I came to understand myself and others better. I better understand prejudice and its causes as well as how widespread prejudice is and how it is reflected in our media and language. I learned how to communicate better, identify conflicts, and resolve conflicts.I learned how cultural and gender differences can affect communication and sometimes hinder it. I found out the cause of Xenophobia and the effect of the oppression related to Xenophobia. I can now better understand the experience of people of color in the US. I can now better understand about the relationships between the European settlers and the Native Americans. I realized that both the Native Americans and slaves were taken advantage of greatly throughout the early history of the …show more content…
The readings told me the statistics regarding certain issues. The readings also gave a good idea of how each matter came to be what we see today. The chapters would go through a brief history of the particular issue and indicate the major milestones which have occurred up to this point in time. The readings told about how xenophobic attitudes have promoted violent behavior and that immigrant families tend to lose their native languages. The readings also told of the ways nativists kept Mexicans from immigrating and what the experience was for Mexicans that did immigrate to the US. The book also told of the rise and fall of anti-catholicism and anti-semitism. The book tells of the practice of being “color blind”, where the color of people’s skin is ignored by others. Regarding this issue, the book talks about the controversy of denying pigment differences and how it can send a negative message. The book indicates that some feel this practice simply causes people to pretend those of color are white. The readings told about the ways racism is taught in our schools and how society reinforces the cultural
Overall, I feel enlightened by the new information and history I have learned in the past few months and at the museum. I can now embrace and express my Chicano background, knowing my history and make sure we don’t take anything for granted.
This allowed readers to experience horrible acts of white people and to empathize with the innocent victims. However, Rankine criticizes the people of the United States for their attitudes and behaviors towards African-Americans. Particularly, the author claimed that “as citizens, we are all involved in society’s indignities and injustices, whether as perpetrator or bystander consciously or unthinkingly” (Evaristo 1). Thus, the book challenges people’s perceptions and beliefs, compelling them to reevaluate their actions. The readers begin to understand that their tolerance of violence and lack of actions to prevent racism contributes to injustices in the United States. Rankine even implied that “freedom of expression, something which the accumulative stresses of racial violence would seem to attempt to limit” blocks and alters “his or her experience of citizenship” (Day 3). Therefore, the citizens need to get involved in supporting and protecting African-Americans’ lives, who are loyal residents of the nation as
In “Once Upon a Quinceanera” Julia Alvarez follows the Hispanic coming of age tradition for females to explore how evolution of culture has shifted throughout generations. By doing this Alvarez discovers perceptions are influenced by cross cultural boundaries. In “Leave Your Name at the Border” Manuel Munoz, discusses the barriers between Mexicans and Americans when it comes to language and how it affects future generations. He does this by acknowledging socially expected norms for Mexican Americans in public and the tensions created when assimilating to such norms between a non-dominant and dominant group. In “What’s Black, Then White, and Said All Over,” Leslie Savan discusses how black talk and pop talk is connected because white people
This book was published in 1981 with an immense elaboration of media hype. This is a story of a young Mexican American who felt disgusted with being pointed out as a minority and was unhappy with affirmative action programs although he had gained advantages from them. He acknowledged the gap that was created between him and his parents as the penalty immigrants ought to pay to develop and grow into American culture. And he confessed that he was bewildered to see other Hispanic teachers and students determined to preserve their ethnicity and traditions by asking for such issues to be dealt with as departments of Chicano studies and minority literature classes. A lot of critics criticized him as a defector of his heritage, but there are a few who believed him to be a sober vote in opposition to the political intemperance of the 1960s and 1970s.
Skin colour means nothing but identity. Many people use it to discriminate against others whereas they have equal intelligence and sometimes the person being discriminated upon could be having sharper brains. This book is also written for kids and immigrants to learn more about the past of where they live. I recommend that every person should see the other as a partner but not as superior to the other and that there will not be any discrimination in our society.
From beginning to end the reader is bombarded with all kinds of racism and discrimination described in horrific detail by the author. His move from Virginia to Indiana opened a door to endless threats of violence and ridicule directed towards him because of his racial background. For example, Williams encountered a form of racism known as modern racism as a student at Garfield Elementary School. He was up to win an academic achievement prize, yet had no way of actually winning the award because ?The prize did not go to Negroes. Just like in Louisville, there were things and places for whites only? (Williams, 126). This form of prejudice is known as modern racism because the prejudice surfaces in a subtle, safe and socially acceptable way that is easy to rationalize.
The readings were insightful and had interesting approaches to Negro mood. They had many emotional elements that were for the readers understanding of the different situations Negroes faced. When looking at the writings collectively they create a timeline. The timeline shows the various changes the Negroes mindset has gone through. The reader is exposed to three types of Negroes; one, the compliant Negro who knows his place, two, the Negro with will take his revenge and three, Negro who is conflicted between his desires and his responsibilities to his people.
In reading the first chapter of Ethnic Myth I was instantly lured in with the first sentence. That states this book is dangerous because it clarifies yet rejects all that is known on race, ethnicity, and immigration in the U.S. Race and ethnicity have always been taboo topics. Like discussed in lecture it is not appropriate for someone to come up and ask “What are you? In this reading Steinberg discusses how racial reparations should be demanded however not in the form of cash
Two authors, in particular, will help explore this idea that an immigrant or minority experiencing the trauma of bigotry must in some way attempt to reconcile their own cultural heritage with the demands of a new society that objects to their very cultural difference. James Baldwin and Richard Rodriguez experienced this type of immigrant and minority angst regarding their own ties to their cultural and racial backgrounds. Baldwin struggled with the desire to be a writer, not just a black writer, amidst the chaos and protests of the 1960's political movement and Richard Rodriguez battled between the pull of assimilation and the success it promised and his own feelings of familial betrayal...
Present-day debates over racial issues are often viewed on television or in everyday life. When considering The Souls of Black Folk, the readers in the Twentieth-Century America can draw direct parallels to events, stories, and the stories of those in the past to today. The chapter "Of the Coming Of John" helps us interpret the present inequities in educational opportunities. There is also resentment for affirmative action that has been spoken by the dominant white male that reflects the court decision on affirmative action of modern time. The reader can contemplate the passage of Du Bois' essay to substitute the words "colored" and "Negro" with African-American, Nigger, illegal alien, Mexican, inner-city dwellers, and other meanings that articulate people that are not listed as a majority.
One of the leading Jewish theologians and a philosopher in the 20th century, Abraham Joshua Heschel, once said, "Racism is a man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason." When the word -racism- is mentioned, ever wonder what a person thinks? Racism has been with us throughout eternity and has caused a majority of people in the America to be hurt and feel discriminated. The first people to ever experience this violence was the Native Americans, followed by black Africans and later on to other various degrees (Ponds). To heal racism, expanding ones capacity to experience the reality of others is a way of understanding how it feels to be discriminated because of the differences in race (Honour). Many people believed that the nation was entering into a color-blind society where racism could be healed if not then totally dismissed with the election of Barack Obama as president in 2012 (Ponds). With this prevalent going on in our society, questions arise: how do we teach our children not to be racists? How can we prevent this from going on? Teaching this involves taking one step at a time and going from there to the next level. By evaluating the two articles, "The Myth of the Latin Women," by Judith Ortiz and "Always Living in Spanish" by Marjorie Agosin, we can identify two sources that will help us understand how one can struggle and survive through living in a world full of racism.
They face many issues such as economic instability, depression, loneliness, fear of being alone and feeling betrayed. Children feel depressed in cases like this because even at a young age they know that things are not okay. They also suffer from fear and being betrayed, they suffer fear because they 're scared of what is going to happen to their family since they 're so used to having their family together. Many times children who face this situations feel like they’ve been betrayed because they don’t know why their mother or father have gone away and not came back. The psychologist mentions that it’s very normal for children to feel this way and conduct a different behaviour than usual because just like everyone else they don’t seem to understand
Racism is from a series of books that exploring ideas of social, political, and economic controversies from the national and international views of today. The author purpose for writing a book on racism is to show people different views of racism in America. Jennifer Hurley the author wanted to clear up the debates in current controversies of race problems in America. Some people believe the civil rights movement effectively eliminated racism in American society. Other people believe that racism is still alive and is prominent in African Americans lives, holding them back from their progression in American society. She focused on the history of racism, what was done to resolve the problems in America society, and what we can do towards the future to make the problem even better. She wanted to make an important resource for librarians, teachers, and student for many years to come. Having readers thinking about critical subjects will make their opinionated evaluation on racism enhanced. The author gives us the pros and cons of the issue of racism to have a well rounded ideal of the subject. The author did not just focus on one side of the story but both from the eyes of blacks and whites in America. Which gave it a theme gave it a theme of racism from eyes of all.
The reading had an unexpected impact on me certainly for the way that some controversial social issues were presented. Those issues had a negative impact at that time because at that moment I was struggling to make a difficult decision about my personal life. After dating for three years a different ethnicity person, he asked me to start a family with him. My first response was no because I was afraid to experience some kind of discrimination from his family side or that he could suffer rejection from my family side. Parallel to my situation, my friend who had emigrated from Mexico was recovering from a five years long relationship that she had with a Mexican-American who decided to end the relationship with her because he married an American woman. My...
In this particular group discussion, we discussed the complexity of the readings. We go over certain terms such as racism, systematic forces, internalized oppression, and etc. In most cases, these terms gave students a sense of background for their readings. We also organized dyads for students who were