Racism About Racism

Slurs of racism to suggest that one group is superior will not be mentioned, but the undermining of other groups through various systemic practices of standards by visual/verbal rhetoric will be discussed.

“Our society tends to regard as a sickness any mode of thought or behavior that is inconvenient for the system, and this is plausible because when an individual doesn't fit into the system it causes pain to the individual as well as problems for the system; thus the manipulation of an individual to adjust him to the system is seen as a cure for a sickness and therefore as good.” This quote provides a lucent and focused direction to the prevalent predicaments of language discrimination. Unfair treatment, due to the way or type of style used while speaking can be seen in most everyday cases. The comparison between the book “Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice” by John Baugh and the continuously transpiring, real life event of

People who are different are consequently viewed differently. It is human nature to judge others by the stereotypes that have been ingrained into our minds for however long. Stereotypes, however, may not encompass the whole story. Sometimes, you are only getting the discriminatory side of the story--a single story. Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” focuses on the discrimination towards broken English compared to Standard English and the stereotypes that evolved from such discrimination. Similarly, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” presents the idea that the “single story” is the reason for biased stereotypes that, more often than not, are untrue. Tan’s life in America was seemingly difficult due to the fact that her life and education were dependent on the language barrier between English and her “mother tongue”--the latter being seen as inferior and embarrassing. She initially felt that her mother’s fragmented English was something to be ashamed of since that was the “single story” that her peers have been spoonfed their whole lives. Adichie, however, denies these views by explaining that such stereotypes are incomplete and do not relay the person at hand’s true identity. In both “Mother Tongue” and “The Danger of a Single Story,” the speakers express how a person’s native language influences their identity through rhetorical devices such as ethos, diction, and metaphors.

One of the two key learning moments that will stay with me from this course is linguistic racism. From the lectures to the contents on linguistic racism, I was able to gain more knowledge of linguistic racism from a ethnic studies perspective. I am aware of linguistic racism from personal experiences. However, I was not aware of the harsh attack and imitation of linguistics as it was unique the United States was a melting pot until reading through the Coca Cola superbowl commercial Twitter comments. It was intriguing to learn and see the high volume of aggression and exaggeration of linguistics. What is more that many wished non-English speakers to go back to their country. As in Race and Ethnicity in the United States, Richard Schaefer stated "The belief of the United States as a melting pot became widespread in the first part of the twentieth century, particularly because it suggested that the United States had an almost divinely inspired mission to destroy artificial divisions and create a single human-kind. However, the dominant group had indicated it unwillingness to

The article "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan shows firsthand instances of how Amy's mother was treated because of the way she spoke. She was disregarded, not taken seriously, and thought of as dim. The author uses logic, emotion, and reasoning to show why this way of thinking is not often true. The article’s main claim of how people perceive the intelligence of those who speak broken English is easily defined because of the authors use of writing techniques like telling personal stories, creating an appeal to emotion, and an appeal to logic.

Speech is often associate with race because some individuals believe that if the person does not sound “educated” enough the person comes from a lower class and was brought up in the so called “ghettos” and this association is often made towards someone that forms part of a minority group. The author illustrates that race is tight up with speech

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva is a professor of sociology. He has written multiple books about color racism. The linguistics of color blind racism: how to talk nasty about blacks without sounding “racist” is one of the works that incudes color racism that I will be discussing. This title describes how other races that are racists are trying to hide so they find ways to speak about the blacks trying to not sound racist. I am in agreement with Silva’s work because I have witnessed instances where semantic moves, diminutives and projection have occurred.

This issue of racism is popular by name but tends to be sugar coated by the way people see it. In order to truly understand racism you need to take a bite into the topic in order to get a taste of what it is really like. Racism comes in many different forms and can be seen many different ways. But why even care about racism at all? Why does it even matter? One would think that with such a harsh background regarding racism in America it would no longer exist in society today. But sadly that is not the case here, racism continues to show up all over the country sometimes being worse than others but still racism is racism. People should all be considered equal regardless of what they look like, talk like, or even do that makes them who they are.

In the civilized society that everyone lives in today, all languages and culture should be equal. That is the main idea in both Gloria Anzaldua’s essay, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, as well as James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”. The authors in both these texts support their argument in various ways, and in doing so, manages to effectively persuade their audience. The ways that each author approaches their argument is different in their appeals, evidence, and styles. Similarities also exist between the texts of the two authors. The rhetorical strategies that Anzaldua uses makes her argument much stronger than Baldwin’s argument.

“But for the national welfare, it is urgent to realize that the minorities do think, and think about something other than the race problem”(Zora Neale Hurston). Hurston is arguing that there are more issues than black or white. There is also sexism, classism and there is more than one inequity. Minorities need to look at the problem as a whole and address more than just the race problem. (transition) A diseased language model uses words to oppress others, and are born out of fear. A model is diseased because it will deliver sickness and death. Cixous identified language models and said that they are the bane of our existence. She said they were introduced to us young and limited us from moving fluidly through our lives. By using these types

Allport, Gordon. “The Language of Prejudice.” Language Awareness. Ed. Paul Eschholz. Alfred Rosa. Virginia Clark. Boston: Bedford St. Martin, 2013. 324-333. Print.

The thing about discrimination is that it would take everyone’s cooperation to make it disappear even just for a second but even if that happened, who says that it wouldn’t spawn up again from someone’s grudge from another. Discrimination from the use of a language is very common. In Sistah Tongue, Kanae’s little brother, Harold-boy, was discriminated by his mother. The mother said that “you not going get one good job is you no talk good English (Kanae).” Kanae thinks that the mother think Harold-Boy has one “speech impediment” which Kanae thinks that idea is “mento”, which is crazy. She thinks that idea is crazy because Kanae believes that Harold-boy is smart and he can communicate with his family just fine. I can relate to this because I was told that speaking Pidgen in the classroom or in the work place is improper and it is not “professional”. When I was a senior in high school, I was in IB and advanced placement classes and I used to speak Pidgen in class. That was until the teacher of my IB English class called me out and told me to not speak like that in class. When I did speak it, everyone would give me a dirty look trying to say “what are you doing?” Also in my senior year I worked at a frozen yogurt shop called Orange Grove. I always felt that I shouldn’t talk to costumers in Pidgen because I would feel that would be doing something wrong. But now I question that because would I really be doing

To understand whether or not racism is learnt, we first have to divulge into the nature of racism. It is usually assumed that racism has been a part of civilisation since civilisation started, that it is embedded into how people work and that no matter what, it will always exist. Another assumption is that racism derives from the capitalism of the slave trade by white elitist men seeking to dehumanize people for economic gain, and used racism as a way to mask their financial motives to justify enslavement as righteous. After anti-slavery movements began to happen, the capitalist motives behind slavery “took on a new form as the justification of the ideology of imperialism” [4].

From my readings to research from Edutopia to literature courses, I have gained a deeper appreciation for language. In order to understand what one is speaking, a person needs to spend time listening to one’s language and before responding must reflect and analyze what the other said and how to respond. If a person wants to love another person they have to listen to their language in order to speak their language, and the core part of learning another language is by listening. According to Joan Blaska, author of The Power of Language: Speak and Write Using “Person First” the language people use shows one’s bias and prejudices.  Beliefs and another’s performance fall under the influence of language. Blaska claimed “ the degree to which children are able to perceive themselves as competent and worthy, or the opposite, is heavily influenced by the verbalizations used by their teachers...Studies have found that labeling of students does affect teacher expectations which in turn affects student progress”. People have heavy influence with their words, because of this, our language must be intentional in a way, that breaks down negative stereotypes and helps one gain empathy as well as seeing others capabilities. Communicating and reading others comments and inquiring others has helped me to accept

Language, intercultural communication and racism are ultimately connected due to the fact that some individuals believe that just because someone speaks a different language, they are inferior. Racism is an issue that has been embedded in our society for years and is a problem that many minorities or migrants face when relocating to new countries. Due to their differences in language and culture, it is harder for them to re-assimilate into a newly