Free Narrative Essays: Racism In America

In Chapter 1, Alexander provides a brief history of race and racism in America. For those readers less familiar with the narrative of American history, this tour through slavery, Bacon’s Rebellion, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Populism, the end of Jim Crow through Board, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s is very instructive. Even if this narrative sounds familiar though, what comes next is probably less so. The backlash to the Civil Rights Movement manifested itself in the Southern Strategy and the first construction of stereotypes such as lazy “welfare cheats” and black criminals. “Law and order” rhetoric became a popular way to stoke hostility towards blacks; it was carried out by conservatives to win votes among poor whites.

American History X is clearly a film dealing with racism. The interesting thing about this film is the way in which the subject is treated. First of all, it is obvious that, though racism is always a difficult subject to deal with, American History X presents it without any reservations or dumming down. Second, the film's figurehead for racism, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), is not an unintelligent redneck racist as films often portray them, but is in fact well-spoken, charismatic and intelligent, although he clearly holds ideals that are terribly wrong. Finally, the film shows that it is not just the white, neo-nazi racists who are fools to be involved in this, but all racism is foolish. Through these methods, the film shows the viewer,

Racism is a huge problem, especially here in the United States. The United States has come a long was, but there is no doubt that there is much more progress to be made. People seem to follow the patterns of others and fall in to the same issues. It is important that the cycle breaks and individual learn to be independent and speak their own minds instead of following the thoughts and beliefs of others. Until the chains are broken and people fall out of this endless loop, racism will continue to be a major issue.

Over the years, the face of racism has taken on many forms. In present day America, racism is a very taboo subject. It a common view that racism is not a big issue anymore, given the large strides that we, as a country have made towards equality. However, the inequalities that still exist between races point to a different situation. Instead of the blatantly discriminatory acts that our nation has witnessed in the past, modern racism practices are more covert and seemingly nonracial, making this kind of discrimination seem more acceptable and politically correct. The Civil Rights Movement forced society to implement a new, subtler way to perpetuate racial inequality. In Racism Without Racists, Bonilla-Silva describes the justification

Every movement starts with one person. One person's thought or ideas could greatly be affected by their surroundings or peers. If one person starts a act of kindness the kindness will spread. Same with hate, if an individual is mean and cruel it could contribute to others behaving in the same matter. Specifically if one person feels or says negatively about a certain population then others could follow their bad example.

Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another. Discrimination has been going on for generations among generations. Many years ago people of different races were divided from each other. Public places were segregated. Colored people had to use specific water fountains, schools were segregated, and blacks had to sit at the back of the buses. If they were to disobey then there would be consequences and repercussions. Equality was a figment of imagination, a dream the the minority groups had. Throughout the years racism has decreased and many things pertaining to racism were made illegal but that doesn’t mean racism disappeared. Although the separation of the races are more organized, racism can lead the world back to inequality,

These people are correct in a sense; loud and public acts of racism are no longer prevalent in the US as they were in the past. However, today racism is stealthy and unspoken, and often deftly covered up with fabricated cover stories to legitimize the discrimination. This new breed of racism is perhaps even more difficult to fight against than its more egregious past self; its subtlety allows its perpetuators to claim ignorance of any discrimination, and its lack of media attention lulls Americans into complacence and acceptance of the current system. Further disturbing is the prevalence of “covert racism”, also commonly called “subconscious racism”. Many white Americans may actively stereotype and discriminate against blacks without even being aware of their actions and thought processes (BlackYouthProject). This phenomenon is a sad consequence of being raised a subtly racist society which perpetuates discrimination, even if never openly. Many subconscious racists may also be unwittingly subscribing to “symbolic racism”. In J.H. Moore’s book Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, Henry Sears characterizes symbolic racism as the endorsement of four specific beliefs:

The population of the United States of America has been one of mixed race since its very beginning. Boatload upon boatload of enslaved Africans provided a labor force which would fuel the American South’s economy for many years, until national abolition and the subsequent civil rights movement created a primarily biracial population of blacks and whites. The US has come a long way since those days, and today every child born into the US is taught from an early age the evils of racism and the shameful actions committed by slave-owning US citizens in the past. From textbooks to televisions, the modern USA seemingly works tirelessly to teach its population that discrimination by race is wrong and that all races are equal. This has led to a great national complacence among whites, and a widespread belief that the US has mostly eradicated racial prejudices. But it is not so, and despite a population almost entirely composed of people who would not consider themselves racists, racism still pervades in the US. In many cases modern racism occurs at the hands of whites who almost absolutely are completely unaware of their discriminatory actions. In the films “Frozen River” and “The Visitor” racism was touched on repeatedly and played an evident part in the messages they were trying to portray.

The American past, with all its racial discontent-of Native American; of the enslavement of Africans; of segregation based on culture and origins; of anti-Semitism, anti-Africanism and discrimination - underlines every conceivable interpretation of the violent fury periodically seen in our larger cities. To say that we are victimized by history-that is, both by the cards dealt by history and by an ignorance of historical context-means that we are subject to misunderstanding the nature of the disillusionment, anger, and hoplessness that exist in our country. I do not see complete, destructive form of nihilism, (Asante2003)

“There is nothing wrong with a little casual racism.” One of my friends recently commented this phrase to me, in a joking manner, but it struck me. Is just a little casual racism fine? I am one to err on the side of, “All things in moderation” but is it truly not a problem? In our society, today we see racism in our soup. In many ways, I feel as if the word communist has been switched with the word racist. No longer do we call each other a communist if they are stingy or different, we just stoop to the words racist or xenophobe. In the essay, written by Roxanne Gay, called, Surviving Django, Gay makes claims that she was offended by the racially insensitive, supercharged, ego driven film, created by Quentin Tarantino. She proceeds to

Throughout history in America there has always been the idea of racism. When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still very apparent in America. It is true that since the end of slavery, the U.S. has made great strides towards becoming a less racist country. In reality, racism will never be extinct. In today’s society, all American citizens of all races have the same rights as one another, yet there is still racism. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people. It is human nature to make conclusions about other people, this is what leads to racism. Today’s racism is not limited to whites

How do I feel about Racism? I think it is people who are bring ignorant without class or education. We should not have racism against anyone. I remember as a very little girl maybe six or seven at the time. My father and mother were still together and we were a family. My father was in the KKK. He was the grand dragon back in the day of the hated KKK we went to the meetings I remember my mother and father telling my brother and I to stay in the car. I was so scared there were men walking around with guns in sheets and hoods. They were chanting something and burning a cross. I have never been so scared in my life.

Racism needs to stop!! This is happening everyday, we can’t live if we're going to do this to each other. It’s not cool people think it’s cool when it’s not!! I can’t stand to hear two different colors talking bad about one and other, talking about how one's better than each other. We are all the same, it doesn’t matter what color you are it needs to stop. The only reason they have a brown or white color is because of melanin, if you’re darker that means you have more melanin in you and if your lighter that means you don’t as much as melanin in your skin. This is why bads things are happening everyday and people change the way they want to treat each other is because of racism. I hate hearing lighter people say you're a brownie to darker people and darker people call us crackers. When I first met racism was at a basketball game, there

First thing that I would like to address is the fact that racism still exists within all cultures. Some people won’t admit that they are racist, but their actions and words prove otherwise. Most people won’t directly discriminate other races, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen everyday. Many will argue that their race is superior over another, or that their actions of a few individuals of a certain race determines how that race of people are, therefore making them unequal. I think all people should be treated equally, no matter who they are or what they look like. From a personal experience, I have witnessed racial discrimination, not something that happened to someone else but to me right in front of my eyes as I head home. For one, I was one of those people that never thought racism had ended but thought that it has dimmed its light. It was not

In my opinion, racism is a disgust to our society. It is so shameful and foolish that people think it is ok to treat others differently based on the color of their skin. As Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shows us in his life’s work to end racism, we can act to bring people of all races together as we peacefully demonstrate a love for humanity. We can end the violence of racism by starting some friendly protests to make awareness to the situation, and being more mindful to the way we act to others with a different race than you. We need to demonstrate a love for humanity because people are getting hurt and dying because of the current racial situation.