Name: Ginea Dean
Lecturer: Dr. Ada McKenzie
Section: 20
Due Date: February 14th, 2013
Informal Text-Based Argumentative Essay
Negritude’s positive? Yes the ideology is, but why must we waste our time searching for our racial identity, heritage, and culture? Why waste our precious time searching for racial identity, when we could use that time to fight for equality between the races? You tell us, when we find our racial identity what then must we do with it? Continue to be restricted from doing certain things and going certain places because of our racial line? I agree with Du Bois’s argument, that racial identification is a hindrance and that it distracts us from the more important goal of fighting for equality between the races.
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It takes away discrimination, it allows everyone to realize that we are all equal no matter what racial group we belong to or what shade of color our skin is, but to remind us that we are all one. Caste system in The Concept of Race was described to as a dark cave and prison by Du Bois. Displaying how entombed souls are hindered in their development, expression, and natural movement. That racial identity acted as shackles around his feet, what is so funny is that in Leopold Sedar Senghor Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century negritude was described as being an instrument of freedom. Negritude is not an instrument of liberation, but an ideology that allows us to be aware of our racial identity, heritage and culture. Therefore negritude is just an idea that makes us aware of our race, nothing more nothing less. To destroy the caste system we need equality to release entombed souls so they don’t be hindered from development, expression, and natural movement as well as to break the shackle from around our feet so that we can be truly free. Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century was challenged by The concept of Race. I say this because in A Humanism of the Twentieth Century negritude was said to be an instrument of liberation but in The Concept of Race it acted as chains around Du Bois feet. The Concept of Race challenges Negritude by stating that you suppose to be an instrument of freedom, but
In a carefully worded essay I will discuss the aspect of ‘race’ as a hindrance to the
To compare, the two cases “Plessy V. Ferguson” and the “Brown V. Board of Education” were protesting the rights of people with color and how we should all be equal even if our skin is a different color. At first Plessy’s case was ruled unconstitutional until after Brown brought his case to court and it was constitutional, so now Plessy’s case will now be signed and ratified to become a law. The case “Brown v. Board of Education” will forever be one of the most revolutionary cases of all time. If it weren’t for people like this who stand up for what they believe in then we would still be
Equality is something we humans crave for when we are in a time of hardship. When we are being discriminated against, we feel the utmost pain and the need for freedom. Discrimination has lingered since the beginning of time, and ending it is impracticable. A French novelist, Honore de Balzac proclaims, “Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.” Here, Balzac is acknowledging that an individual is born a free man and is just as equal as any other man. But, an individual will never be fully equal as they desire. Some parts of society will try to act superior to a certain quality of someone’s life, like their race, religion, culture, etc. This statement proves to be valid in Khaled Hosseini’s novel,
For this week’s memo, I decided to read “Racial Formations” by Omi and Winant. The reading talks about the meaning of race as being defined and challenged throughout society in both collective and personal practices. It also suggests that racial categories are created, changed, ruined, and renewed. Omi and Winant explore the idea that the conception of race developed progressively, ultimately being created to validate and rationalize inequality. It began with the denial of political rights and extended into the introduction of slavery and other forms of forcible labor.
It put blacks in a state of mind that made them realize they may not be what the Southern whites profess tem to be. It also paved the way for court cases like
It cannot be denied that there are many benefits to affirmative action in that it helps to ensure both fairness and diversity in organizations, such as schools. In many places across American discrimination is still alive and well. Because of this, affirmative action is necessary to action ensure that people of minority groups will not be denied admission to schools or employment based on their race. After all, there are some organizations who would not be willing to change their policies unless forced by the government to do so. Also, many minority groups are still underrepresented in schools and occupations, which is unfortunate because it gives people a skewed view of what the population of America truly looks like and lets them think of different races as simply the homogenous others, instead of seeing them as people. Being around people who are different is “necessary to dispel stereotypes about minorities” and as the Department of Education points out, “Interacting with students who have different perspectives and life experiences can
In a 1925 essay entitled “The New Negro,” Alain Locke described this transformation as an embracing of a new psychology and spirit. Locke felt that it was imperative for the “New Negro” to “smash” all of the racial, social and psychological obstacles that had
Brown v. Board had a major impact on the United States of America. It created a place that truly is free. Where all people are under the protection of the law. Where people of any color or religion or class can get along and have the same rights as any other person in this country. This case banished the mindset of “separate but equal” and established the new precedent of “together and equal and free.” That is why Brown v. Board is so
and its disadvantage to certain races, to show the world that it is not ok to prejudge or purposely
The turn-of-the-century W.E.B Du Bois wrote his seminal text The Souls of Black Folk in response to what was then called the 'Negro Problem.' The 'Negro Problem' was the question of whether African-Americans should be treated as equal within the firmament of American society and whether integration or separate but equal were more viable doctrines. Du Bois wrote against such advocates of acceptance like Booker T. Washington, and instead demanded parity for his people in terms of opportunities. In the first essay of Du Bois' book entitled "Our Spiritual Strivings," Du Bois writes of his frustrations as a young, African-American child who was intelligent and thoughtful yet all too well aware of how his race would limit his ability to pursue his studies although he
The reader can contemplate the passage of Du Bois' essay to substitute the words "colored" and "Negro" with African-America, Nigger, illegal alien, Mexican, inner-city dwellers, and other meanings that articulate people that are not listed as a majority. Du Bois' essay is considered a classic because its' words can easily reflect to the modern day.
When it comes to Affirmative Action this is necessary. This shows how much improvement minorities are receiving for opportunities in place of a better life. For example, it gives people an equal opportunity to appear not cause of their race, giving them a fairly equal chance at education and employment for the reason that many people base minorities on racial preference rather than academic achievement. Also, Affirmative Action helps give minorities the chance to achieve and start their future going to college and being successful in life. Another essential point is that many have graduated saying that getting the chance receiving the opportunity for the Affirmative Action program helped them start off so much that as a result, they now have a good paying job, are successful, and living an enormously better life.
Certain words and phrases are often used by communities to collectively define the group of people they belong to. The n-word in particular has had a long history with a load of heavy baggage that has ties with slavery, oppression, and racial inequality. In the past century or so, African-Americans have been turning this word around to define represent them in a more positive manner, simply through accepting the term as their own. Gloria Naylor highlights the usage of the word by black people to represent a cultural identity. She explains how “they transformed ‘nigger’ to signify the varied and complex human
We, as a society, have kept the traditions of social ranking, military strategies, and economic values alive over the several years of developing civilization. Without the elites of past societies, we wouldn't have advanced to our current economic status and enjoy the luxuries we have today. It's within the human nature to learn and grow from the past undesirable situations, and therefore we as a race have improved from the chaotic situations our ancestors have faced. Their vulnerability to the world gave us lessons to learn from, and our society has greatly benefited from it. To me personally I feel as if the balance is positive because we can learn off of others mistakes and not go down the same paths as those who have before them. For example
The negritude founders’ Aimé Césaire from Martinique, Léopold Sédar Senghor from Senegal and Léon-Gontran Damas from French Guiana ( met in Paris in 1931) have to define themselves against a world which leaves no room for who and what they are because they are black folks in a world where universal seems to naturally mean white. Thus, the Negritude or the self-affirmation of black peoples was an answer to the question: what are we in this white world? Indeed, all of the three founders was colonial subject because they all came from French colonies, and being colonial subjects meant