Race And Racial Profiling And Gender Issues On The Basis Of My Upbringing, Experience, And Social Media

Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant made me readjust my understanding of race by definition and consider it as a new phenomenon. Through, Omi and Winant fulfilled their purpose of providing an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they shape and permeate both identities and institutions. I always considered race to be physical characteristic by the complexion of ones’ skin tone and the physical attributes, such as bone structure, hair texture, and facial form. I knew race to be a segregating factor, however I never considered the meaning of race as concept or signification of identity that refers to different types of human bodies, to the perceived corporal and phenotypic makers of difference and the meanings and social practices that are ascribed to these differences, in which in turn create the oppressing dominations of racialization, racial profiling, and racism. (p.111). Again connecting themes from the previous readings, my westernized influences are in a direct correlation to how to the idea of how I see race and the template it has set for the rather automatic patterns of inequalities, marginalization, and difference. I never realized how ubiquitous and evolving race is within the United States.

Since the birth of our nation, racial profiling has been an issue longstanding and troubling among minority groups and still continues to exhibit severe consequences in communities.

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 obvious in America. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people.  Today’s racism is not restricted to whites and blacks, and it has come to define many different groups and races. Pigmentation as well as physical characteristics and features still are influential for classifying people. It is easy to overlook the racism that hides below the surface and is part of American life. Today, an estimate 54 million Latinos live in the U.S. and around 43 million people speak Spanish. Although Latinos are the country’s largest minority, anti-Latino prejudice is still common. Very few Americans recognize, acknowledge, and respect the contributions of one of America’s greatest ethnic groups – Hispanics. Americans are often confused as to who Hispanics really are and what they represent in America. Although the United States is known for having a melting pot of diverse cultures, recent studies have shown the rise of discrimination against Latinos and Hispanics immigrants. A person’s legal status should not be an excuse for mistreatment.

One of the most imminent threats looming within American society is race relations. America is a melting pot of different races, cultures, and religions, yet the matter of racial profiling still remains prominent today. By definition it is considered “an activity carried out by enforcers of the law wherein they investigate or stop any individual in traffic or round up people of the same race or ethnicity for crime suspicion” (NYLN.org ). This profiling has become a significant catalyst in the tension that has been ensuing between minorities and the government. Hostility has grown due to the apparent and intentional targeting of “brown people”, and

Gloria Anzaldua’s article “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” focuses on the discrimination against Latin American individuals, who are residents or citizens, of the United States. Gloria Anzaldua empathizes the bullying in schools and in her daily life. Despite all the bullying and discrimination she had to put up with, Gloria stands up for herself and fights for her culture and origins. She chooses to love herself for who she is, which allowed her to put those ugly comments and actions aside to grow into the person she is today. Amy Tan’s article “Mother Tongue,” also focuses on the discrimination against her efforts to speak and write English. Amy Tan emphasizes the topics of standardized testing and discrimination within schools that go

Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced practicing her mother tongue. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. She claims that by forcing them to speak English and attempting to eliminate their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that results from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States, Anzaldúa says she had to accommodate to the American culture. The fact that she was discouraged from practicing her native language induced her to become ashamed of her roots. In addition, she explains that she constantly felt suppressed on account of her gender. By incorporating Spanish words, powerful personal anecdotes and historical facts about her people, Anzaldúa produces a unique composition in which she depicts an unfair and repressive world and reprimands the prejudices that hinder certain cultures from flourishing and establishing themselves.

Within the Mexican community, competing notions of racial identity has long existed. Aware to gradations of color in race and their shading of white and non white identity, Haney Lopez introduces the

Racial Profiling is a social issue that is capturing more and more attention worldwide but especially by North Americans. Racial Profiling is the assumption that someone has committed a crime based on their physical appearance and the stigma that surrounds that culture or group. Racial profiling, therefore, affects everyone in society as it is about humanity. Everyone deserves the chance to be free of stereotypes and even those who aren’t amidst racial profiling should realise that they are affected as those who are guilty may not belong to said stereotyped racial group or those who are not guilty may be profiled without actions to warrant so. Growing evidence has shown that in a study conducted by the Canadian government “participants who identified themselves as a visible minority felt that they had been the target of racial profiling over the last four years compared to non-minority participants (20% vs. 6%). When asked the extent to which racial profiling occurs unofficially, 20% of the participants felt it happened "all the time" and 62% felt that it happened "sometimes".” (Canadian Department of Justice). These statistics illustrate that even in a country where it is claimed that we are equal and without a biased system people still are treated as if they are something they are not and due to their ethnic background. The article “Ottawa teen claims he was a victim of police profiling” featured on CBC news will only further serves as a real-life example to help

Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today’s society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots “can be traced to a time in early

Over the past several years, the use of race by law enforcement agencies in their policing activities has received considerable attention across the country. The controversy regarding "racial profiling" has centered on police departments' practices related to traffic stops—examining whether police have targeted drivers based on their race or ethnicity. Significant anecdotal evidence has suggested that some departments may be treating drivers of some races or ethnicities differently than white drivers. Parties using multiple definitions have complicated the debate over racial profiling. Variation among these definitions means that interested parties are often discussing different types of police practices, behavior,

Racial profiling is apparent within African American and Latinos throughout history and still exists today in the New York City.  African Americans and Latinos in the United States have a different perspective of police, based on personal experience. Racial profiling can be defined as the use of race or ethnicity as the foundation for suspecting someone of having committed a

Many People presume racial profiling is a recent phenomenon that occurred in the 80s as the news about African Americans being pulled over for “driving while black” made national headlines. “Racial Profiling,” however, has endured in various forms for decades in black communities from the slave trade, Jim Crow laws and in its most recent form as discriminatory conduct from Police Department personnel to the Criminal Justice System. Three Hundred years of unfair racialized practices that date back to the 1700s in the United States for people of African descent (1).

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 the assigned texts we have been reading there have been many underlying themes that all contribute to one major theme, racism in early

For many years now the people in power or “whites” have passed laws so that other racial groups are kept at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These racial group that are kept at the bottom become racialized and oppressed therefore they become unequal to the people that are at the top of this hierarchy. The racial groups that are kept at the bottom vary from the Native-Americans to the Mexican-Americans and obviously the African-Americans. In this essay I will be comparing how the racialization process has been similar and different between these racial groups. I will also define race and racialization. Furthermore, I will explain how class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship has impacted the racialization process within these groups.