Racial Discrimination : The Blacker The Berry

We have issues: more specifically , the United States has issues, continuous and all-encompassing issues of racial inequality.The United States is experiencing a outburst of racism, as can be seen from the 2014 killings of two unarmed African-American men, to the brutality of white supremacy in Charleston and the string of arsons in black churches across the South. Of course, it’s nothing new for a nation with a long history of extreme racist violence—the most recent lynching-related death occurred in 1981, hardly a lifetime ago, when Michael Donald was hanged by two members of the Ku Klux Klan.The United States, however, continues to avoid its history on race, refusing to confront its past in a “post-racial,” “colorblind” society, and that policy of systemic ignorance is particularly strong when mention of racial equality is brought up. Although the concept of equality has never truly existed in this world, as can be traced back to the very beginnings of recorded history we see the nobles ruling the commoners, conquerors reigning over the conquered, the will of man dominating women; the United States needs to acknowledge the fact that racial inequality still exists within our country and has in no way progressed towards betterment.

Throughout history, people of minority ethnicities have been discriminated against. Furthermore, this is largely caused by high ranking administrators operating in the prison system and our economy, which favors non-Hispanic, non-Arabic Caucasian people more than other races or ethnicities.

I was raised by grandmother in stamps Arkansas in St. Louis Missouri in the south where

Businesses nationwide are constantly breaking the law. They 're not giving blacks equal consideration to other candidates that are other than black by discriminating against them. It is against the law to racially discriminate against your choice of employees as put in place by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And here we are fifty years later and it is still happening today. To be black and middle class is not the same as to being say white and middle class and not for obvious reasons. The white has a major advantage and doesn 't have to do anything to earn it. The unemployment rate of blacks with a college education is 5 percent higher than that of whites and one of the main issues creating that statistic is racial discrimination. Employers

Aristotle once said “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”

African Americans for years have a long history of being treated unfairly and disgracefully by the people who founded this Country. The White Americans that live in the United States have always denied freedom and equality towards African Americans because of society treating them as slaves and property in the early years of the Country’s origin. From being slaves and treated as property, to being terrorized and lynched by the KKK, African Americans emerged with an organization to end all of any forms of violence, unfairness, and discrimination towards them. The Historical actions and people in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people has achieved the objective to ensure the political, educational, social and economic

Racial Discrimination is a social injustice that people of color have been subject to for years. In the U.S., racial discrimination against people of color in the justice system generates a wide variety of public issues that influence the life possibilities of the Latino and Black communities.  Race, status, and class are some of the main reasons for legal inequality. Laws were created in an effort to ensure the safety and stability of everyone everywhere. With that being said, however, the laws did and do not always have the best interest of certain race or minorities in mind, therefore legal equality has never ceased to exist because it never existed in the first place. This paper will argue how the U.S., has overlooked legal inequality for decades by referring to sources that we have discussed in class by Alexander, Cheryl, Brown v. Board of Education, Plessy v. Ferguson and Parents Involved v. Seattle School District to make the case that legal inequality is an ongoing issue today. Legal Equality is defined as…

NO! NO? This is the word most often heard by African Americans throughout our vivid history. Although at one time we were a majority of judgment and unfair discrimination, it is now more than likely safe to say, white or black, we are proud to be Americans. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird she elucidates what it was like, during the 1930s, to live in a small town who often put judgment before thought.

From the moment Africans were enslaved by Europeans, it began the history of terror, fear, disenfranchisement, and injustice. W.E.B DuBois made a prediction that the 20th century would be the “century of the color line”. Patterson (1998) notes that DuBois’ predication came true. “This has been a century torn by the often murderous imposition of ethnic, including so called racial, boundaries, and by the struggles to overturn them.” (Patterson 1998). Strides have been made which resulted in changes for the black community but there are still major problems that exist. Major problems such as poverty or educational attainment still burden the community. It is interesting to think about historically black neighborhoods. Most predominantly black

Sadly racism stills occur within our society today, even back in the thirteenth and fourteenth century where it all originated, the recognition of the Jews and how they were along with the devil and witchcraft was possibly the first sign of a racist view of the world. Ever since our former President Barack Obama, first black President of the United States has been elected in office we hoped dearly that the racial divide in American would have come together. Which has sparked a national conversation about race in America which led to deadly protests and police brutality. Even looking back on the cause of

Modern and historical forces combine to separate many racial and ethnic communities disconnected from networks of economic opportunity and upward mobility. Among those forces is constant racial discrimination that, while subtler than in past decades, continues to deny opportunity to millions of

Race discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because he/she is a certain race. Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion. structural racism, state racism or systemic racism is racial discrimination by governments, corporations, religions, or educational institutions or other large organizations with the power to influence the lives of many people.

Recently, in the United States, there have been more and more racially charged incidents, such as the Ferguson riots, the University of Missouri protests, etc. These two different types of events are compared to the two different ideologies of non-violent and violent protests. Examples of people who believed in each of these ideologies are Martin Luther King Jr. who used non-violent protest and Malcolm X who used violent protests. Kendrick Lamar who has had song that are on both sides of the spectrum from his song “I” which is more like Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent beliefs to “The Blacker the Berry” which is more like Malcolm X’s thinking of self-hatred. In light of many of these issues along with the fact that racism is still an issue, Kendrick Lamar released his critically acclaimed song “The Blacker the Berry” in February 2015. This racially-charged song celebrates Kendrick’s African American heritage, but also has an underlying theme of racialized self hatred. The song also discusses the ideas of racism, hatred, and hypocrisy throughout the song. Some of the things Kendrick mentions in the song show how the beliefs and the people have not changed from the “three distinct periods of racial terror: antebellum slavery, Jim Crow, and the mass incarceration of Black people in the prison-industrial complex” (Lindsey 236). The song also shares its name with 1929 novel, The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurmond, which deals with similar issues of

“The Blacker the Berry” by Kendrick Lamar was released February 9th, 2015. This incredibly racially motivated song has created controversy throughout America because it tackles racism, hypocrisy, and hatred head on. Although Stephen Best argues that the past defines the present without question, and Hartman believes that many important African American stories have been silenced due to lack of evidence, Kendrick Lamar’s song “The Blacker the Berry” complicates and adds to their arguments by introducing a certain level of hypocrisy that forces the listener to understand a much more complicated moral position than is generally allowed, perhaps an inevitable one.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said, “We have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society in modern ways”. This quote rings true where equality in the workplace is concerned. In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson”, we see what social discrimination looks like through the eyes of children who are observing a wealthier part of town. In their eyes, they see and injustice and question why it is not being altered into something centered more on equality and equal opportunity. Toni Cade Bambara’s story “The Lesson” is written to make a point about racial discrimination in the workplace and social inequality.