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The effect of racism
The effect of racism
Effect of racism on society
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My Un-conference experience was very pleasant and informative. Amusingly, my discussion group members, in the Everyday Racism cluster, were all black women. Perhaps, black women are more likely to observe injustice based on our position in America’s racial and patriarchal system. My group discussed many topics from microaggression, white discomfort, mixed race issues, representation of black women in the media, and policing blackness. Using class articles from Simba Runyowa, Sara Ahmed, Ewuare Osayande, Gay Seidman, and class/Un-conference discussions, this reflection essay focuses on microaggression, white discomfort and its significance, and marginalized groups’ use of passive words and actions to avoid upsetting the dominant group while …show more content…
Movements, organizations, and people that use nonviolence strategies are praised and held to a higher moral ground. A possible reason nonviolent strategies are respected is because these strategies make the oppressive community comfortable. However, anything that includes violence is automatically condemned. For example, the recent 2015 “riot” in Baltimore grabbed mainstream news attention. News channels continued to show the destruction of buildings in Baltimore, but made little references to reasons why the protestors were angry—living conditions, police brutality, broken education system, and other disadvantages that have been occurring for years—and wanted immediate change. In no way am I advocating violence, I am just highlighting that violence, like the term white supremacy, is too forceful for the oppressive structure. This realization leads marginalized people and allies to use passive means and terms to gain the attention of the dominant group with hopes to eventually change the oppressive
Ranikine’s addresses the light upon the failed judicial systems, micro aggressions, pain and agony faced by the black people, white privilege, and all the racial and institutional discrimination as well as the police brutality and injustice against the blacks; The book exposes that, even after the abolition of slavery, how the racism still existed and felt by the colored community in the form of recently emerged ‘Micro aggressions in this modern world’. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen explores the daily life situations between blacks and whites and reveals how little offensive denigrating conversations in the form of micro-aggressions were intentionally conveyed to the black people by the whites and how these racial comments fuel the frustrations and anger among the blacks. She gathered the various incidents, where the black people suffered this pain. This shows the white’s extraordinary powers to oppress the black community and the failure of the legal system Rankine also shares the horrible tragedy of Hurricane Katrina experienced by the black community, where they struggled for their survival before and post the hurricane catastrophes.
This awareness does come with a social outcry, an explosive retaliation, as the stress builds and boils until the injustice cannot be tolerated any longer. The Rodney King incident in Los Angeles is a prime example of social retaliation by the masses. The injustices that occurred paved the way for a group to become enraged and provided an outlet for the social mistreatment of African-American citizens to finally be expressed. The violence that followed would force political officials to respond to an issue that had existed, but was ignored because minority groups’ issues did not fit into a political agenda. However, this form of retaliation cannot thrive and lead to a consensus where terms are fair for both parties. Counterstances stems for violence, and forces violence to become a response. As Anzaldúa expressed, “The possibilities are numerous once we choose to act and not react.” (pg.
Within the Black Community there are a myriad of stigmas. In Mary Mebane’s essay, “Shades of Black”, she explores her experiences with and opinions of intraracial discrimination, namely the stigmas attached to women, darker skinned women, and blacks of the working class. From her experiences Mebane asserts that the younger generation, those that flourished under and after the Civil Rights Movement, would be free from discriminating attitudes that ruled the earlier generations. Mebane’s opinion of a younger generation was based on the attitudes of many college students during the 1960’s (pars.22), a time where embracing the African culture and promoting the equality of all people were popular ideals among many young people. However, intraracial discrimination has not completely vanished. Many Blacks do not identify the subtle discriminatory undertones attached to the stigmas associated with certain types of Black people, such as poor black people, lighter/darker complexion black people, and the “stereotypical” black man/woman. For many black Americans aged eighteen to twenty-five, discrimination based on skin color, social class, and gender can be blatant.
Nowadays, this concept of using nonviolence is hard to achieve. This is because people think that peaceful protest aren’t effective compared to taking action with their hands. One example is the Blacks Lives Matter Movement. Although there are peaceful protest, there are times when people turn violent against police. This can be counterintuitive since watching these harsh actions by protestors, people start forming negative views about the organization. This leads to people not supporting the cause anymore. Without the support of the public, an organization can’t
Racism has always been a heated topic, and it is well-known that many students of colour still face racism in the form of bullying. However, Derald Wing Sue argues that there is a type of minute racism present in our daily lives. This implicit racism lies in everyday interactions called microaggressions. He defines the concept of microaggressions as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of colour because they belong to a racial minority group” (1). They are everyday messages that are subtle and often unintentional. I will discuss these acts of microaggression with an emphasis on students in a post-secondary White-based environment. That is, a university or college that is predominantly biased towards a White culture.
“Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. Violence may murder the murderer, but it doesn’t murder murder. Violence may murder the liar, but it doesn’t murder lie; it doesn’t establish truth. Violence may even murder the dishonest man, but it doesn’t murder dishonesty. Violence may go to the point of murdering the hater, but it doesn’t murder hate. It may increase hate. It is always a descending spiral leading nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn’t solve any problems.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. (Directly quoted from page 2 of “Quotes About Civil Rights Movement”.) Fourteen year old Emmett Louis Till, was murdered while visiting with relatives in Money, Mississippi. The young boy allegedly flirted with a white sales clerk. Not only was the nation’s reaction, and the bias of the courtroom turbulent factors in the civil rights movement, but the brutality of his murder played a major role as well.
Microaggressions are everyday verbal, visual, or environmental hostilities, slights, insults, and invalidations or mistreatment that occur due to an individual’s race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc. i.e. a citizen of the citizen. The concept of racial microaggressions has been around since the 1970s, but much of the current research is rooted in the work of two professors, Jack Dovidio, Ph.D. (Yale University) and Samuel Gaertner, Ph.D. (University of Delaware), and their explanations of aversive racism. Their research has its foundation in the idea that many well-intentioned Whites consciously believe in and profess equality, but unconsciously act in a racist manner, particularly in ambiguous situations (CITE). In keeping with that foundation, racial microaggressions can be defined as the brief and everyday slights, insults, indignities and denigrating messages sent to people of color by well-intentioned White people who are unaware of the hidden messages being communicated (CITE).
I am currently an English 160 student who is hoping to move on to the next course, which is English 161. I understand the requirements for English 161. It require students to explore a topic in some depth and conduct independent research related to that topic. Conducting research allows students to learn what it is like to participate in academic culture, posing questions about important issues and developing an argument in response to what others have said. It expected students to learn the most valuable skill in college, which is critical thinking. Students have to be able to read challenging readings. Although I still have problems with English, I think I’m qualified to move on.
Police brutality has been an apparent mark on the struggles, trials, and tribulations of people of minorities for years, primarily Black people. From the times of slavery to the present unlawful targeting and murders of black citizens with no justification, police brutality has been an enema in Black American culture for hundreds of years. Seen both in James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” and in the current happenings of the United States. The hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter” has been a focal point in the current struggle for equality of the races. The current outpouring of support for black lives and
Overall, many believe that the undeviating war on racism in today’s society is fueled by police brutality and anti-police violence. Specifically, the Black Lives Matter movement, which is the source of controversy regarding these topics. To summarize, this campaign is “both a hashtag and a political project that formed after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin.” (Miller). Later in the article Chelsea Fuller, senior communications associate at The Advancement Project, a multi-racial civil rights organization, states “The Black Lives Matter movement is to deal with anti-black racism, to “push for black people’s right to live with dignity and respect” and be included in the American democracy that they helped create” (Miller).
Media plays a key role in the cogency of nonviolent actions. Although a select few of the demonstrations have turned into riots, they are not what Black Lives Matter stands for. Social media, television, the internet and other major news outlets have changed the way information is being perceived. When something is posted on the internet, it there for billions to see. Violent protests and actions have been a hot topic in the news lately; these “hot topics” steer the viewpoint of many. When one’s viewpoint is steered toward a negative direction in this, violence, one thinks that is the way to do it. Therefore, violence has been an easier way to resolve issues only because the media highlights as such. The Civil Rights movement was one of the first major televised social campaigns. 48 million Americans would watch the scene in their living rooms, and a few days later, Martin Luther King Jr. would lay bare the movement’s core media strategy. “We will no longer let them use their clubs on us in the dark corners,” he said. “We’re going to make them do it in the glaring light of television” (How Black Lives Matter). Since the Black Lives Matter movement originated as an internet hashtag and evolved into a national movement, the media helped bring this nonviolent enterprise recognition. As long as the media gives more attention towards nonviolent actions, their
As Martin Luther King Junior once wrote, “Nonviolent and direct action seeks to create such creative tension.” This suggests that we do not have to resort to violent outbursts, such as fires set to black churches, or shootings of people because people think they are in the wrong based on their skin color. 40% of adults believe protesting is wrong. A lot of the violence is caused by the protesting of racism. People choose to act in negative ways because they don’t like the way something is. People chooses to stand for
Winston Churchill once stated “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” During my time here at English 180 I saw some improvement in my writing in terms of content. I feel as if I am more capable of writing an essay with better content than I was able to do back in High School. My essays have shown improvement because I did change my style of writing a bit and I added something different every time I wrote a paper. In English 180 we wrote several papers, but each one had a change to fit the certain criteria. Winston Churchill’s quote perfectly describes the purpose of the class English 180. Writing different pieces with a different format and branching out was key in the subjects of our writing assignments.
Coming into this experience, I questioned where I would find my place in the Senate. In 2014 I came here as a page and was able to witness daily floor action, but I never had the opportunity to be a part of day to day office business. I knew I would be at the bottom of the totem pole as an intern, but I wanted to feel as if I was making an impact on Senator Reid’s last year in office. In an office as large as Harry Reid’s it is hard to feel as if you are making an impact. I had the misconception that I would be working closely with him; however, thus far I have only spoken with the Senator one time. Within the first week I readjusted my expectations to try and find my role within the office. I was still doubting the impact I would make here this summer. With the Senator retiring, the office is tending to run particularly slow. When available, work was handed down to us by the Legislative Correspondents. Work primarily consisted of covering hearings, attending briefings, and doing research. When given the opportunity, I have worked as hard as possible to complete tasks to my best ability in hopes of getting more work in the future. As I may
In reflection on my learning experience in the group class, I have gained clarity on what sorts of competencies of facilitating group therapy, as well as in what areas social workers and students tend to feel most strong in my practice. Regarding my specific gains in competencies, I feel that I learned the most and was most likely to gain specific group facilitating competencies at the weekly class. Learning in group class is taught me the tools to use to work with groups therapy, communities and also with individuals through the process of changes. In this past three months I think a lot of opportunities have been created to shadowing with (beside and behind) and being a part of group members to learn. In addition, this class has taught me about the skills and how effectively help