Critical Analysis Of Shepard Fairey's We The People

Despite our founding principle that “all men are created equal” (Jefferson), American life isn’t characterized by equality or fairness. Although we acknowledge that each member of humanity bears equal value, we fail to provide them with such equality in life. Racism and anti-immigrant sentiment are two factors that prevent America from being equal. Frederick Douglass identified this gap between value and reality for Americans when he found himself “not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary” (¶3) of the Fourth of July, “a day that reveals to [the American

America is a nation “from many, one” as stated in our country’s original motto. We pride ourselves on the granted equal opportunity and freedom afforded to each citizen. But are these premises held true and adequately carried out? My answer is a resounding no! Our country’s intricate history provides us with the foundation that explains why and how discrimination has infiltrated and given the upper hand to the white race that has dominated the American society, while suppressing races of color. Dating back to the discovery of the new world we know as the contemporary United States, the African American race has been segregated and mistreated as exemplified through

We have all sat through multiple history classes and learned about slavery, segregation, and the Civil War. We have all seen brutal movies and presentations based on racial injustices and the lack of equality. So often, we forget that these issues are still so present in our community. Slavery is illegal in the United States but other forms of racial profiling, insensitivity, and racism continue to be a recurring social barrier. Racism is still very much alive. The United States is “equal” yet somehow segregated. There isn’t quite a quick fix to this problem. Clearly, this has been an ongoing issue and requires major progression in our personal global

America’s history is overrun with oppression and injustice based on race, ethnicity, and other traits that innocent victims have no control over. As a result, the reputation of the United States is forever tainted by it’s dark past, and still practices these surviving habits of hatred. Civil liberty issues faced since the establishment of the country have yet to be resolved because of the ever-present mistreatment, corruption in positions of authority, and the dehumanization of minorities.

Throughout history, there has been immense cases of bias and prejudice. This resulted in anything from segregation to mass genocide. In both, Okita's Response to Executive Order 9066, and Cisneros's Mericans, these prejudice fears are addressed. Americans who were not white or Anglo-Saxon were all classified as un-American. In both Okita's poem and Cisneros's story, it's shown that American identity did not depend on one's individuality but on one's majority. No matter one's race or heritage, they should only be judged upon the content of their character and not upon their skin tone.

One of the most interesting things about a culture is the voice of the people. In the United States, the American Voice is the combined voices of the people who live in America and the mixing of thousands of different perspectives and ideas. The natural mixing of American culture leads to change whether for better or for worse, as time goes on, so does America and the American people. American literature commonly has strong themes of unity and equality. The clearest way to see the voice of a culture is through its literature, essays by american authors like The Declaration of Independance, Ain’t I a Woman, and Letters from Birmingham Jail.

The Declaration of Independence declares, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This document is part of the foundation which the American people stand upon. All men were said to be created equal, and while this was God’s intention, many people do not act this way when it comes to race relations. Many people treat people of color as if they are not equal to white people in almost all aspects of everyday life. Nikki Giovanni’s Chasing Utopia and Claudia Rankine’s Citizen have a meaningful conversation about what God’s intentions for race relations were, and what the world has made the social norm.

Throughout history, there has been discrimination against race, religion, gender, orientation, age, among many other things. From the British preventing the colonists’ rights to the “separate but equal” doctrine people used to justify discrimination against African Americans, America has had its fair share of it. After years of the mockery of equality that African Americans had, change was needed. Out of the thousands of voices who brought the winds of change, that were heard the most were: Martin Luther King Jr., for convincing people to join their cause; Thurgood Marshall, who used the law to get people to listen to their voices; and the Silent Majority, for without them, freedom would never truly ring from every mountainside.

The United States of America is known as a country of independence, liberty, and rights; within the lines of our national anthem the Stars Spangled Banner, it is clear to see how the phrases "the land of the free and home of the brave", symbolize the ideals that have been centralized into the American Society for hundreds of years. Despite being recognized as a world power; for its military structure and the "believed" system of possibilities in terms of self advancement, the United States of America houses a very dark and inhumane secret; a sociological failure that perhaps is called that way, given the as a nation, we neglect, fail to address, and persecute those that because of their inherited skin color, look different than the accepted sociological norm of whiteness. It is shameful, to me at least, that the term "American" is a representation of the world 's largest incarceration rate; it’s even more shameful, how we prosecute, isolate, and declare what President Nixon once believed was the proper measure to take on poor communities; the war on drugs. For hundreds of years, we as a country have idealized with what Mustafa Emirbayer & Matthew Desmond have identified in their book Racial Domination, Racial Progress the Sociology of Race in America, as a mistake; mistake that has cost thousands of minorities their reputations and has impacted not only their tranquility, but their overall success rate in the promised land of opportunities.

In today’s time, the United States of America have drifted off its course of trying to reach a utopia. Social problems are rising for many people of color and non-color people. The problems have been illuminated in politics, education, employment, and social media. Problems such as discrimination of a certain group of people, and economic hardship are the most common issues. Reflecting back on America’s history, America has had a long history of white versus black ever since the slavery era, which took place during the time of the civil war. Ever since then, the United States have striven and persevere to change its society ethics. But, America is now slowly shifting back to a world where white supremacy and people of color are immensely separated

Human being are not cold blooded animal and nobody is definitely indifferent. Therefore, authors always write down words to arouse readers’ enthusiasm or fervor gradually. Pathos work as the same way, which let readers get moved by emotion weapon. We can find many pathos devices in this well-known speech. “The real hero of this struggle is the American Negro. His actions and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to risk his life, have awakened the conscience of this nation. His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change, designed to stir reform. He has called upon us to make good the promise of America. And who among us can say that we would have made the same progress were it not for his persistent bravery, and his faith in American democracy.” From these great words, Johnson described the American Negro as a hero, who had awakened the conscience of this nation. There is no doubt that many people were neutral in this case. However, after that speech, after being persuaded by their president, they might turn to agree with their president. Some of them might give up their prejudices to Negroes. They would recall many Negroes who were used to live with them were also kind and gave their hands sometimes. Pathos work in that way. Authors utilize pathos to tough readers and audiences, like what I have mentioned, everyone has the milk of human kindness. Take text for example again, “This great, rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education and hope to all, all black and white, all North and South, sharecropper and city dweller. These are the enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease.” These impressed words reminded all the people of that USA belonged to everyone. They should be unity to stop poverty, ignorance, disease not discriminate not our fellow man, not our neighbor. This pathos improved this

When the ink stopped flowing on the Emancipation Proclamation, black men, women, and children breathed a sigh of relief. But did they rejoice? They couldn’t have, not if they still had to deal with the infinite hate that could force them into cages for people to laugh at. Talk is cheap, so it’s easy for people emphasize the numbers in the phrase, “It’s two-thousand-seventeen, why do we still fight for this?,” but it will never be enough to mask the presence of racism in this age. Not only do stereotype reinforcements exist in the real world, but it thrives in the virtual one; it ranges from Twitter to valid news sites, leaving a trail of crumbs behind it. Patriotic citizens of the United States proudly sing that their country is the “land of the free, and home of the brave,” but how is it that groups of “free” citizens can’t get equal representation in the media? It sure is brave of news sources to hide the good actions minorities take to defeat stereotypes and still sit privileged folk on the throne for doing things those minorities have been doing for centuries. On Twitter especially, it is easy to find news articles

Despite the Declaration’s daring words, not every group in modern America has an equal chance to pursue happiness. Specifically, minorities do not have legal equality because of continuous racial profiling. Law enforcement often targets minorities, such as Latinos and African Americans, for suspicion of a crime. Authorities base their suspicions on stereotypes but in doing so generalize these groups. Race has no effect on whether a person will commit an offense, and therefore should not matter. Furthermore, racial profiling brings police no closer to cracking the case. Instead, minorities are not able to live freely because law enforcement questions their actions, even believing that any financial success must have come from criminal activity—that

The demands of the American people being met demonstrates the great democracy and progressiveness that many people want to be a part of. However, each group thus far that has chosen to fight for their rights in America, has initially gone through a struggle, in which hope was kept alive only by the strongest of believers. The recognition of these group’s importance and worthiness has especially been important to the people who faced discrimination all of their lives, or fought to death for change. Recognition of their values, beliefs, and traditions by the law, meant greater acceptance from the majority they were, -and still are-, a part of. Once African Americans paved the way beginning in 1865, women and the LGBT community followed suit to

The United States’ long history of savagery, discrimination, inequality, and racism surfaced in our nation from the time it was “founded” by European settlers. And although the US constitution states that “all men are equal,” minority groups such as African Americans, Asian Americans, Indian Americans, and Latinos endured countless sufferings from the European settlers and Whites. The Civil Rights era, however, marked one of the most significant events in our nation’s history for in this period, minority groups won several important victories that impacted the lives of many. The Civil Rights era is when our country became intolerant of racial discrimination and segregation, and minority groups were finally given the right to be part of the