To be honest, I’ve only experienced blatant racism once in my life. I was in 7th grade, and I was getting up to put my food away because my class was leaving. Suddenly, a foot came out of nowhere and two seconds later, I found myself on the floor with my uneaten school food all over the ground and me while being called a terrorist by a Caucasian. It wasn’t a big ruckus, only both of our classes saw what happened but it was still terrifying. My friends were about 8 feet away in shock, and not a single soul helped me - not that I expected it. I was a pretty emotionally strong and carefree kid. Humans didn’t scare me. If you poked me once I would just forgive you and move on with my little life. To this day, I don’t consider that a mortifying experience, I am completely fine. The boy that called me a terrorist was held back the next year so karma came and did my job for me. What did bother me, however, were the little, almost unnoticed glimpses of racism that would happen to me which was completely shrouded away because teenagers were just expected to be rude people so it was acceptable. It was the small things that hurt me the most, and even though the greater portion of America believes that racism has been conquered, I don’t believe so. But as bad as these instances of racism hurt me, it’s what made my mind strong and taught me to be happy. An example of what bothered me would be when I would walk into a class and start talking to my friend Auria, she would look at me in
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.
Systematic racism continues to perpetuate the marginalization of people of color in the 21st century despite belief of living in a post racial society. This unfortunate reality is seen in many different forms of current culture. One of the ways systematic racism takes current form, is in the negative portrayal created by a single narrative, or the lack thereof, minority groups. This lack of representation or diversity of people of color in different forms of art and platforms, not only affects those subject to misrepresentation, but perpetuates negative attitudes and discriminatory behavior towards those subject to misrepresentation. It is necessary to look into the ways this single narrative in different art forms affects marginalized group, and the current move to dismantle the component power plays in who gets to tell these stories.
What we as a community cannot overemphasize is the fact that we cannot barely undo the legacy of a distinctive system such as apartheid overnight. It is our duty to continuously strive towards nationhood, transformation, reconciliation and as South Africans. Nevertheless, nation states are political constructs and thus have to be continuously molded through social engineering. It is hazardous to our democracy for anyone in this community to hold or possess the view that racism is a given. Since time immemorial all the justifications advanced by apologists of this prejudice have been proven untrue. Despite this, some people in our community are still prone to racism and this is the problem which we should address.
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].
Abstract: The goal of this archival research study is to identify the deep rooted prejudice and racism that has been perpetuated in our criminal justice system since it was created. Our justice system creates an unfair racial hierarchy that has and continues to criminalize Black Americans due to the color of their skin. I will be analyzing the Reagan administration, the War on Drugs, corrupt police practices, media, and sentencing in order to reveal if racism and unfair treatment of Black Americans in the criminal justice system is in fact occurring.
Upon my research that I came to the conclusion that people seem to be too comfortable with racism. I concluded this because of a few examples of when blacks were attacked physically and verbally but nothing seemed to happen to the people that committed the hate
In the movie 42, produced by Thomas Tull, team members, adults, and even children display that you have a choice to accept a belief or to deny it. Racism played an important role in this movie, describing the difficult time Jackie Robinson had while trying to be accepted by the dodgers, other teams, and the people watching the sport. During this time life was a contradiction, black people would become honored war veterans just to come home and be attacked by the harmful Jim Crow laws. Jackie was an astonished war veteran who just wanted to play baseball but was often dispirited by white people around him. He was drafted by the owner of the Dodgers, Branch Rickey, who believed in Jackie and understood
Racism has always been a problem with this country, but lately people are starting to express themselves and their ethnicity. Football is a big deal to this country because it is our sport. NFL players are speaking out, well actually they are standing out to show America that they are not okay with how they are being treated. When a national figure such as an NFL player refuses to stand for the national anthem, it shocks people into paying attention and generates conversation. Three reasons why athletes should kneel down for the national anthem are they should protest to show their concerns, it’s not an official rule, and NFL players should have a right of freedom.
Racism against Asians is increasing in American society. This trend is happening more often over the last decade. Yet, only a handful reports have documented the situation. Largely, this is due to the influence of the media. Years of perpetuating Asian Americans stable and academically-driven communities restrain them from speaking up and overshadow their experiences. The longer the perpetuation of these images, the more powerless and the more isolated from the mainstream society Asian Americans become. These images have transformed into the norms of American society. Therefore, the media has systematically marginalized Asian Americans.
Somewhere in America someone lives in poverty, working full-time year round, yet still barely able to support their family. Neighbourhoods have a high crime rate, and they can name at least one person close to them that has experienced some form of criminal record. One day, their house gets put under investigation and the police arrest them for the possession of powder-based cocaine. They then are put on trial, and found guilty--even though they find very little evidence against them--and sentenced to 10 years in their state penitentiary. Next they are taken from their home in the city and sent out to the rural hinterland of their state, where they struggle in prison for years. When they get out, their criminal record makes it almost impossible to find a steady source of income, and due to this they turn back to dealing drugs, which in turn creates a vicious cycle for them regarding being in and out of prison. Drug dealing leads to higher profile crimes, even murder, and they soon find themselves in prison again, with the death penalty hanging over their head, for a crime that they should really only have a 10 to 20 year sentence for. Described above, albeit dramatized, shows one example of what about 30% of black males experience in America, as of 2005. The chance of this happening for white males? About 5%. For decades, the U.S. criminal justice system has let racism affect its decisions through implicit racial biases, economic benefits, and the administration of the death penalty.
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. While his actions were heinous, he had a history of posttraumatic stress disorder and was discharged from the military with a traumatic brain injury. Arguably, due to his medical history, Frink was not in a sane state of mind when he committed this action. The media portrays Frink as a wicked and evil person since he committed an act that emulates the ‘ideal’ wicked and evil person. This portrayal strikes me as a possible point of contention and I speculate that his trial will revolve around whether or not he was sane when he committed the act. According to Aristotle, a wicked man is one who has correct knowledge of a situation, deliberates action, and still chooses to commit the vicious action. In addition, the wicked man would not feel remorse for his actions and therefore cannot improve his character since there is no motivator for change. Personally, I am of the opinion that Aristotle would not consider Frink a wicked or unjust man, but rather would think that Frink suffers from mental illness and lacks the capability to discern right from wrong and properly deliberate his actions.
We live in a society that prides itself in freedom, individuality, and administering basic human rights that many people around the world do not, and cannot, possess. However, upon further investigation, it would appear that our country puts up a façade of perfection, when in fact the majority of its citizens don’t have these basic rights, they cannot be individuals without being labeled as “other,” and they are stripped of their freedom when they come in contact with the police force. The 2010 Census shows that the United States’ population was 64% white, 13% black and 16% Latino, while the prison and jail population was an astonishing 39% white, 40% black and 19% Latino. The underrepresentation of whites and the overrepresentation of blacks in prison isn’t due to blacks being more inclined to engage in criminal behavior, but rather due to the likelihood of the police force criminalizing blacks and Latinos in run-down, broken neighborhoods, as well as trying to prevent these “thugs” from entering wealthy, white communities. This goes to show that despite the Civil Rights Acts being passed, abolishment of slavery and desegregation amongst public services and institutions, racism still exists in America and is one of the leading factors in the mass incarceration problem we face.
All my life I’ve moved around many times with my family so I’ve been to countless schools and experienced countless racist occurrences. It’s been years since my first year of school education but racism is still alive and well especially in Canada where most of the world would think would be innocent and loving and the “nice” country of the world but is in fact still has racism problems. My life is only beginning and racism isn't ending anytime soon, so why aren't our school systems being more aware of that fact and doing something about it?
Very few Americans openly admit that they are racist. Racism is not the only problem of the minorities but a global burning issue that, fortunately, can be fixed. When black people are targeted for death and discrimination that means that there is still an equation that needs to be resolved. if a progress has been made? Yes, it has, but racism is still very much alive. We see racism all around us every day. I believe that Although the Civil Rights Movement has changed what life is like here in America, racial discrimination still exists. People are committing acts that unleash masked racism, and racism is affecting daily lives of many Americans including mine and my families.
990 people were shot by police in 2015. Here’s the demographic breakdown of those “victims”: