Flight Patterns By Sherman Alexie

Looking different can produce challenges as an immigrant in your new life. Two of the biggest challenges is looking different than the majority of people and having the cultural baggage and the stereotyping that comes with it. I have noticed this occur in the book Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai. In the book, Fadi and his family are discriminated against because of their Afghani background around the time of 9/11. The discrimination causes challenges for Fadi and his family and this discrimination doesn’t just happen to Afghan’s. Many ethnic groups are discriminated against in the United States. An example of being racially different and having an outcome of discrimination occurred in Shooting Kabul. In the text, Ike, a bully states “”Got you,

“Racial smog”, (Herbes-Sommers C. 2003) is not visible to the eye, but clearly exists in everyone. Throughout our lives society has portrayed races to be identified not just by the color of their skin or physical features, but also by their social class, work ethic, job status and preconceived notions based upon prior actions by a specific race. As humans, we naturally profile and assign stereotypes to people because the media, social groups, and how our families portray a certain race in a specific manner. Depending on where you were raised or how you were raised, you may or may not have been exposed to things in life that may be normal to others. Stereotypes within races have changed with the ever-changing trends of public and political

“Everything isn’t racial profiling” was posted on Townhall January the ninth of 2002. This article was told by Linda Chavez and cleared up on the subject of racial profiling, which is, still a thing today. Chavez explains her story to us as, “Racial profiling is an ugly business.” In her essay, she argues the circumstances of racial profiling and how it entails picking someone out for special scrutiny simply because of his race. Chavez paints us a picture of real world examples and stories of her own, so that we would be able to understand this “ugly business”. Repeatedly, she brings up airports and airlines as an example, showing where it is brought up most. And finally, she informs the audience on why the United States is more secured. Through the emotions of her journeys, the logical events that she talks about, and the information she provides, Chavez informs her audience on why racial profiling is such an ugly business.

One of the most frequent cases of racial profiling would have to take place in our nation’s airports. The airport security teams have a tendency of targeting those whose ethnic background is not of Caucasian descent. In recent years, you cannot even take a trip with your family without running the risk of having an obtrusive body scan or being patted down by a complete stranger if they are wary of your nationality. All while Little Johnny and Suzy Smith are welcome to continue on with their trip

“Racial Profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem despite claims that the United States has entered a “post-racial era” according to aclu.org. Although U.S. has moved past the civil rights era there are still improvements to be done about stereotypes of black people. As provided in the quote, progress has not made its way because of the bigotry of some people in this society. As seen in the mythical poem like “Signing Boy”, white people are always making preconceptions of what black people are like before they even say anything or do anything. This issue has haunted America for the longest but it seems like it creeps back up steadily dividing people apart. There is only so much black people can take from being stereotyped everywhere they live in this country.

Have you even judged someone on who he or she is or what they looked like? And have you ever had a bad experience or traumatic experience happens and you looked for someone or something to blame, but in reality there was nothing to blame? Well, a natural disaster can be blamed on no one, but in times like that emotions run wild and blame can be put on someone who fits a certain profile. Racism and Hurricane Katrina were two forces that clashed together to create an even bigger problem for the victims. This is caused by an insecurity of the situation at hand. In the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, racism and racial profiling is the underlying themes in the story. These themes are also the underlying themes of people who are subjected

In Asra Q. Nomani’s article “Airport Security: Let’s Profile Muslims” she acknowledges that, “Data in reports released over the past several months from New York University’s Center for Security and the Law; the Congressional Research Service, and the Rand Corporation reveal that over the past decade not only are many defendants in terrorism cases Muslim, but they trace their national or ethnic identity back to specific countries.” In this article, Nomani asserts her interest of Racial and Religious profiling for passengers boarding among U.S Airports. Opposing this article is Nafees Syed’s article, “Airport Screening for ‘Flying while muslim.’” Syed imparts how offensive and frustrating profiling can be for those who are “randomly selected.” A topic like this is very sensitive to discuss but it 's a concern of many people. Should racial profiling be enforced in U.S airlines? If you contrast the two articles it is evident that Nomani’s article possesses a stronger argument.

According to the poll, blacks rated among the highest of all groups that believed that racial profiling was widespread with the exception of one area that involved airport security. Yet, was the least likely all three categories to believe that the profiling was justified, with Hispanics the second highest. The chart was challenging for me to wrap my head around, because blacks ranked the highest that believed racial profiling was widespread, but the least likely to believe that it was justified. Ironically, according to the research that conducted a growing number of experts and scholars agree that a large sum of the racial disparities among the races are contributed to the unconscious associations (stereotypes) that people makes about racial

Linda Chavez an author of multiple books and the author of an article Everything Isn’t Racial Profiling that was written in 2002, she draws in part of her own experiences as a Latina and her experiences with ethnic and racial profiling. She states “I was routinely questioned more than other passengers, I suspect because I look vaguely Middle Eastern -- or as one airline agent put it, ‘Your passport’s American, but you don’t look American.’ ”(Chavez). This brings out how ignorance and racism may appear but she expects the fact she looks Middle Eastern and the airline agent were being strict and simply questioned and not acted on her

Racism and racial stereotypes have existed throughout human history. The radical belief associated by thinking the skin color, language, or a person’s nationality is the reason that someone is one way or another has become extremely detrimental to society. Throughout human existence it has sparked tension between groups of people and ultimately influenced wars and even caused slavery. Racism in America dates back to when Native Americans were often attacked, relocated, and assimilated into European culture. Since then, racism within the states has grown to include various other cultures as well. In the essays by Brent Staples, Bharati Mukherjee, and Manuel Munoz, they discuss the various causes as well as the effects that racial stereotyping can place on a victim and the stigma it leaves behind for the society to witness.

Racism is something that is surrounding William yet he frowns upon it. This is very contradictory because, although he is so quick to clarify that he is Native American brown, not dangerous brown. William is self conscious about himself and does not want his color to define him, yet at the same time he claims he takes pride is his color. In “flight patterns” the story is told in the narrator’s point of view. This is important

There once was a boy named Zits. He was half Native American, half Irish and completely parentless. He lived in many different foster homes until he eventually met a troubled youth named Justice, who filled Zits with ideas of violence until Zits opened fire on a bank. Subsequently, Zits was shot in the head and switched bodies throughout time and space. His journey continued as he was transferred through time and different individuals, all who related to his personality and had to make choices about violence. His story is one of self-discovery as he travels until he can return to himself and reverse his horrible actions in the bank. This story is the novel Flight by Sherman Alexie. In this novel, Alexie explores many complex themes, such as the effect of a father figure on one’s personality and how compassion can help heal a person’s soul. Throughout the novel, it is evident that Zits is strongly influenced by his parental figures or lack of them. In the beginning, he chooses to let his violent role models have total control over his version of right and wrong. After his journey of learning, he realizes that he has command over his thoughts and can choose what he believes. At the end, he also has positive role models, ones that won’t force him to be violent and care for him. Because of his change in role models and ideas, he becomes a more compassionate and empathetic person.

Profiling people can cause a brick wall to be built between one another; a wall that cannot easily be knocked down. The person that is doing the profiling has to take the bricks down one-by-one as if each brick reveals information, beyond physical appearance. Once the wall is down a transparent window forms with a beautiful view. There is more to a person than their exterior and class, just like there is more to room then walls. When profiling someone, people do not look past the brick wall; they build it higher and higher. When someone takes the time to get to know someone else the wall comes downs; at that time, people get a clear view of who people are, which could be beautiful. Profiling causes people to become engulfed by other people 's perceptions of who they are and becomes a conflict between racial heritage and human nature. Through the characters, setting, and tone of “Flight Patterns,” Sherman Alexie shows that profiling can lead to the misinterpretation of who someone is.

Racial profiling is an epidemic. It has negatively impacted communities for generations. THe use of race by American police in their policing activities has received much attention across the world. Social media have exploded the daily news people consume and trends are now visible to those that previously didn’t notice it. Countless studies were released on that epidemic and yet, in 2016, nothing seems to have changed. There are those who will support the idea, but quite often, it’s because it doesn’t affect them. While it’s true that African Americans have a particular past with racial profiling in America, it’s has always been much broader experience. Anyone with Arabic look or with Muslim affiliation would be constantly set aside for extra searching and questioning at airports. As a journalist so well explained “People like

The misconception that minorities are nothing more than rapists, drug suppliers, terrorist, job stealers, need I say more. Racial profiling and racism go hand in hand, this past year has been a representation of just that. Society is filled with fear; thus, categorizes an entire population for one’s action.