In our culture there are many things that people do without question. Some things if deviated from, are very frowned upon and most everyone knows they must follow along to these things. Some examples of this are waving hello and goodbye, shaking hands with someone you’re greeting, and holding the door for the person behind you. In America we also celebrate many holidays that have essentially lost their true meaning. Christmas has been changed from the birth of Jesus Christ to the giving and receiving of gifts, family gathering, advertisements and food. Thanksgiving, this in most homes has nothing to do with religion anymore, just food. There’s a mother’s day, father’s day, memorial and Independence Day, Valentine’s Day. One thing we Americans supposedly “celebrate” is black history and women’s history months. These months are truly condescending because it’s as if we are saying that all other months of the year, these people are not really important. I think that we should have never begun celebrating women’s and black history months. The isolation of one certain month to observe a c...
By 1980, the majority of immigrants in America came from Asia and Latin America, with over 30,000 immigrating from China (Tindall 1344). Many of these Chinese immigrants arrived to experience a democracy immediately following the Communist victory in 1949, while others simply came to seek higher education for subjects they could not pursue in a developing country, each reason fueled by a desire to achieve the American Dream (Liu). Despite the promise of the American Dream, children of Chinese immigrants suffer from many problems arising from the many stereotypes and their misrepresentation as a “model minority” by native-born Americans. Amy Tan exemplifies this discrepancy between Chinese and American views on Chinese American children in The Joy Luck Club.
The film Do the Right Thing is a film written, produced, and directed by Spike Lee. In the film the main character is Mookie, is played by Spike Lee. Mookie is a black male in his younger twenties who delivers for the neighborhood pizza parlor Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. The film takes place in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, also known as Bed Stuy. Throughout the movie we do not know if the weather plays a role in the story, but the tension between racial groups’ increases. We see tension increase within the Blacks and Hispanics, Blacks and Asians, and most importantly between the Blacks and Whites (Italian.) Sal 's Famous Pizzeria is a pizza parlor in the neighborhood that many of the kids in the area grew up eating.
The existence of segregation is a cultural and moral issue that has played a crucial role in the decisions made by Texas legislature. Russell W. Ruberger and Gregory J. Palardy, authors of Does Segregation Still Matter? The Impact of Student Composition on Academic Achievement in High School, found that school segregation in America has caused an injustice to students in the public education system because of a lack of equal and fair opportunity based on information from an extensive study, the Coleman report, which was published 12 years ago preceding
Forty-seven years ago the Civil Rights Act was passed to end racial discrimination in America. And later on the 24th Amendment to poll taxes, then the Voting Rights Act to allow every man to vote and not be discriminated against. Black Power, the Nation of Islam, and the Southern Christian Leadership conference were just some of the groups that tried to end segregation and promote the African American race. Although these groups did help end it, it still exists in today’s world and many studies have been done to prove it in the past couple of years.
In Henry Lewis Gates’ article, The Debate Has Been Miscast from the Start, he reveals the advantages to having multiculturalism in the curriculum of America’s schools. He would argue that in order to create true diversity and understanding of cultural differences, the nation must provide its students with a wide array of opportunities to understand other cultures besides their own. Peggy McIntosh takes on a similar situation when she takes into consideration how she was taught diversity in schools as a child. She claims that dominance of the white race is unconsciously supported. She also describes how she did not receive the right kind of education that would teach her how to be aware of racism and how to be aware of her privileges as a white person. McIntosh desires change in the way that students are taught racism and the best way to accomplish this is for schools to incorporate multiculturalism into curriculum. If this is accomplished, future generations have the ability to be aware of cultural differences and they would be less likely to be perpetrators of color blind racism.
From its origin, California has idealized to be the place which provided hope and a future for all ethnicities. Pervasive discrimination and prejudice flourished in the south, which led racialized groups and immigrants to head to this west coast state with the help of the transcontinental railroad and appeal of the gold rush. However, the white supremacy sentiment was not entirely left behind, as the white anglo-christian pushed to differentiate themselves from those who were “uncivilized and heathen” (Almaguer, 8). The definition whiteness was entirely subjective as public opinion continually changed from the 19th to 20th century. At one point, a Mexican could would possess more whiteness than a black based on skin color, even though the latter was an assimilated citizen with Christian values. Although diversity is typically seen as a positive reform, whites felt an entitlement of superiority. They decreased the progress of racial liberalism that progressed towards equal opportunity and dismantling of legalized segregation. Underlying the concept that race was socially constructed, racialized groups were placed into an hierarchy with an imbalance of power given to Caucasians and injustices for minorities. The influence of small political parties and popular sentiment on large scale legislation was the key power in the creation of ubiquitous segregation in California. Despite the unjust ordinances against racialized groups, community organizations aided individuals in fighting the structural barriers that kept them subordinate.
Linda Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas advocated the need for change in America in the mid 20th century. America was a country in turmoil, after many futile efforts to make social change had failed but Linda Brown’s groundbreaking case pushed America in the right direction.
The African-American people get a whole month to celebrate their rich history, but what about the other ethnic groups that live in America, including the Asian-Americans, Native-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and European-Americans. Why don’t these ethnic groups deserve there own month, have they not played an important role in American history, what makes the African-Americans extra special to deserve their own month. One may say that the African-Americans was taken from their homeland, lived in slavery and segregation, which is all true, but that was a long time ago and this country has moved forward and passed laws to end slavery and segregation of the African-Americans. Even though, they left their homeland of Africa unwillingly by means of purchase or trade by their own people, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because America is doing far better off than Africa, due to the poverty and disease. On the other hand, the Native-Americans are the most deserving ethnic group to have their own history month. If the African-Americans think they had a terrible past, they need to look at the Native-Americans horrific past. The Native-Americans were the first people to populate the American domain, until the European-Americans started settling the lands and nearly wiped out the entire Native-American race, along with taken all of their homeland away from them. Providing that, the Native-Americans only make up a little over one percent of today’s population. For instance, if one went inside a restaurant and looks around, the chances of seeing a full-blooded Native-American family having dinner together are slim to none. Anyhow, all five of the American ethnic groups have contributed to the American society throughout the years and having only one ethnic group get their own month is preposterousness and
Self and other are social binaries that have generated racial exclusion of non-whites; predominantly blacks. Racial exclusion is shown through the practice of xenophobic attitudes towards blacks. It is that this xenophobic attitudes aroused through the stereotypes generated to be the ideal black person possess uncivilised features, lips of a rapist, hairy, violent, and naked (OTHERNESS ARTICLE).Negative connotations are attached to these un-humane like features. It conjures an image of a beast like creature that is perceived through Christianity as a devil resulting in racial exclusion to blacks (BLACK IS NOT BEAUTIFUL). The othering of black is exemplified through the alienation of an African female in London and Paris in 1810. She was placed
Discrimination. Intersecting identities. Domination. In today’s society, people criticize in others of their race, gender, abilities, age, etc., as those certain people are trying to destroy our humanity. Creating this situation in the social society, will affect the social, political, and economic factors in various countries, also starting a war between different race or ethnicity. The role of being diversity in modern society, gives people to communicate better and have more confidence to express our opinions or beliefs. Intersectionality, is a study of interaction between different groups with distinct aspects/appearances, in which they’re consider as inequality or discrimination, as it relates to my privileged life for being a Hispanic, low class, and educated male.
It was an ongoing issue even after the slaves were emancipated and the amendments 13, 14 and 15 were added to the constitution. “...struggles to secure federal protection of these rights continued during the next century.”(“American civil rights movement.”Clayborne Carson). Due to the fact that abolishing racial inequality was a difficult task, there were Civil Rights leaders that led the Civil Right Movement in the 1960’s. The term “De Facto Segregation” means racial segregation in public schools, which was a major issue that arrived during this time period. Slaves were freed, meaning that they were given to (or at least were supposed to) the same rights as the whites. Due to Jim Crow laws, people with colored skin were equal but separated from the whites. There was different seating in public transportation, different restaurants, different bathrooms, etc. Colored people were given the same rights but white people refused to share anything in public with them, including school. This became a major issue and at one point was brought to the Supreme Court. In the Brown v. Board of Education case, judge Marshall stated that “...separate school systems for blacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus violate the "equal protection clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”(“History-Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment” United States Courts). The court declared that having segregated schools was unjust. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, a law that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex or race when hiring, promoting or firing people. In 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights law, prohibiting any racial discrimination in voting. America seemed to be on the right path during this time and equality was on its way, luckily with help from certain leaders the process was
Once a school system drops their efforts to integrate schools, the schools in low-income neighborhood are left to suffer; not to mention that segregation in schools leads, not only to the neglect of schools, but the neglect of students as well. Resegregation quite literally divides the public schools into two groups “the good schools”, that are well funded, and “the bad schools”, that receive a fraction of the benefits-- more often than not the groups are alternatively labeled as “the white schools” and “the black schools” (and/or hispanic). Opportunities for the neglected students diminish significantly without certain career specific qualifications that quality education can provide-- they can’t rise above the forces that are keeping them in their situation.
Sit-in- A sit-in, in reference to The American Civil Rights Movement, is an event in which African-Americans would go to whites only restaurants and would not leave until they were served. This was a way African-Americans would show their discontent with segregation in society. By doing this, they were saying they wanted to be able to eat in the same restaurants as Caucasians. Sit-ins were not just about eating in the same restaurants, African-Americans wanted to be permitted to use all the same businesses as Caucasians. Often times, African-Americans who were conducting a sit-in were harassed. Sit-ins were another way African-Americans would express discontent with segregation. Sit-ins were a way African-Americans would make the point they wanted immigration, just like “the Nine” did by going to Central High School. Melba and the rest of “the Nine” were, in a way, performing a sit-in by going to Central. They went to Central and did not want to leave until they were taught and had graduated (most of “the Nine” did have to leave for their own safety, even though they did not necessarily want to). This can be compared to African-Americans entering a restaurant and not leaving until they received service. In both cases, integrationists went into a public facility and didn’t leave until serviced (food or education) or forced to leave.
A social inequality that I would say I’m concerned with would be, racial and ethnic inequality. Racial or ethnic inequality is often established based on characteristics such as skin color and other physical characteristics, or a person’s place of origin or culture. Another meaning of racial inequality would be the advantages and disadvantages that affect different races within the Unites States. Race has become a socially constructed category capable of restricting or enabling social status. Racial inequality can lead to diminished opportunities, which can also lead to cycles of poverty and political problems. With this minority members in a society can result in discriminating actions such as; exclusion, oppression, expulsion, and extermination.
Many holidays are celebrated around the world, and all of them follow a different set of ideologies. Some ideologies may be religious, political,