There are many things that I found surprising in the video "Conversations on Race." The fact that every single one in the video had different opinions regarding policing and race/ethnicity. Weatherspoon, the black retired detective wanted to become a police officer because he did not think that those who were police officers were doing a good job. I believe we do need more diversity in law enforcement because this will definitely decrease the discrimination and prejudices that exists among minority groups. We would see a fair treatment among the dominant group, whites, and minority groups like African Americans and Hispanics, if we include more people from different race and ethnic backgrounds. Weatherspoon says, "people, white and black don't …show more content…
I personally do not think that should be the rule. What is the matter if a black person is in a predominantly white neighborhood? I do not think that should be a problem. The fact that Cunningham would have stopped a black person just because he/she is in a white neighborhood or vice versa shows how society is constructed in a way that separates race and ethnic groups from each other. I totally agree that there could be people trying to buy or sell drugs and/or guns, but there should be some boundaries to this issue. We cannot have police officers stopping random people like that unless there he/she has a strong feeling or proof that a crime may happen, but beside that I think this is one way of how racism can be …show more content…
I'm up for the warnings instead of giving people a ticket because an excessive of tickets does ruin people's driving records. I know this because I have a close friend that is going through a hard situation right now due to the excessive of tickets. His situation is very difficult because he definitely needs a car to go to his job, which is 40 minutes away where he lives. He is currently depending on other people to get to his job because he no longer can afford to pay for his insurance car, so he cannot use it anymore. He spent a lot of money paying his tickets, and for the two driving course he took. Today, he has a lot of points in his license and cannot afford a car insurance. This is why I'm agree that police officers should have some kind of discretion giving tickets to people based on their
According to the authors, Critical Race Theory (CRT) is no longer new, but it continues to thrive. It has expanded from a subspecialty of jurisprudence to the use in department of education, cultural studies, English, sociology, comparative literature, political science, history, and anthropology. CRT treats race as central to the law and policy of the United States. CRT also looks beyond the belief that getting rid of racism means simply alleviating ignorance, or encouraging everyone to get along. CRT looks at many faucets of racism. Microagression are small acts of racism consciously or unconsciously perpetrated; these are absorbed from the assumption about racial matters most of us absorb from the cultural heritage in which we come of age in the United States. The CRT movement is a collection of activist and scholars interested in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. CRT questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.
Even though Black music such as blues did not end oppression, it helped rehabilitate the oppressed by creating a new identity through music such as blues. The Social construction of racial formation categorized racial groups to construct their social identity. A form of this basis is determined from skin color or skin pigment. Black music such as blues were used as a form of arts to escape the oppression that was placed upon them based on their skin color.
We see on T.V police brutality happening all the time. We see cops breaking people bones, throwing them on the ground, and even killing them. This documentary opened my eyes to see how bad it is. Seeing the random stops because of race, and the pushing and shoving of people who do not deserve it. Another thing I learned is how stressful being a police officer is, especially in a city like Newark. These officers face life threating situations daily. With this, I can understand the use of force when there is no immediate threat, because the situation could escalate and it is better to be safe than sorry. The documentary also showed me ways of improvement. Police officers should be required to have at least and Associates degree in Criminal Justice and receive extensive training. Seeing this documentary opened my eyes to what is happening in the Criminal Justice System
... police, say they were racially profiled, “…whenever she returns from Los Angeles to her hometown she gets stopped by police 80% of the time and questioned about drugs” (Duke Hawkins-Gaar 3). We should give people the courtesy when they are stopped and watch how much we do it.
In 2005, Ottawa resident Chad Aiken, who was 18 at the time, was stopped by police while driving his mother’s Mercedes Benz. How we are seen and how we see others often affects different aspects of our lives, and the lives of others. The entire social structure that we live in is affected by at least one form of race. However, I would like to examine the concept of race first. There is no gene that is common to all black or white people; it is not biological.
Social Construction Race Race has been one of the most outstanding events in the United States all the way from the 1500s up until now. The concept of race has been socially constructed in a way that is broad and difficult to understand. Social construction can be defined as the set of rules determined by society’s urges and trends. The rules created by society play a huge role in racialization, as the U.S. creates laws to separate the English or whites from the nonwhites. Europeans, Indigenous People, and Africans were all racialized and victimized for various reasons.
Police reform should start by giving proper training to the new recruits and veterans in the force. During their training, “Law enforcement agencies should adopt and enforce policies prohibiting discrimination based on race, ethnicity immigration status, etc.” (Cops, p.90). It is apparent
Our society has become one that is very diverse. Law enforcement agencies (local, state, and federal) for our changing society need to include an increase representation of women and minorities, definite improvement in leadership skills, and to strengthen community policing. These are all issues of great importance, which are no longer going to be pushed aside.
The connection of race and race relations in the United States was an ongoing issue, and while much progress was made, there are still people who revert back to old and ignorant takes on different races as the white man. This clearly relates to my own history based on the fact that various races are still being discriminated and treated unfairly and looked at as unequal. I can only hope that one day the whole population of the world can do the right thing and look at everyone as equals.
The movie Friday is a comedy drama released in 1995 starring Ice Cube (Craig) and Chris Tucker (Smokey) in the lead roles. (CITE) The film takes place in South Central Los Angeles during a 16 hour time period in the eventful lives of friends Craig and Smokey. After just being fired from his job, Craig decides to hang out with his friend Smokey, smoking marijuana and drinking on the front porch of his parents house. Things get interesting when Smokey brings Craig into a “little”, or rather not so little problem of his. Smokey owes local drug dealer Big Worm $200 on that Friday night by ten o'clock p.m. for smoking, rather than selling the marijuana that Big Worm gave to him, or else they'd both be killed. The movie details all the of the events in the 16 hour time period which led up to them eventually getting the $200 that they owe to Big Worm, and in turn saving their own lives. The film is full laughs brought on by comedic scenes throughout, especially due to the fact that African American characters are portrayed in a very stereotypical manner. It was evident that the common stereotypes of African American people in the early to mid 90's were fully supported by the film.
How does Zora Neale Hurston’s race affect her approach to life? America has a long history of discriminating certain groups of people, particularly people of color. African-Americans were treated as slaves and was not seen as equal. Although slavery remained a history and was ultimately legally abolished, race still plays a big role in determining superiority today. Author of How it feels to be colored me, Zora Neale Hurston, describes her journey of racial recognition outside her world that reshaped her conception of racial identity that resulted in the prideful embrace of her African American heritage.
Race is so much more than just a physical characteristic. It defines how people interact, see each other, and treat each other. It was Karl Marx that popularized the idea that there is a struggle between two social groups in which one prospers from the the exploitation of the other. This idea alone reveals much about our society and human nature: we are inherently competitive, even when it means we may have to do it at someone else’s expense. And we seem to be okay with this for we have done little to change it. However, when it is at the expense of an entire race, are we still able to so easily turn a blind eye? Race and the establishment of social hierarchy have a linkage that, although so engrained in our society to the point where it seems
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,
Even before the stop are made (add comma after made?) cops watch possible suspects of any suspicious activity even without any legal right. “Plainclothes officers known as “rakers” were dispatched into ethnic communities, where they eavesdropped on conversations and wrote daily reports on what they heard, often without any allegation of criminal wrong doing.” (NYPD Racial Profiling 1) This quote explains how even before a citizen is officially stopped by a cop, there are times when that they have already had their personal conversations assessed without their knowledge or without them having done any wrong acts. It was done, based solely on their ethnicity and social status alone. (you can add an example of what the people, who were being watched, were doing) Then (comma?) when police are out watching the streets, they proceed to stop people again simply based on racial profiling. In an article called Watching Certain People by Bob Herbert, stated that “not only are most of the people innocent but a vast majority are either black or Hispanic” (Herbert 1). Racism is happening before the suspect even gets a chance to explain themselves or be accused of any crime, and the rules of being able to do such a thing are becoming even more lenient so that police are able to perform such actions. “The rule requiring police to
In her article "Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination" bell hooks argues that the distance between the white and black races created a tense relationship between the two. This tension caused a multitude of problems that are still present today including systems of domination, stereotypes of one another, white naivety of their privilege and fear of white individuals. Similarly, Ruth Frankenberg 's article "White Women, Race Matters" discuss these issues but from the perspective of a white feminist. Many of the same points can be connected to hooks ' arguments because the main aspects with races focus on the idea that whiteness is a perspective in which we see ourselves, others and society and also that whiteness continues to remain