Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Importance of education in the community
African american culture summary
African american culture summary
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about the conflict between the streets and the school system that young black Americans had to deal with. Coates describes how black people have to survive in their respective conditions in America before they ever even have the chance to escape the streets. The core principle of the culture of black Americans growing up in cities is primarily just to secure their body, and survive. Coates further goes on to describe the everyday conditions of the streets. He writes that no one survives unscathed. Any given day can essentially turn into a near death experience, and some people become addicted to this “thrill.” These were the people who turned their fear into aggression, and were the ones that were the threat to others. …show more content…
Coates writes, “Fail to comprehend the streets and you gave up your body now, but fail to comprehend the schools and you gave up your body later” (25). Coates resented the schools just as much as he resented the streets, just because what he learned at school couldn’t be applied to anything in his life. He uses his French class as an example; it is just unnecessary for a black man in America to learn French. Furthermore, Coates explains that school was merely an escape from the streets rather than a place to educate yourself and think about improving yourself for your future. The schools concealed the truths of the world more than revealing them to students. Coates uses the powerful statistic of 60% of all black men who drop out of high school will end up in jail. This represents all the people that protected their bodies from the streets rather than from the schools. Black people were stuck, not being violent enough could cost them their body and being too violent could also cost them their body. If one failed in the streets, he would get killed, if one failed in the school system, he would get sent back to the streets, and get killed, there was no
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.
The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.
While growing up in the midst of a restrictive world, education becomes the rubicon between a guileless soul and adulthood. In the excerpt from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois provides a roadmap for African Americans to discover and understand themselves through the pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity. The excerpt is a significant part of the essay because it also speaks for the modern day pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity, an indispensable path into finding one’s self.
While Sanders’ narrative primarily focuses on the Child Development Group of Mississippi, Black Mississippians historically valued education and focused careful attention to the construction of education systems that empowered Black children in disenfranchised social systems. Their vision was clear; Black students should have access to high quality, free education that exists outside of white supremacist regulations, but also empowers those students to navigate the volatile systems of power that pervade American society. According to Sanders, “Black parents focused not on the idea of their children sitting in classrooms with white students, but rather on their children’s right to an equal education,” (2016, p. 12). Thus, Black communities in Mississippi understood “good education” not as integrated schools, but schools that directly served the various needs of the children in their
Brent Staples was one of nine African American children born into the Staples family in Chester, Pennsylvania. He and his family were witnesses to Chester becoming victim to the slums after the city closed some of it’s major industries. As a former reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, he worked his way up a few positions to the assistant metropolitan editor of The New York Times Book Review. In 1994, he published his memoir, Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White. One of his most moving pieces is his essay on the stereotypical views of the average African American Male entitled, “Black Men and Public Space.” It was first published in Harper’s Magazine in 1986. This essay shows not only the average African American male’s thoughts while simply walking down the street at night, but he somewhat explains that he also understands what is going through the mind of the average white by passers as they are forced to cross each other’s paths in the dead of night.
He believes that because of what past generations have endured and the lack of freedom that was given to blacks, they were not provided the same rights and were looked at as inferior human beings. Social matters, such as mass incarceration of blacks and the idea that black people are criminals, stem from the disparity between races as explained by Coates who emphasizes, “blacks who could not find work were labeled vagrants and sent to jail, where they were leased as labor to the very people who had once enslaved them” (Coates). The situation did not change even when they were freed from enslavement as blacks were not able to live the same as the white people. This reinforced blacks being inferior as they were not given the same opportunities as white people had. To this day, many black men looking for jobs struggle with the same disadvantages that existed years ago. They are targeted by the criminal justice system, and once they have a criminal history, it is hard for them to find jobs. Unfortunately, even with a clean record it is still difficult for black men to find jobs since, “the job market in America regards black men who have never been criminals as though they were” (Coates). Coates draws parallels between incarceration and slavery, but also provides explanation as to why minorities find themselves with certain unequal and employment
Living in an environment where the crime rate is relatively low Dreamers do not worry about the daily protection of their bodies leaving room for their minds to be open to explore all life has to offer. Albert Einstein once wrote, “Education is not the learning of facts but the mind to think.” Being an educated black person is not always connected to background, many of the most success people living today have rags to riches story, yet what sets the black dreamers apart is their talk, their address and even at times their looks. Black dreamers’s protection lies in their voice, “You speak very eloquently to be black.” Or in plainer terms, “You talk like a white person.” A black dreamers’ protection lies in their state of dress, for who is going to gun down a man in a suit? When Coates describes his wife’s upbringing he says, “Perhaps it was because she was raised in the physical borders of such a place, because she lived in proximity with the Dreamers. Perhaps it was because the people who thought they were white told her she was smart and followed this up by telling her she was not really black, meaning it as a compliment.” (p.116) These are the people who become caught up in being black but not black enough to be subjected to police brutality. Bell Hooks writes in her essay Gangsta Culture, “On mass media screens today, whether
The American society, more so, the victims and the government have assumed that racism in education is an obvious issue and no lasting solution that can curb the habit. On the contrary, this is a matter of concern in the modern era that attracts the concern of the government and the victims of African-Americans. Considering that all humans deserve the right to equal education. Again, the point here that there is racial discrimination in education in Baltimore, and it should interest those affected such as the African Americans as well as the interested bodies responsible for the delivery of equitable education, as well as the government. Beyond this limited audience, on the other hand, the argument should address any individual in the society concerned about racism in education in Baltimore and the American Society in
Much like the adage, prevention is better than cure many African American parents hoped to prevent an incident in which their child would be disciplined by America. In this attempt the parents would make certain that their child is disciplined beforehand. The method used was physical discipline, a lower wrong than the discipline of America. While reminiscing of the first time his father disciplined him physically, Coates recalls that “Maybe that saved [him]. Maybe it didn’t” (16). As a child one cannot fully grasp the gravity and pain of a parent beating their child. It is only once Coates becomes a parent himself that he understood the complexities of being a parent of a child of color. Coates articulates, “Now I personally understood my father and the old mantra— ‘Either I can beat you or the police.’ I understood it all… Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have and you come to us endangered” (82). Coates, now an adult understood both the love and fear in which his father had when beating him. Additionally, Coates, from his experiences in his childhood understood the growing up as an African American male in America is dangerous and unforgiving. Police brutality is the strong arm in which America uses to discipline young African American teen who fail to comply with their requests. Cooper makes note of this use of brutality by America when she discusses the death of Michael Brown at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson. Cooper
He explains the fear he felt towards both the police and the streets where he must always be on guard and depend solely on himself because both groups threatened physical harm. He also feared the rules of code-switching to meet the clashing social norms of the streets, the authorities, and the professional world. Ta-Nehisi’s uses his experience here and he compares street life to suburban life. Coates calls suburban life "the Dream" in that it is “an exclusionary fantasy for white people enabled by and largely ignorant of their history of privilege and suppression.” (Part III Coates) To rethink and reconsider what white people gained from slavery, segregation, and voter suppression would shatter that Dream they “built”. At the end of Between the World and Me, there is a story of Mabel Jones, who worked hard in an effort to move social classes from the daughter of a sharecropper to give her children comfortable lives with private schools and European trips. Mabel’s son and Ta-Nehisi Coates' college friend, Prince Carmen Jones Jr., was mistakenly tracked and killed by a policeman. Coates uses this story to argue that race related attacks against African Americans affect black people of social classes as
In the article, “A Letter My Son,” Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes both ethical and pathetic appeal to address his audience in a personable manner. The purpose of this article is to enlighten the audience, and in particular his son, on what it looks like, feels like, and means to be encompassed in his black body through a series of personal anecdotes and self-reflection on what it means to be black. In comparison, Coates goes a step further and analyzes how a black body moves and is perceived in a world that is centered on whiteness. This is established in the first half of the text when the author states that,“white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence,”
“To see injustice and do nothing about that means to participate in it (Jean-Jacquees Rousseau)”. In the poem, “My life passed me by” written by Nate Spears, he talked about the tragedy involving Trayvon Martin. Additionally, Trayvon’s life was shortened at the age of seventeen. Hence, Trayvon’s dreams were shattered when he was shot in the chest. Namely, shot, for carrying a bag of skittles. Furthermore, society has a perception that the average African-American male is looked at as someone who is dangerous or wants to do harm. Not to mention, this often can be determined just based off what an individual wears. For an example, an individual who wears a hooded jacket. However, not every black male conceals the same demeanor.
Brent Staples focuses on his own experiences, which center around his perspective of racism and inequality. This perspective uniquely encapsulates the life of a black man with an outer image that directly affects how others perceive him as a person. Many readers, including myself, have never experienced the fear that Staples encounters so frequently. The severity of his experiences was highlighted for me when he wrote, “It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (135) Having to accept that fact as a reality is something that many people will never understand. It is monumentally important that Staples was able to share this perspective of the world so others could begin to comprehend society from a viewpoint different from their
The novel begins with the protagonist describing a scene in which he had engaged in a fight. “One night I accidentally bumped into a man, and perhaps because of the near darkness he saw me and called me an insulting name. (4)” This quote is significant because it shows imagery on how people within the society treat people of a different race. They also view these people as aggressive “thugs”. Over the littlest problems, people are willing to get into physical altercations just to yell out a few insulting names. Having this mentality in a society can cause the group of people being attacked to oppose to their ethical views. “Because I felt that only these men could judge truly my ability…(25).” In this case, the white men in the society attempt to brainwash the black people into thinking only their opinion of them is worthy of
Throughout his book, Between The World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates refrains from calling white people “white”. Rather, he refers to individuals who are not black as “dreamers” who “believe themselves white”. This deliberate phrasing sheds light on the notion that race, racism, and stereotypical racial identities are a social construct. While black Americans share a distinct historical, there is no biological or innate characteristic that constructs a person of a given race to act in accordance to the group they physically resemble. In this sense, the myth of the idealized “white” versus the image of the criminal, subordinated “black”, are fundamentally fictional constructs that were created with the motivation to insure hierarchal power and a