8). In other words, race-thinking encompasses everything we do and every interaction we have. In this paper I will attempt to interpret and expound Taylor’s views and definitions of race, concepts associated with race, and input my own interpretations as they are appropriate.
The most meaningful part of the book for me, was the sit-ins, a form of protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, refusing to leave until their demands are met. The reason the sit-ins were so meaningful is that it really brought attention to how Americans were segregating the African Americas. Just as if you do nothing when a bully, whites, is picking on you, blacks, they will continue picking on you until you fight back. The sit-ins were a nonviolent way to show that they no longer will or have to take the abuse.
The majority of our prison population is made up of African Americans of low social and economic classes, who come from low income houses and have low levels of education. The chapter also discusses the amount of money the United States loses yearly due to white collar crime as compared to the cost of violent crime. Another main point was the factors that make it more likely for a poor person to be incarcerated, such as the difficulty they would have in accessing adequate legal counsel and their inability to pay bail. This chapter addresses the inequality of sentencing in regards to race, it supplies us with NCVS data that shows less than one-fourth of assailants are perceived as black even though they are arrested at a much higher rate. In addition to African Americans being more likely to be charged with a crime, they are also more likely to receive harsher punishments for the same crimes- which can be seen in the crack/cocaine disparities. These harsher punishments are also shown in the higher rates of African Americans sentenced to
There is a specific meaning to race and how its role impacts society and shapes the social structures. Race is a concept that “symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies” (Omi & Winant 55). In other words, Omi and Winant get down to the crux of the issue and assert that race is just an illusion. Race is merely seen as an ideological construct that is often unstable and consisting of decentered social meanings. This form of social construction attempts to explain the physical attributes of an individual but it is constantly transformed by political struggles. The rules of classifying race and of identity are embedded into society’s perception. Therefore, race becomes a common function for comprehending, explaining, and acting in the
...y. He touched parts of the slaves' lives and what they really went through, but I don't think we even have a true idea of what it would have been in their shoes. The author presented the information in a very solid way and sectioned out very well. I understood what he was trying to explain easily. It was somewhat a long book but very much full of knowledge and history that in spirit is still alive today. We may not have slavery like it was then, but we still deal with racism and prejudices daily. The world changed because of slavery and is the way it is because of the history of America. We cannot change the past but we can change the future. Thank God the world is not the way it was. I cannot imagine what painful lives the slaves had to endure. But we can become knowledgeable about the history of slavery and America and learn from it in many different ways.
Personally, this book has exceedingly influenced my train of thought and set up different tracks in my mind to run on. After the first thirteen chapters, I definitely developed a penchant for this book and couldn't seem to put it down. Maybe listening is what more white people (since they are the majority in power of our government) have to do to better understand the surrounding races and possibly build a better society to live in. If we don't listen, how can we ever understand or even begin to feel what it's like to be apart of racially different community in America?
Crime has always been a hot topic in sociology. There are many different reasons for people to commit criminal acts. There is no way to pinpoint the source of crime. I am going to show the relationship between race and crime. More specifically, I will be discussing the higher chances of minorities being involved in the criminal justice system than the majority population, discrimination, racial profiling and the environment criminals live in.
New Century Foundation. (2005). The Color of Crime: Race, Crime and Justice in America. Retrieved from http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.pdf
His essay reminded me of a personal experience, the first racial experience of mine, and dealing with a person who knew no better. I experienced this while living in the South. It was a early morning in sunny Florida, I was on my way to school and my friends and I were riding the school bus. When a Caucasian girl got on the bus and saw that there was only one seat available and it just so happened to be a seat next to a black girl. So she decides that she rather...
With their new theory of racial formation within the United States, Omi and Winant encourage society to stray away from thinking of race on a purely biological or purely sociological scale and view it more on perpetually shifting spectrum that will forever change as society changes. Race and racism, while progressively getting better, is still prevalent in the United States today. With this new model of race relations, Omi and Winant present a progressive way of viewing the role of race within America that may lead to the elimination of oppression and the advancement of minority groups and Americans as a whole.
They give him what he believes to be victories-the opportunity for a speech, the chance to prove his worth in the battle royal, the college scholarship-all of it, to keep him running. He finally realizes it. By studying this fascinating character which , I think, represents all blacks of that time I discovered that the prejudice is one problem that we as a society have to become more aware of. We have to get past the cover, and open up the book and read it before we judge. If people would do this it
“Rape and Sexual Violence Are Serious Problems.” Opposing Viewpoints in Context. 2008. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
The society we live in is rape-conducive, rape-friendly, if you will. Despite the anger I feel joining those two words together, I know the sad paradox holds within it a great deal of truth. We are a violent society that has shrouded rape in mystery and shame. To stop this nightmare’s venomous crusades, all people must wage a private war to eradicate their own acceptance of the savage crime. While it is only a minority of men that actually commit rape, it is everyone’s silence that tells them it’s ok.