In Treatise on the Intellectual Character and Civil and Political Condition of Colored People in the U. States, Easton examines the dominating, seemingly ubiquitous power of racial prejudice in the United States. In this, Easton portrays a direct association between the endurance of a republic and the habits and sentiments of its people, ultimately asserting that the success of a republican government is contingent upon the character of its citizenry. Therefore, contrary to the beliefs of the American colonists at the time, Easton argues that institutional configuration alone cannot protect the virtuous ideals of freedom and equality that are embedded in republicanism. Rather, a republic can only be as good as that of which motivates …show more content…
In order to illustrate the connection between the character of the citizenry, as inspired by their habits and sentiments, and a republic, Easton dissects the logic of racial prejudice— how it is created and maintained. Though he opens his third chapter, On theNnature of the Prejudice of the White Population of the United States, with the claim, “Malignant prejudice is a principle which calls into action the worst passions of the human heart,” he contradicts this claim in the following sentence when he states, “There are some cases, however, in which the exercise of prejudice is perfectly harmless” (Easton 35). He continues, “It [prejudice] never possesses any vitiating qualities, except when it is exercised by one who has done, or intends to do, another injury” (Easton 36). According to Easton, prejudice, in itself, is not innately harmful. Rather, it can only be injurious when its motivators attribute malicious intentions to it. Resultantly, Easton suggests that the wicked qualities of the citizenry perpetuate the malignant nature that is typically associated with prejudice. To support this, he alludes to the injury inflicted upon black Americans—explicitly in the form of laws that enforce the enslavement of southern blacks and subliminally in the form of the normalized attitudes of subordination attributed to northern blacks— that evokes their racial
John Jay Chapman’s essay, “Coatesville”, describes a crime committed by a small mob. The author verbalizes his anger towards the torture and burning alive of a black man named Zachariah Walker in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, while there were hundreds of American citizens that stood by aimlessly witnessing the event happen. In 1912, the author constructed a prayer meeting in which he gave a speech about the crime. He went on to implying that we shouldn’t just hold the people who committed the crime responsible but the nation itself. Convinced that these crimes still exist till this day because our nation hasn’t given up racism or being prejudice. He gives this speech to make the people more aware of their mistakes and provides them with ways to fix them.
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 .
Coates provides readers with a lesson in American history and explains to his son that race is not reality, but that “Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world” (Coates 2015; 7) He brings the reader inside the America in which he lives. He argues that “America’s problem is not its betrayal of ‘government of the people,’ but the means by which ‘the people’ acquired their names,” meaning that America has only ever represented and supported white people, that America was founded on a system of racial bias (6). He draws attention to the struggles that peoples of color, especially black people, have faced. Those struggles generate fear, which is one of the main ideas in the
Shelby Steele is a well-known African American author, professor, and commentator on race relations. Steele wrote several books, commentaries and essays, and one of them is “The New Sovereignty” in the 1990s. “The New Sovereignty,” by Shelby Steele was trying to persuade the American society, specifically all the minority groups seeking entitlement that America was meant to be a democratic society with integration and not a society that relies on collective entitlement. In this essay, Steele tries to remind the society what true democracy means. Steele argues that even though early civil right leaders fought to get democracy with integration, later on, the society was creating new segregation groups. The only difference was that before, segregation
In recent years, there has been increased discussion about the treatment of minorities in the U.S. While there have been numerous laws passed that protect their freedoms, many Americans maintain a negative mindset toward other ethnicities. Due to people’s reservations, our country has been unable to make substantial progress toward equality. In The Nation’s article, “The Truth About Race in America: It’s Getting Worse, Not Better,” by Gary Younge, the author utilizes factual information, historical allusions, and related quotes to effectively contend that race relations are worsening within the United States.
The discriminating social stratification in 1950’s developed a set of servile behavior on the blacks. They were thought to be inferior to whites, and were treated accordingly. Moreover, different parts of the country had various ranges of sensitivities while dealing with the blacks. For example, in Mississippi things were particularly tense after the Parker lynch case. No black man would dare look into any white man’s eyes in fear of the repercussions. On the bus, a man warned Griffin to watch himself closely until he caught onto Mississippi’s ways. In an extreme case like this, it was vital to learn about their roles and behave accordingly.
During Tom Robinson’s trial, the strong prejudice of Maycomb County and the negative effects of its social stratification were clearly demonstrated. Whilst Tom Robinson is innocent of the crime of rape, he gave the Caucasians more reason to convict him on the basis of daring to feel sorry for a Caucasian - it is not expected that a negro (considered as being a part of the lowest class of society, event lower than the ‘white trash’) could feel sorry for a Caucasian and the Caucasians could not accept such a presumption.
Since the 1800’s, the human race has progressed exceedingly in almost all aspects may it be in our sciences,humanities, and even the arts. One thing that remains, however, is racism. The argument that one “race” is greater or lesser than another, is at its core, wrong. From the beginning of civilization this idea of unequality has found its’ niche amongst those who garner, and employ the feelings of hatred and hostility. These feelings continue to wreak havoc in today's society, and are just as prevalent as they were during the civil war and beyond. It is even possible that they shall still remain until the end of time. One man in particular whom I feel did not harbor such monstrous feelings is Abraham Lincoln.
Prejudice, the chain of hatred and ignorance, has haunted our history at every step. In the twenty-first century prejudice and its destruction can be viewed in many forms of modern literature. Two of the most famous and rejoiced literatures that examine the theme of prejudice are Harper Lee’s realist fiction novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Martin Luther King’s heart warming speech ‘I Have a Dream’. Both texts explore the theme of prejudice of white Americans on the Blacks in the racially tense times of the early twentieth century. Unlike Harper Lee, Martin Luther King goes a step further to persuade the audience that there is prejudice present and we should be motivated to stop this evil from blossoming in our world.
Prejudice and racism have dependably tormented the human culture since time began. Being a questionable and unthinkable subject, numerous individuals have endeavored to clarify and set up the purpose for this sort of human conduct. These endeavored clarifications offer individuals a knowledge of the suggestions encompassing racial separation. Through the article "Reason for Prejudice", Vincent N. Parillo endeavors to clarify the purposes for bigotry and separation in the United States. At last, a portion of the encounters that C.P. Ellis experiences as he changes to a peace man delineate a portion of the speculations portrayed by Parillo in his exposition. This paper could recognize four speculations of Parillo that Elli's encounters can apply.
In a speech, Frederick Douglass stated “[t]here are seventy-two crimes…which, if committed by a black man…subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment.” While that is not the case today, racism continues to be an important and urgent issue in the United States. Although the shadow of racism continues to haunt Americans, race relations among people in America have slowly improved. From the active practice of institutional racism during the 19th and early 20th century, the spike in criticism against institutionalized racism during the Civil Rights Movement, and the dissolution of racial barriers in the past two decades, the wane of racial tension in America is evident.
America’s history is overrun with oppression and injustice based on race, ethnicity, and other traits that innocent victims have no control over. As a result, the reputation of the United States is forever tainted by it’s dark past, and still practices these surviving habits of hatred. Civil liberty issues faced since the establishment of the country have yet to be resolved because of the ever-present mistreatment, corruption in positions of authority, and the dehumanization of minorities.
In the United States, there has been many cases of Racial injustice. From the beginning of the start of the United States of America it was the injustice to the Native Americans being captured and used for slave labor while their bison be slaughtered for sportsmanship. But this paper is on the specific race of the African Americans. There are many races that have been racially profiled and ostracized by the English people. But the treatment that African Americans have endured even till this day is disheartening. African Americans have gone through enslavement during the early 1600’s to the mid 1800’s. Then the African Americans were obstructed by the Jim Crow laws creating the ‘Separate but Equal” propaganda during the late 1800’s into the 1960’s. After the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws, people were considered equal until the recent actions of many police officers using deadly force on African American youths in the early 2000’s.
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.
Throughout American history, relationships between racial and ethnic groups have been marked by antagonism, inequality, and violence. In today’s complex and fast-paced society, historians, social theorists and anthropologists have been known to devote significant amounts of time examining and interrogating not only the interior climate of the institutions that shape human behavior and personalities, but also relations between race and culture. It is difficult to tolerate the notion; America has won its victory over racism. Even though many maintain America is a “color blind nation,” racism and racial conflict remain to be prevalent in the social fabric of American institutions. As a result, one may question if issues and challenges