Racial Discrimination

I was watching the news, when the footage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster came on. The news reporters were showing a black man walking in flooded waters near a market with a bag full of food and labeled him a “thief”. Social media in the United States has portrayed people of different racial backgrounds differently and unequally in recent years. In the essays “Theories and Constructs of Race” and “Loot or Find: Fact or Frame?” the authors discuss in both essays about issues with racial equality in our world today. Authors Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe discuss in the first essay racial schemes are created through prejudices and the telling and retelling of stories. While, authors Cheryl I. Harris and Devon W. Carbado discuss in their essay about the issue of “colorblindness” in social media. Holtzman is a professor of communications and journalism at Webster University, while Sharpe is a professor at Webster as well. Similarly, Harris and Carbado are professors at UCLA’s School of Law and have addressed widely on race, gender, civil rights and constitutional issues. Both essays do a good job at explaining their ideas and supporting them with evidence of racial discrimination in our world today. The authors from both essays organize their ideas and summarize them, which helps understand the main idea of racism, discrimination and racial inequalities in today’s society.

Refusing to stand for the national anthem is disrespecting the flag and every member of the armed forces. Celebrities and others have all chimed in and gave their opinion on Colin’s protest. One person to chime in and has a lot patriotism in her family history is Carole Ishlam, she is one of the great-great-great-granddaughters of Francis Scott Key, the writer of the national anthem. "It just blows my mind that somebody like Kaepernick would do what he does to dishonor the flag of this country and the national anthem” Ishlam said in an interview. She continued, “we have young men and women overseas fighting for this country, people that have died for this country” (ProCon.org) Even supporters of Kaepernick’s message disagree with his actions. One of these supporters is New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who said, “It 's an oxymoron that you 're sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak out” (ProCon.org) Not only did celebrities talk about it, people who are fighting in the war and are representing the flag have put out their own opinions on Kaepernick’s

This protest shows disregard towards the military forces of the U.S. and the flag that represents patriotism. Alex Boone, guard for the Minnesota Vikings, is against Kaepernick’s views on this topic (source 1). Boone states, “. . . you should have some respect for people who served, especially people that lost their lives to protect ours. . . (source 1).” In other words, the least the players can do for the soldiers is stand for them while the national anthem is playing to honor the soldiers who served and are serving the country. These famous figures can save the protesting for another time like before or after the games. Those in favor of this protest say that they have the right to act upon their own will by kneeling instead of standing (source 3). Though that is a valid argument, people in the military are out there losing their lives while these players are just playing a game, so it doesn’t take much to show courtesy to those who help keep the United States free. During games of any sport or even during the pledge at school, everyone, including celebrities, should show pride for their country. Whether it’s during the pledge at school or the national anthem at a high school soccer game, standing represents the strength and dignity of the citizens of

Almost every person of color has been racially discriminated against. Most of us have had it happened to us, some of us never really realized it was happening. Some of us don’t even know what it means to be racially discriminated is. So for my senior exit paper, I will be telling what racial discrimination is, how much it happens, why it happens, who it happens to and so much more. In this paper, you will be learning the basic background of racial discrimination and when and how it started.

Do Americans feel like there is still racial discrimination in today's everyday life? Racial discrimination is treating someone differently because of the color of his or her skin. Racial discrimination has been around for a long time. There are laws that are supposed to protect non whites from being racially discriminated against but these laws are not applied to everyone equally. There are a lot of different types of discrimination such as gender and age but the main type is racial. Racial discrimination still exist in America based on discrimination at work, police brutality, and arrest rates.

Imagine living in a country where you are not allowed to have freedom of speech, protest, religion, etc. Gratefully, we are privileged as Americans to have this right. So why would it “disrespectful” or “despicable” if Americans peacefully protest such like Kaepernick did? From source two, the author provides the quote, “...brave men and women who fought for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society which includes right to speak out in protest” explains that many veterans fought for our rights

veryone first learns about racial discrimination within the United States at school and continue to learn about it throughout their entire education. For example, we heard about it with Christopher Columbus “finding’ a new land and taking the Native Americans that were already living there, hostage and using them as slaves in 1492, to Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement that changed history forever in 1919. Sadly, even to this day we will still hear about some issues of discrimination within the society. But throughout history many brave people have fought to create equality within the nation and because of these great people fighting nonstop for their rights, there have been many cases and laws created and placed to end all discrimination.

Political, economic, environmental, and social issues are only a few of the many kinds of issues that occur around the world. One issue that every human being is bound to experience in their life is a social issue. There is an ongoing list of social issues that people need to be aware of such as the access to education, human trafficking, immigration, gender inequality, and child care. Although each one of those issues is just as important as the other, one of the biggest issues that individuals encounter in their daily lives, especially in the United States, is racial discrimination.

The United States of America has an extensive history of racial conflicts between white southerners and African Americans. After the ratification of the thirteenth Amendment in 1865, slavery was abolished in the whole nation of America. However, the racial tension between white southerners and African Americans did not end with the eradication of slavery. Although the government granted African Americans citizenship and civil rights, they were not entirely free from practicing these entitlements. During the repressive Jim Crow Era, separation between the white and the African American race exacerbated as discrimination, inequality, and oppression spread throughout the South. Racial tension intensifies with the implementation of segregation, and races were further divided from one another. From the period between 1880s and 1920s, African Americans’ rights were restricted by white southerners through discrimination between labor and capital—which prevented them from any form of economic and social advancement, establishment of the “separate but equal” doctrine—legalization of segregation, political disfranchisement—restriction to right of suffrage, and through practice of prevalent violence—such as lynching in the Southern States.

Ever since Kaepernick gained public attention for sitting through the national anthem in the 2016 NFL season, the topic about the national anthem and the flag’s symbolic meanings has been a hot topic. Colin Kaepernick or any other person in the United States has absolutely every right to sit or kneel for the national anthem. The deal here is if it is appropriate for people-mostly athletes-to protest in the form of sitting or kneeling. The side supporting the protests would argue that the flag or the national anthem represents a democracy that looks down upon people of color. The protestors claim they protest solely for the purpose of achieving social change. I personally believe that there may be some social injustices still around. Protesting in the way of disrespecting the flag or the national anthem is not only morally wrong, but it is unpatriotic and traitorous. I think that the social change protestors are looking for can be achieved through some other type of active protest or actions. Such actions could be getting politically involved with lawmakers, talking with PACs and or lobbying. Soldiers have fought and died for our country leaving behind families and relatives; they did fight for the right for protestors to kneel and sit for the anthem, but I think that protesting in this manner is utterly unacceptable.

One of the most common illegal practices conducted by employers happen to deal with the applicants or employee’s race. In this case, African Americans tend to be the most victimized.

How would you feel if you were the last one to start in the race we call life? Unfortunately, this has been the case for many Americans here today. Throughout most of our nation's history, all, even whites, faced discrimination. This includes Jim Crow laws, Chinese Exclusion acts and enmity for colored people in general. Even after all of this opposition and disadvantages, many people have been able to pave a way of life in this country. With pressure comes change and it all erupted in the mid 20th century. During the 1950s and 1960s, many minorities started to aggressively pursue equal rights with the most famous figures leading the charge: martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, etc. This all continued until the revolutionary civil rights act of 1964, where president Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill stating that outlaws all discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Miraculously, this bill immediately affected the lives of the millions of the once victims of this poisonous culture of racism. All people of color started to gain a huge advantage in the once white dominated spheres of society. However, even if this bill landmarked a huge turning point in history for minorities, the effects of years of discrimination still linger. It has only been half a century since this revolutionary bill has been signed and minorities still have a stagnation in the race of life. Many people are in poverty, and some people are still being discriminated

“We are not a racist”, “We are all equal” are two racially dismissive phrases among many that are used, giving the false perception of our society being equal and righteous, yet as a society, we continue to profile one’s orientation, immigration status, and criminality based on the color of one’s skin. Although, many may argue it is not because of their race but rather their socioeconomic status, our system itself is not racist, that there is no hierarchy based on race, that all races are created equal and that all countries specifically the US believes in what we know as Human Rights. It is important to know that most countries socioeconomic status is tied to race, the limitations brought by the silent majority and the obliviousness of its fellow countrymen. Thus, allowing for many countries to remain racially biased, creating a hierarchy dependent on one’s pigmentation and ancestry.

The anxious student timidly walks into her school one day. Keeping her head down, she quickly maneuvers around students and tries to avoid drawing attention. The girl and her family are followers of Islam, which makes them Muslim. It was a couple days after September 11th, 2001, the previous terrorist attack still had people shook up. During those couple of days, the girl had drawn a lot of unwanted attention towards herself, just because of what race she is.

As a white middle class girl growing up in a nice area in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I thought that racial discrimination was a thing of the past. Yes, I knew my ex-Mennonite grandmother didn’t want me to marry an African American, but I laughed that off, because other than that, racism, discrimination, and prejudice were not things I saw in everyday life. I did not think to notice how many of my acquaintances were all white people. That would have made a difference in my opinion about discrimination. However, over the past few years, I paid more attention to the news stories. I analyzed how I describe people with a slightly different color skin. In doing so, I realized that these news stories and my words are so normal to me that I am not able to recognize them for what they truly are. With more discrimination brought to the light, artists of all forms are speaking out about their experiences. Aaradhna’s song “Brown Girl” deals directly with the issues of discrimination that she dealt with growing up. In her heartfelt song, Aaradhna puts on display her hope for a world where people look past the color of skin and instead see the person in front of them.