Dido Elizabeth Belle Murray Analysis

After her husband’s passing in 1829, a turning point in Stewart’s life includes the time when she met David Walker, the author of the book, “An Appeal to the Colored People of the World”, and after his passing, she carried on his idealisms about slavery through her own work (PBS). “She went through a religious conversion in which she became convinced that God was calling her to become a ‘warrior’ ‘for God and for freedom’ and ‘for the cause of oppressed Africa’” (African American Registry). Her early life shaped who she grew up to be: an influential, strong black woman who was not afraid of society’s staggering labels and

This week’s readings focused on a topics associated with the white population of America. Some of these topics included the privileges white individuals are often unknowingly accustomed to (McIntosh,1) as well as the lack of responsibility and motivation many whites feel when it comes to eliminating racism. This is a social problem because it constructs biases that often times negatively affect the interactions between whites and individuals of color. This potentially leads to many issues including racism, hate crimes, and the unequal treatment races.

In Audre Lorde’s essay “ The Fourth of July,” and Zora Neale Hurston’s essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” both faced unfair treatments. In Hurston’s essay, she explored the process that she noticed she was colored and overcome white people’s discrimination. In Lorde’s essay, he described their graduation trip to Washington D.C., However, their families in discrimination. By these relationships, Hurston and Lorde explored African American faced serious unfair treatment, and injustices were presents in many different places.

Zora Hurston wrote the essay ‘How It feels to be colored” in the 1920s. It is important notice that during that period a strong and open discrimination against black people existed. Racial segregation and unfair treatment added more constraints which made it more difficult for others to see beyond the skin color. The author writes and divides the essay in four different sections. Each part narrates and explains her childhood experience, black heritage, discrimination, social status and how she sees the world around her. As a starting point, Hurston utilized a strong phrase to clearly self-differentiate from others when she says: “I’m the only negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother side was not an Indian Chief” (Hurston, 144). In the essay, she continuously emphasizes and express how proud she is of her heritage and constantly reminds us that we should be proud of who we are no matter the race, color or where we come from. What really matters is the contributions we as human beings can provide to the society where we live.

The idea of racism has evolved and has become less prevalent throughout the last century. Schools and public areas are unsegregated, voting rights, racial slurs being considered as unacceptable behavior etc. American sociologist and race theorist, Howard Winant states that’s “The ensuing approaches increased recognition of racial injustice and inequality, but did not overcome the discriminatory processes” (Winant,2000)Although the United states has come a long way to try to end racism, one cannot ignore the fact that it still exists. It is something that may seem invisible in society, but everybody knows that it still thrives and that it’s racial attitudes affect the way our society functions. One of these invisible forms of

Despite being from different countries, time periods, and social statuses, poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Natasha Trethewey seem to have similar social views as seen in Browning’s The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point and Trethewey’s Enlightenment. An examination of A Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point by Elizabeth Barret Browning and Enlightenment by Natasha Trethewey demonstrate that Trethewey and Browning used poetry to express their dislike of racial prejudice and slavery relevant to their time.

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

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

Our obsession with judging our fellow man rather than trying to understand him as well as our penchant for creating smokescreens to cover the real issues are ripping out our hearts and trampling our souls. We live in an enlightened time, but yet we stand guard at the gates of yesterday protecting a past that has little to offer but distrust, anger, hurt, and alienation from our fellow man. We live in a society of non-discriminatory intolerance. We live in a society often unwilling to acknowledge the truth behind its sins or that it has sinned. As a people, we are quick to denunciate but slow to act and take responsibility. Regardless of the color of our skin, we have embraced intolerance to the point that it has become our norm, and it is that intolerance that now lays siege to all that we love and care for as a nation.

The presidential election of Barak Obama has led many to believe that we live in a post-racial society. If an African-American candidate has been elected in a predominantly white nation, this must signify that the U.S. does not have barriers that hinder African-Americans and other people of color from accessing opportunities or that we live in a color-blind society – in which race is not an issue. However, public perception on police profiling and the fairness of our justice system, public support for Donald Trump’s discriminatory ideologies, and racist actions by fraternities at universities illustrate the prevalence and continuity of racism in the U.S. Thus, to address the way in which racism plagues our society, it is important for political leaders and the media to educate believers of a color-blind society that racial discrimination is an issue which needs to properly be addressed for the well-being of all member of society.

“Racism still occupies the throne of our nation,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pronounced just before his assassination. Almost fifty years later, we are still faced with the same unchanged threat that makes the words of Dr. King true. As individuals, communities, and a proud nation we have made an everlasting fingerprint for the children of our future, yet we lack the strength of acknowledgment to alter the course of racial discrimination and conquer prejudice. Has the formation of structural discrimination rooted itself too deeply into our subconscious that hope for rehabilitation seems unattainable? As a nation, we voted a man with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya as the first multiracial President of the United States. Racism has not been eradicated because of the racial background of President Barrack Obama and we have not accomplished victory because of his African decent because prejudice has been too deeply fixed within our society. Social circumstance and the insinuation of race continue to change over time, precisely because race has become a social construct that serves political ends. The prior and present leaders of our nation organize, generate, and endorse the laws and public policy that ensure racism continues to maintain itself against people of color. Our historically racist foundation, the rising effects of structural discrimination, and the view of modernized racism all actively participate in shaping our structural

John Lewis once said that “The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society." Racism has become a huge issue in people’s everyday life and not many may notice, but that’s because it’s been around for so long that it’s not new to anyone and it is the normal, when in reality that means it is so bad that not many people notice anymore. [African Americans experience racism in two main places their workplace and their education, and in a certain way, police brutality.]

Historically, United States battle against racism has come a long way from the days of colonialism, slavery, racial hierarchies, racial demarcated reserves, strict policies and segregation. And yet, discrimination and inequality continue to persist in our society. Howard Winant, an American sociologist and race theorist, stated that, “the meaning of racism has changed over time. The attitudes, practices and institutions of epochs of colonialism, segregation… may not have been entirely eliminated, but neither do they operate today in the same ways they did half a century ago (Winant 128).” The meaning and how racism operates may have changed over time but its negative connotations and implications in society continue to limit the individual’s understanding, explore and accept the complexity of each individual. Presently, racism appears less blatant and may appear “more acceptable,” but its existence and effect is undeniable. As a result, it continues to destroy society’s cohesion and ideas for equality. Racism is the ideology that devalues and renders other racial and ethnic group as inferior and it is reflected through the individual’s interaction, expression and attitudes towards others (Racism No Way). It is deeply rooted from historical, social, cultural and power inequalities. Racism has indeed shifted its course from previously stricter policies and practices of racism to individuals who promote multiculturalism, equality

As the 2008 presidential election proceeded to break racial barriers in America, many people have come to believe that racism in America no longer exists since we now have a Black president. However, This could not be anything further from the truth. When many people think of racism, they think of blunt discriminatory actions made against people of color. Thoughts of segregation and the Ku Klux Klan probably come to mind when people envision what racism may look like. Since many of this is now considered illegal or less evident in today’s society, many people may believe that racism is no longer a major issue. Racism in today’s society, however, is constructed differently. Robert M. Entman notes that American society has changed from “traditional to modern racism” (206). Modern racism is more complex within our political and social systems. So how does racism still exist you ask? Racism still exists in our society because minorities remain to be the largest group of people who are unemployed, disadvantaged in their ability to obtain a decent education, and misrepresented by the media.

Racism is an ongoing force that negatively impacts the lives of Americans every day. The racist mindset in America stems from the times of slavery, where blacks were thought to be inferior to whites. Throughout history, the ideology of race and racism has evolved and developed several different meanings. Today, we can still see the devastating effects of racism on people of color, as well as whites. “Racism, like other forms of oppression, is not only a personal ideology based on racial prejudice, but a system involving cultural messages and institutional policies and practices as well as beliefs and actions of individual” (Tatum, pg. 9). As a result of this system, it leaves the