Critique Of Mr. Bryan Stevenson Speech On Identity

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

These cases all involve discrimination, disrespect, and judgment: Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, and Loving v. Virginia. We all are different in different ways and we all don't look alike but that shouldn't change how we see each other as people . Being colored or being white doesn't mean anything it's just the skin that God gave you. It doesn't tell you who you are or who you have to be. It's up to you how you act and treat others. “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. one of the worlds biggest most known activist helped change our ways from what they were to what they are right now. He helped show that it's ok to be different and in the end all come together as one.

In this he reaches out to all backgrounds and religions to try and unite them in the common cause. Claiming that they have all suffered in this together. And that to be aware that it is election year and that the white man will smile at you most when he needs you and look down upon you when he doesn’t. This speech resonated because I could not help but think of this year. 2016 is an election year. Yes we have come a long way but not as far as we had hoped. We are still facing the race debate. And many of the battles and obstacles that Malcom X faced then, are still being faced

I believe this approach remains important in the struggle against racial inequality and injustice because it seems like a very effective way of solving the problem with desegregation. Negro citizenship had no value to the South or the whites, for which, they weren’t recognized. That is where the problem with desegregation came and in order to solve that problem, recognition is eventually the first step to solve this issue,

In Martin Luther King Jr. 's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and Barack Obama 's "A More Perfect Union", both leaders discussed many of the same issues. The big theme in both was about race in the United States and becoming a much more unified nation despite our race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Both of these leaders also touched on the fact that in order to solve the problems in this country, we must be unified and work together. One quote that really stood out to me in "Letter of a Birmingham Jail" was "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere...Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." I really thought that this was a very powerful statement and one that makes absolute sense. Barack Obama also stated something very similar in his "A More Perfect Union" speech stating the following "...I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together..."

The election of Barack Obama as the 56th president of the United States raised many hopes that the “Black struggles” was finally over. For conservatives, Obama victory reassured their beliefs that there was no longer such thing as racism and that every American had equal rights and opportunity to pursue the American dream. While many people have come to believe that all races have equal rights in America, Tim Wise argues in his documentary “White Like Me” that not only does racism and unconscious racial bias still exist, but that also White Americans are unable to simply relate to the variety of forms racism and inequality Blacks experience. This is mainly because of the privileges they get as the “default.” While Wise explores the variety forms of racism and inequality today such as unconscious racism, Black poverty, unemployment, inadequate education system, and prison system, the articles by the New York Times Editorial Board, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Adam Liptak further explore some the disparities in the criminal justice system. Ana Swanson points out in her article, “The Stubborn Persistence of Black-White Inequality, 50 Years after Selma” that while the “U.S. has made big strides towards equal rights,” significant gaps still remains between the two races. With the Supreme Court striking down a “portion of the Voting Rights Act that stopped discriminatory voting laws from going into effect in areas of the country with histories of disenfranchisement,” civil

Ask yourself, if a policeman pulled you over, would you assume automatically that the crime was the color of your skin? And would you wonder if that crime could cost you your life? The unanimous answer should be no, but it is guaranteed that within different races and communities, the answer will differ. Because of this, it is clear that different people of different races get treated differently.

Discrimination has afflicted the American society since its inception in 1776. The inferiority of the African American race – a notion embedded within the mindset of the white populace has difficult to eradicate – despite the efforts of civil rights activists and lawmakers alike. Many individuals are of the opinion that discrimination and racism no longer exist and that these issues have long since been resolved during the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. However such is not the case. Discrimination is a complex issue – one that encompasses many aspects of society. The impact of discrimination of the African American race is addressed from two diverse perspectives in the essays: “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King .

Equality rarely applies to Americans of color. To identify with two subgroups and be oppressed by society normalization only hurts the meaning of equalism. Throughout the years, minority groups have witness unfairness from slavery, civil rights movement and new area of the Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual (LGBT) movement. Yet, there are still heinous crimes and brutality force upon this community who wished nothing more but to be equals within society. We are living in day time where racial justice has become such an epidemic that the government has yet to take a stand for LGBT of color who are underserved. It’s an issue of equality. It’s an issue of equal treatment under the law,” Jonathan Capehart. African American still continue to face civil rights issue, just much so as LGBT population continue to struggle with justice issues today. What do you do when you are seeking justices for both as an African American individual apart of the LGBTQ community? This has become a rising social issue in today's society for many people.

As Americans, it is our duty and responsibility to learn how to work together and accept each other’s diversity. Despite, all of us coming from a different cultural heritage, as Americans we now form and share a new common culture. America has been described as a big melting pot because our country is a place where many different cultures have come together to blend as one whole. Our shared American culture is supposed to be described as one that is built on the ideals of freedom, human equality, tolerance, and the respect for each other’s differences; all of this is what is suppose to make our nation so significant, sadly this is not the case for our nation. Throughout our American history we have learned about racial discrimination events that have taken place against African-Americans like slavery, the Civil War, the lynching and race riots caused by the Ku Klux Klan, the Jim Crow Laws and many other events; the Black Lives Matter movement has exploited these events in addition to racism, stereotypes, and the hate our country still contains within its people and the modern American society.

Who I am? Personally, I believe that a person’s identity can take only one of two routes. One, a person’s identity can change within that person’s life. Who I am now, is not necessarily who I was when I was younger. Experience can and will likely modify our identities. Therefore, experience can solidify our personal identification or it can weaken our personal identification. And as such, individuals and their perspectives are always evolving, or at the very least, they should evolve over time. Although there are some identities that evolve throughout one’s lifetime; there are some identities that remain consistent. Two, some identities cannot and will not change. So identities are socially and/or politically forces upon you, some identities are genetically assigned to you, and some you choose to keep. No matter the reason or reasons, these identities have been and will be consist within your lifespan. But, how you deal with them is up to you as an individual.

An identity is the state of being oneself. Your character is comprised of your past, present, and future. Some individuals are ashamed of who they really are and try to change themselves, or mask their identities. One of the dominant themes that is conveyed throughout The Namesake is the theme of identity. In the novels, everybody is a little lost, or a lot lost, frankly. Practically every individual struggles with his or her identity, because every person feels the tug and pull of different cultures, different traditions, and different dreams. The Namesake is about this perpetual dilemma faced by immigrants as they fight to maintain their identities while trying to shake them off at the same time while The Great Gatsby is about people

beliefs. Sober uses the example of lightning. He points out that according to the Greeks,

Identity refers to structured sense of self, which manipulates itself in threads of life (Burr, 2015). Figure 1 of Tūrangawaewae shows individuals identity can be classified under our age, our gender (male or female), the values and beliefs we share (religious or non- religious), the experiences ( good or bad), the people we surround ourselves with (friends and family), also not limited to, from our genetic inheritance (ancestors or parents). However, identity threads are not pre inherited but are pre-constructed idea influenced by social experiences (Kahu, 2015). I am a woman, 21 years of age, Christian by faith, Fijian Indian by ethnicity. I use mind set of goals to convey through my identity. For example, excelling