Post-Racial Society

Humans define race by how they conceive and categorize different social realities. Thus, race is often referred to as a social construct. The differences in skin color and facial characteristics have led most of society to classify humans into groups instead of individuals. These constructs affect us all, and they often result in situations where majority racial groups cause undue suffering to those that are part of the minority. The understanding of race as a social construct is best illustrated by the examination of racial issues within our own culture, specifically those that have plagued the history of the United States.

In chapter seven of Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century, the author Tomás Almaguer discusses how the Hispanic and Latino populations in the United States are identified in terms of race and ethnicity. Almaguer mentions how Latinos were initially identified as “white” in government documents mainly due to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. However, soon enough due to the increase of the Latino population in the United States from various Latin American or Hispanic countries, they began to be placed under an ethnicity.

I believe race is so central to how we organize social life in many societies because it has been the defining factor that breaks humans apart from one another just based off of something as simple as sight. It is the easiest way to classify individuals aside from gender or nationality. Race has also become something that individuals have personally adopted, and I believe many people are more comfortable being around those that share the same characteristics as themselves.

The concept of “Post Racial” America is certainly a preposterous idea that does not exist. Different degrees of racism is seen throughout the U.S, however regardless of the intensity, racism has and will always exist. Americans belief that we live in a society where racism no longer exist is a serious impediment on the progression of America. The first problem with modern racism is living in a color blinded society where people believe in post racial America. The second is our humanistic nature to be predominant primates and finally, our unconscious bias towards racism as a result of racial stereotypes. As much as people would like to believe we are a nation where is not an issue, where race does not compete for supremacy, where the color of you skin or what your last name may be is the reason you don 't get hired, then we are obviously living in a color blinded society. Everyday, someone is faced with racial discrimination and racial prejudice. Statistically speaking, the biggest motive for hate crime is because of race. Racism comes in all kinds of form but racism is within all of us. Thus, everyone is a racist simply because we are human beings.

When watching a TED talk you automatically know your going to leave with some new profound thought or have your ways of thinking changed slightly. The primes behind TED talks is “Ideas worth spreading” right there in their mission statement is what persuasive speech is. In Ms. Alexander’s TED talk she did just that, she spread the idea to her audience of what the future of race in America will look like if we don’t seek to change the social, economical, and political policies that almost certainly put people in america as legal second class citizens.

Every day, race is discussed and criticized in news articles, magazines, television, and various other parts of the media. Although we seem to be past segregation, race is still a polarizing issue. Many people today still assert the idea that certain races are of a lower class or are to be feared, when people are nothing more than products of their own environments. If all minorities were given the same opportunities, these misconceptions and stereotypes would disappear. A post-racial America is not possible because the past of racism will continue to linger throughout generations, people are born as judgemental, and there will always be that one person whose ignorance outweighs all else.

Critical race theory is an approach to examine race as a social construct, and it looks at the social and economic inequality among the different races in society. This theory better understands the different values of the race at different level such as individual, interactional, institutional by highlighting those narratives of minorities that typically do not have the power. The privilege is typically silence those narratives by holding more power in the social position as being White than those narratives. Social position refers to the position that is given to a person given by society and culture, which influenced by the person’s social status. The power of the social position can relate to the privilege and power of whites in politics

Whether or not we claim that race is a socially constructed or a legitimate area of scientific inquiry, it all comes down to the primary idea that we all belong to the human race, regardless of skin color, facial features, height, weight, or any other specific physical characteristics. It is truly unforgiving that many individuals all across the United States have evolved with the mentality of this social and political category of race which has been deeply rooted in our brains, surprisingly, without in actuality realizing that everybody in the entire world is closely related to one another. Nonetheless, sociologists and gender scholars, such as Dr. Dorothy Roberts and W.E.B Du Bois, argue that race is a social and political concept and does

It has been a common assumption that the moral character of an individual is linked to their race. Consequently, this has been a major propagator of racism. Furthermore, this has been spread people who the author refers to as “dog whistle politicians” who think that the whites have to succeed because they have the values, work ethics, and orientations required for success. According to Lopez, using colorblindness as a means of looking beyond the skin color of an individual would be helpful in dealing with racism as a whole. Colorblindness has a great role in fighting the establishment of racial policies and in dealing with dog whistle themes. Some of the chief advocates of colorblindness such as Martin Luther King, ending segregation were not the only drive in fighting for civil rights, but also changing the common mindset of linking some races with misery. (82) In recent times, a lot has been done to try and fight the racial stereotyping “deep connection between race and disadvantage” although some gains have been achieved, the author states that a lot has to be done yet.

Race relations in the USA today had gotten worse since the 1930s. People today use the names that we have gotten back in the past that people call each other to not be friendly. They each other names that relates to their color. Over the years it had, yes, gotten worse.

Post racial America is a term to describe The United States in present time to which discussions about race and racism have been deemed no longer relevant to current social dynamics. Post racial America is an ideology that is now engrained into our modern generation consciousness, ever since the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States of America. If Obama presidency implies that racism does not exist anymore, why do black people still feel that their most basic human rights are still not being acknowledged? What would be the need for an activist movement such as #BlackLivesMatter? For example the #BlackLivesMatter movement started after the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and then when George Zimmerman, was acquitted

Post-racial is an adjective that denotes or relates to a period of society in which racial prejudice and discrimination no longer exist. Many believe this is a term applicable to the current state of America. The popularity of this term in correlation to American society blew up when the 44th president of America, Barak Obama, was elected in 2008 making him the first African American president in this country. This was a revolutionary election in history which gave hope and a newfound perspective for many young African Americans who have been searching to see a role model resembling their own skin color and for old African Americans who survived the unjust prejudices inflicted by governmental law only decades ago. Martin Luther King’s great dream for his children to be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the character of their person was finally granted, and America has finally overcome all racial issues. Everyone could finally rejoice and walk the country truly free knowing race could no longer hold any obstacle or boundary for the people of America, right? Unfortunately, that idea is far from the truth. This idea that America is now a post racial society has even been denounced by Obama himself in a commencement ceremony at Howard University. The president states that his election did not create a post racial society, though he does note it is important to note and respect progress ("Remarks by the President at Howard University

Race relations are an ever prominent issue in American society. Controversies focusing around race are a commonly seen smeared across the front page of the newspaper or headlining on the evening news. The opposition is usually between a minority group and "The Man," a colloquialism used by many Blacks to refer to the overwhelming power stemming from white racist tendencies. This racial tension can sometimes can cause the oppressed to band together against the oppressor. Many times, the most prevalent link is between the African American community and the Latino community. Here we find two groups of people with very similar lifestyles who find camaraderie between themselves when dealing

Critical race theory “ is an academic discipline focused upon the application of critical theory a critical examination of society and culture, to the intersection of race, law, and power. Critical race theory is often associated with many of the controversial issues involved in the pursuit of equality issues related to race and ethnicity” ( Luis Tyson). The movement is loosely unified by two common themes. First, proposes that white supremacy and racial power are maintained over time, and in particular, that the past may play a role. Because of the experiences of slavery, most slaves repressed these memories in an attempt to forget the past. “This repression from the past causes a fragmentation of the self and a loss of true identity. Sethe, Paul D. and Denver all experience this loss of self, which could only be remedied by the acceptance of the past and the memory of their original identities. Beloved serves to remind these characters of their repressed memories, eventually causing the reintegration of themselves” (Sparknotes). Toni Morrison’s Beloved goes into the individual story that was captive, and their human responses to slavery through their voices. “The manipulation of language and its controlled absence reinforces the mental enslavement that persists after individuals are freed from physical bondage” (Emily Clark). Reading through a critical race lense in the novel Beloved, by Toni Morrison, the experience of minorities have given Sethe, Paul D, Baby Suggs, and

I took the time today to read the article titled “What is Race” by Victor M. Fernandez, RN, BSN and found myself agreeably intrigued and in admiration of his thoughts regarding race. Victor touched on an extremely insightful and significant topic; one that most people have sturdy opinions about. Race – what is it? What does this mean to you? What does it mean to our upcoming careers in the nursing field? I trust that how we characterize and assess our awareness of race is due exclusively to how we were raised. I do not mean merely what we were taught from our family or culture about race, but to a certain extent how we have lived it, and how it has lived around us. “Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide