Cultural Forms Of Exclusion And Empowerment

IExperiencing gender inequality at CU reflected an ugly truth: The United States has not moved past discrimination! In uncovering, the country’s gruesome treatment of black women, I found that gender and racial discrimination overlap because they are simultaneously experienced. The United States has a long history of treating women unequally, especially black women. Before the enactment of the 19th Amendment, white women did not allow black women to join the Woman’s Suffrage Movement because of racial prejudice, and they feared that the government might dismantle the organization (Dumenil 2007). Fortunately, in 1920, women gained the right to vote through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. However, because most states in the country

Racial oppression in the United States has been present for almost a century now. Although slavery was abolished in the 1860s, people associated in target groups are still being mistreated by racial oppression in different ways. In the article “Being Poor, Black, and American” written by William Julius Wilson, a sociologist and professor at Harvard University, Wilson shows that political, economic, and cultural forces are the primary forces that contains the distinction between target and agent group positions. From the immigration policies, the workplace policies, and stereotypical views portrayed by society, these all have an impact on how an individual can live their life. Altogether, these forces ultimately keep people in check with society’s rules and regulations on what is right and wrong and keep them from stepping out of their place.

From our text, Race, Class, and Gender, we read Unit III E: The Structure of Social Institutions; The State and Violence: Policing the National Body: Sex, Race, and Criminalization; The Color of Justice; Rape, racism, and the Law; and Interpreting and Experiencing Anti-Queer Violence : Race, Class, and Gender Differences among LGBT Hate Crime Victims. We also encountered and excerpt from Social Work Practice With a Difference; The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman. The first four reading from our text explore the association of the manner in which state power organizes race, class, and gender. We also get a view of how the intersectional approach of race, class, and gender may help us to understand some forms

Throughout the semester we have touched upon many instances for which the legal history of America effects the life of a black America, especially in “We Shall Overcome” Alexander Tsesis takes on the task of looking at civil rights through the “lens of legal history’. “The Ballot or The Bullet” displays the political message that the ‘ballot’ is freedom, and thus power through the freedom to vote. Malcom X hounds in on the political idea that the white man preys on the black man for votes, but then allows filibustering to happen in the Senate so nothing gets passed to promote equality for black Americans. Alexander writes frequently through the book how skewed politics become for blacks once their vote is legalized. That although, they can

The concept of white privilege helps to highlight the hypocritical nature of the American ideologies of democracy and meritocracy. Ask yourself: Do we live truly in a democratic system if the voices of our nation’s disenfranchised people are not heard? Or are we truly a nation that functions on a meritocratic system if every person-- regardless of socioeconomic background or race-- is not given the same opportunities for development? The concepts of white privilege and male privilege, as used by McIntosh, are meant to unveil the hidden schemes of American ideology.

Society has been significantly revolutionized since the beginnings of the United States. The very history of the country has been cursed with racism and the harsh oppression of minorities. In fact, America’s power and economy were founded on a Marxist theory of a two-class system. On the top of that system were the slave owners, and at the very bottom were the slaves themselves (Balkaran, 1999). Slavery and segregation used to be huge components in the lives of Americans. During those times, “Americans” were white, landowning men; obviously that principle has been altered a great deal. People of color, women, and the poor actually have been given suffrage by amendments in the Constitution. Although the United States’ culture and society

This book has emboldened and inspired us to think about racial discrimination and classism in the twenty-first century. Foley proves with a lot of evidence that racial power is neither obtained through racial identity alone nor is it maintained through a form of class or gender oppression. It perseveres through endless racism, as those in power accommodate themselves to remain in power. People of color are also able to fine-tune themselves to become white through changes in their economic class and embracement of white values. In this process, the so-called colored whites will be use to reinforce white power and deny hope and freedom to other people of color, the poor and

Over the last one hundred and thirty years African Americans have little by little-gained freedom for themselves as slaves and domestic servants. Now as a culture they are legally capable of obtaining jobs and positions in all areas of private and public organizations, (Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J., 2010). This particular ethnic group are known to be instrumental in holding their cultures together through times of constant struggle. They have used rallies, protests, silent marches and received help from volunteer organizations to fight for rights as well as obtain justice in a racist and sexist society. This work explores the troubles African Americans face in Americas society today, through stereotypes and how gender roles as African Americans differ from each other as well as the American population.

THESIS: Race differences in identity and social position were, and are, more important than class differences in American society.

The research will examine voting rights in relation to voting right inequalities and the society’s effort to have an all minority groups included in the civic process. The research will look into several historical factors that contributed to voting rights inequalities and how the society has evolved to solve issues related to the right to vote.

In Anderson and Collins’, chapter on “Why race, class, and gender still maters” encourage readers to think about the world in their framework of race, class, and gender. They argued that even though society has change and there is a wide range of diversity; race, class and gender still matters. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class, and gender matter because they remain the foundation for system of power and inequality that, despite our nation’s diversity, continue to be among the most significant social facts of peoples lives.” (Anderson and Collins, 2010) When I was a little girl, I never knew that people were classified in to groups such as race, class, gender. I knew there were people that had a different color of skin than

Historically in America, voting has been a relatively discriminatory practice. It has limited and deprived many individuals of many diverse races, ethnicities, and walks of life from casting their votes to select the individual who they feel is most educated, and skilled to represent their interests. Not only has this been proven to be wrong by discriminating minority groups in voting, it also has proved to be a process, which minimizes the largest growing demographics in the country. Furthermore, with millennials growing to become more politically active, minority groups are becoming more politically involved than ever. Taking this into account an important question that is raised by the author William Eskridge in his book “Legislation and Statutory Interpretation” is “Would minorities be better off with more representatives who had to pay attention to their interests because they are a powerful and organized constituency, rather than with a few representatives of minority districts who specialize in protecting only their interests?” (Eskridge,Frickley,& Garrett, 2006, pp.55).

For many years now the people in power or “whites” have passed laws so that other racial groups are kept at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These racial group that are kept at the bottom become racialized and oppressed therefore they become unequal to the people that are at the top of this hierarchy. The racial groups that are kept at the bottom vary from the Native-Americans to the Mexican-Americans and obviously the African-Americans. In this essay I will be comparing how the racialization process has been similar and different between these racial groups. I will also define race and racialization. Furthermore, I will explain how class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship has impacted the racialization process within these groups.

Since the colonists landed on the eastern shore of what is now the United States, there has been conflicts between the different races. White people assumed a dominant role. They wiped out most of the Native Americans and enslaved the African people after bringing them to their colonies. These social dynamics changed over time but it has been a slow process. In Angela Davis’ book Women, Race, & Class, she delves into the oppression that was faced by people due to their social identities. She believes that people do not suffer because of class status, racial or gender identity alone but rather they suffer because of different combinations of the three.