Just a few days ago, I found a quiz that helped me determine if I showed any bias towards African Americans. Surprisingly, the results concluded that I viewed African Americans and European Americans in an equal manner, but if I was to take this quiz when I was eight years old the results would have been radically different. Ever since I was a little girl, I always had the impression that African Americans were very dangerous people due to the color of their skin. I came to this theory because when I was in second grade, there was a boy in my neighborhood that didn’t have any respect for his peers or elders. He would tease me, harass me, and he even trespassed on another neighbor’s property. I was scarred by this event in my life, and I rarely viewed African Americans in a positive way. However, this past summer changed my whole entire perspective.
To start off, I was a part of a mission trip known as “Surge,” and our mission consisted of going to Evergreen Terrace in Downtown Joliet and leading a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the kids. I was assigned to help teach basketball to a group of boys in the morning, and then I taught dance to a few girls in the afternoon. I was completely overwhelmed with fear and anxiety because I had no idea how I would relate with these kids since they were black. The time came for our VBS to start, and it was a
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Over the course of this mission trip, I was able to meet many wonderful, unique, and important children, and they demonstrated that race doesn’t define a person; it’s the choices a person makes, how they are influenced in society, and the special talents a person has that represents who they are today. Can you even imagine what our society would be like if we didn’t focus on race? I am very thankful that I was able to work with these children because I learned that everyone is unique in their own way, no matter what the color of their skin
In class, we watched a film called Ethnic Notions. In this film, it brought to light how devastating and powerful images can be. Due to exaggerated images and caricatures created pre-civil war era of black men and women, stereotypes were created and have negatively affected the black race in society. Caricatures, such as the Sambo, Zip Coon, Mammy, and Brute, have unfortunately been engrained in the minds of generations. So much so their stereotypes still persist today.
In this article the author shares his experiences on racism throughout his life. As the author goes in to detail about his first encounter of racism from what he called a “well- taught baby racist” he presents an ugly setting. As children, we tend to imitate what we see and hear around us, evaluating the safe and unsafe places, people, and things. We determine and define our identities based on interactions with others. Dr. Jackson goes on to describe a time when he was in grade school which majority of the students were Caucasian seemed to be highly infatuated with the texture and tone of his skin as well as his hair.
When speaking about the topic of race even today, it is a sore subject among all Americans. The history of race in America has been a long and trying road, one that most Americans tend to ignore and attempt to gloss over. The book, How Race Survived U.S. History by David Roediger, goes into great detail about how discrimination towards others that we deem different than us has always been in American history, and shows no sign of going away anytime soon. In fact, Roediger states that, “race-thinking will survive and in new destructive permutations” (230). The main points of the book include that: race was gradual, discrimination was not only against those of African descent, and that progress has only
Both authors have taken the deliberative to uncover the unconscious phenomenon that controls and affects how people interact, make perceptions, assumptions and even decisions in life. Most of these biases that people tend to have against other races are shaped and reinforced by one’s surroundings and experiences. It is therefore important expose these biases so as to grow as a society and extinguish the white privileges. Unless America is ready to face the truth about the existing biases, racial tensions and incidences will continue to
It is an accepted notion that race does not define an individual. However, it is an ideology that people have to deal with due to society’s nature. After the collapse of Jim Crow’s laws, race was not supposed to be a limiting factor on any individual in the United States. It had been widely accepted that it was nothing more than a myth. However, due to past transgressions, measures were put in place to ensure that people of color who had been harmed by segregation policies had easy access to tools that would better their lives. The fact that society believes that race is nothing more than a myth blinds people to the racial injustices that still take place. For instance, black people are six times more likely to be imprisoned than whites are. Moreover, three out of every four white persons do not have black friends. The opposite is true for two out of every three persons of African descent (Stockman). Nonetheless, the term race is slowly losing its meaning. A portion of society believes that being black will get you killed, while the other is of the opinion that it gets you a free pass to college. Despite the fact that that racism is a myth, there is still the unbearable truth that racial issues are present with little change on the
Racism has been a huge problem throughout the United States and every individual struggles with the unproductive messages of racism that is being passed on through from larger societies. Many people suffered from this in silence and it is what hits the hardest on children and youth who lack the life experience to understa...
As an African American male, I experienced inequality, and judgment from individuals that have no idea what kind of person I truly am. As a youth, I received a lackluster education, which has resulted in me underachieving in a number of my college classes. It has come to my attention that other colored students are currently experiencing and receiving the same inadequate learning environment and educatio...
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Stereotypes are created in today’s society for people who are deemed as different, not dominant, or unprivileged. Those who do not fall into a stereotype are often seen as privileged. One of the largest, and longest lived stereotype is race, specifically those who are African American. It is seen as a privilege to be viewed and treated as a white person, while those who fall into any other race are viewed and treated as being different. Recently, I have become very aware of difficulties facing the minorities. Before I witnessed an incident, I had been blind to the fact that there are privileges and so many stereotypes in today’s society. This blindness that I was experiencing, however, “is an aspect of privilege itself, … ‘the luxury of obliviousness’”
Whether they are large or small, everyone has goals. In Melody Hobson’s “Color Blind or Color Brave” Ted Talk, she gave a presentation on the sensitive topic of race. Melody explained that if she chose to focus
After making the difficult decision of moving out from a school I called home and attended since Kindergarten, my freshman year in a new environment made for a rocky start. I fell into the wrong crowd, tried getting out, but kept making bad decisions, which eventually led to a deep depression. My dreams I had as a child were fading before my eyes, and negative thoughts consumed my mind. I started to believe that I had no purpose and could never amount to anything, but the four days at Camp Barnabas in Missouri changed the course of my entire life. This experience was important to me and helped sculpt me into the person I am today.
People in America are not all seen as equal, and this is especially true when it comes to people of color. According to “Theories and Constructs of Race” by Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe: “The continuous racial targeting of people of color and the privileging of whites, along with the misinformation about race passed along from one generation to the next and reinforced through the media, has imbued people of all races with a distorted sense of personal and group identity” (Holtzman and Sharpe 604). This quote means that people of color are often targeted in a negative way, which shows that racism and discrimination is something that can be passed down or learned from the media. Today, there are people who still think minorities are inferior based on the color of their skin. “Theories and Constructs of Race” also mentions how from an early age, minorities become the target for racism, blame, and overall hatred. According to “Theories and Constructs of Race” by Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe: “The myth of racial inferiority and superiority has been upheld not only by physical violence and discriminatory policies but also by the psychological violence conveyed through stereotyping and racist messaging” (Holtzman and Sharpe 604). This quote means that minorities are constantly targeted both physically and psychologically, which shows that inequality is a “monster” due to the damage it causes to individuals on multiple levels. Racism can also lead to internalized racism, which causes individuals to adapt a self-deprecating attitude and engage in self-destructive behavior. Furthermore, hate, racism, and discrimination often result from people not understanding that not everyone is offered the same opportunities due to the lack of
Since the colonization of what was to become the United States of America, the injustice of racial prejudice has been a prominent characteristic of this country. As a result, Blacks and other Americans of color are often, if not always, victims of racial profiling and despite many efforts to achieve racial equality, prejudiced mindsets have remained with some people well into the 21st century. Consequently, this has prompted many Blacks to go to questionably extreme measure to protect their children from potentially becoming another casualty of racial discrimination. Many have chosen to just ignore the problem, however the reluctance to speak out against racial injustices only shows weakness among Blacks and other Americans of color.
Experiences of racial discrimination start from the time of adolescence and continue to the time of adulthood. Due to the fact that racial discrimination is long term, it can mentally tramatize and physically harm African Americans (Harrell, 2000). There are various aspects to racism, thus it is defined in many ways. In this current study, racism is defined as one racial group dominating another racial group and viewing the dominated group as lesser and inferior. As a result of this inferiority, the lower group does not have access to the same society resources as the high group (Harrell, 2000). Some evidence documents that adolescents' reports of personal racial discrimination are associated with externalizing behaviors and internalizing behaviors, including anger, aggressive behavior, delinquency, depression and anxiety (Lambert et al., 2009). Racial identity has been considered to understand associations between racial discrimination and outcomes. This current study looks at the importance of specifically racial identity as opposed to social
Now that we have explored my past, present, and future experiences with diversity, it is time to see how they are present within and effect each other. Firstly, let’s look into how my future is present in my past. The most obvious portion of my future that is in my past is my willingness and efforts to love and include everyone and to spread this world view. It took a fellow classmate of mine to demonstrate to my third grade self that we are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated as such. In my future, I aspire to demonstrate this world view to my students and inspire them to treat each other accordingly. This aspiration directly reflects my world view struggles I went through in third grade, for I want to help my students come to