A case of a solar eclipse metaphor gone terribly, terribly wrong has become a conservative talking point about the left and racism.
Last week, the Atlantic reprinted a Democracy: A Journal of Ideas article, which attempted to make a hard-to-parse point about race in America in the context of the solar eclipse. The thesis of the article was that the regions experiencing the total eclipse are mostly inhabited by white people — and also America has a history of racism.
It was quickly picked up by far-right pundits and conservative media as the left’s attempt to make everything about racism. Here’s Infowars’ Alex Jones tweeting about it:
The left wants you to think #SolarEclipse2017 is racist. RT if you disagree! https://t.co/wd2Hq8m8ld
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) August 21, 2017
And conservative columnists Matt Walsh and Charles Cooke:
The eclipse is racist you guys https://t.co/iz1wXq6caQ
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 18, 2017
Beyond parody. https://t.co/OvfJBLOUuH
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) August 19, 2017
The Daily Caller bashed the article with the headline “The Eclipse Is Racist Because It Fails to Affect Enough Black People, The Atlantic Suggests.”
The article comes on the heels of a terror attack at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left one anti-racism demonstrator dead. President Donald Trump equivocated his condemnation of neo-Nazis after the incident, prompting backlash from both Republicans and Democrats. But
Is it racism or economics which hinders many African American communities from progressing economically in the 21st Century? This research proposal will address this question by examining the social and psychological impact caused by racism and the economic impact it’s had on the African American community. This proposal will further investigate whether the emotional scars of slavery continue to hamper African American progress or if racism is actually the cause.
Over the years, the face of racism has taken on many forms. In present day America, racism is a very taboo subject. It a common view that racism is not a big issue anymore, given the large strides that we, as a country have made towards equality. However, the inequalities that still exist between races point to a different situation. Instead of the blatantly discriminatory acts that our nation has witnessed in the past, modern racism practices are more covert and seemingly nonracial, making this kind of discrimination seem more acceptable and politically correct. The Civil Rights Movement forced society to implement a new, subtler way to perpetuate racial inequality. In Racism Without Racists, Bonilla-Silva describes the justification
Throughout history in America there has always been the idea of racism. 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 very apparent in America. It is true that since the end of slavery, the U.S. has made great strides towards becoming a less racist country. In reality, racism will never be extinct. In today’s society, all American citizens of all races have the same rights as one another, yet there is still racism. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people. It is human nature to make conclusions about other people, this is what leads to racism. Today’s racism is not limited to whites
In recent years, there has been increased discussion about the treatment of minorities in the U.S. While there have been numerous laws passed that protect their freedoms, many Americans maintain a negative mindset toward other ethnicities. Due to people’s reservations, our country has been unable to make substantial progress toward equality. In The Nation’s article, “The Truth About Race in America: It’s Getting Worse, Not Better,” by Gary Younge, the author utilizes factual information, historical allusions, and related quotes to effectively contend that race relations are worsening within the United States.
He blames blacks for every horrible thing whites harmful to black people on blacks. I feel as though Jesse Peterson should take down this article because all it is showing is that racism still does exist and it’s not an illusion as Peterson puts it. Peterson doesn’t acknowledge that what his saying is in fact racism and makes him appear as a racist person.
The election of Barack Obama as the 56th president of the United States raised many hopes that the “Black struggles” was finally over. For conservatives, Obama victory reassured their beliefs that there was no longer such thing as racism and that every American had equal rights and opportunity to pursue the American dream. While many people have come to believe that all races have equal rights in America, Tim Wise argues in his documentary “White Like Me” that not only does racism and unconscious racial bias still exist, but that also White Americans are unable to simply relate to the variety of forms racism and inequality Blacks experience. This is mainly because of the privileges they get as the “default.” While Wise explores the variety forms of racism and inequality today such as unconscious racism, Black poverty, unemployment, inadequate education system, and prison system, the articles by the New York Times Editorial Board, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Adam Liptak further explore some the disparities in the criminal justice system. Ana Swanson points out in her article, “The Stubborn Persistence of Black-White Inequality, 50 Years after Selma” that while the “U.S. has made big strides towards equal rights,” significant gaps still remains between the two races. With the Supreme Court striking down a “portion of the Voting Rights Act that stopped discriminatory voting laws from going into effect in areas of the country with histories of disenfranchisement,” civil
The presidential election of Barak Obama has led many to believe that we live in a post-racial society. If an African-American candidate has been elected in a predominantly white nation, this must signify that the U.S. does not have barriers that hinder African-Americans and other people of color from accessing opportunities or that we live in a color-blind society – in which race is not an issue. However, public perception on police profiling and the fairness of our justice system, public support for Donald Trump’s discriminatory ideologies, and racist actions by fraternities at universities illustrate the prevalence and continuity of racism in the U.S. Thus, to address the way in which racism plagues our society, it is important for political leaders and the media to educate believers of a color-blind society that racial discrimination is an issue which needs to properly be addressed for the well-being of all member of society.
In 1863 the emancipation proclamation was signed giving African American citizens the right to vote. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act passed outlawing discrimination based on, among other qualities, race. Although progress in racial equality is evident, its slower than many assume. W.E.B. Du Bois (p.373) lamented, “The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.” America’s culture of racial stereotyping and hidden racism is explored in Robin D. G. Kelly’s essay “Confessions of a nice negro, or why I shaved my Head”, and complimented by Du Bois’s pioneering theories regarding the color line, the veil, double consciousness, and standpoint epistemology found in “The Souls of Black folk” and “The Souls of White Folk.”
The definition of racism is one race thinking they are more superior than another. In the United States of America, racism has been a huge topic among the people (“Glessner”). Racism in america has been abolished and isn’t nearly as bad as it use to be, so it still a problem today? Back in the 1900’s racism was a very big part of the world. If you had different religious beliefs or a different skin color you weren't treated equally.("Primary Documents in American History.")The ideal person was white and if you were any different than that people thought there was something not right about you. But now our society has come to a realization that different is okay and that were all the same on the inside.("Primary Documents in American History.")
The article states that fear has become a huge deal ever since the presidential elections divided the nation. The American President has bottled up fear within most minorities, especially in African Americans. The article suggests that Donald Trump’s focus was mainly on protecting confederate statues rather than protecting African-Americans and minorities from discrimination and violence.The author seemed to have gathered the information by completing a report on Donald Trump’s speech. The article was meant to be read by minorities who are being ignored by the president and to white Americans. This article is similar to the other article because they both describe the fear that is bottled up inside Americans, whether it is because of threats
The author of the article discusses the hatred that revolves around the concept of equality in America. The author of the news article uses his knowledge of past events, such as slavery, and current issues. The audience of the article is those who don’t understand why the protests and riots in Charlottesville is an issue to many White Nationalist. The articles compare in the sense that they both discuss hatred that has been revolving on the issue, but they differ on what they speak of, as this article speaking of the president and his issues and the other speaks of the people. In conclusion, after many years of fighting against the hatred in society, there is still a lot to be done.
Both these articles although from different sides talk about the same story. The thing that has been haunting America since the beginning racism. I think the media has made this spiral out of control and people are pointing fingers at everyone. Such as saying black people kill black people in Hard Data, Hollow Protests or it being Trump. I wasn't indifferent to either article in ‘The Flag Is Drenched With Our Blood’ made me think about how deep racism runs in our nation. And that very same article of forgiveness and other ways to compensate but personally I don't think there will ever be a solution to this problem. It always has and always will be in our country and there's is no fixing that these divides within the nation will always be up
On August 12th and 13th, violence broke out in Charlottesville caused by the expected removal of a statue honoring the Confederacy. On Saturday, August 13th Joel Pollak, an American political commentator, wrote an op-ed piece for Breitbart titled,“Trump was right to condemn violence on ‘Many Sides’ in Charlottesville.” Pollak is blatantly wrong because there is no moral equivalency between Neo-Nazis and those opposing them.
The author, Dennis Prager focuses too much on the talk of the left, and describes them as hypocrites. Prager states that “the left relentlessly fights racism in America, even though America is the least racist multiracial society in history; it relentlessly
The population of the United States of America has been one of mixed race since its very beginning. Boatload upon boatload of enslaved Africans provided a labor force which would fuel the American South’s economy for many years, until national abolition and the subsequent civil rights movement created a primarily biracial population of blacks and whites. The US has come a long way since those days, and today every child born into the US is taught from an early age the evils of racism and the shameful actions committed by slave-owning US citizens in the past. From textbooks to televisions, the modern USA seemingly works tirelessly to teach its population that discrimination by race is wrong and that all races are equal. This has led to a great national complacence among whites, and a widespread belief that the US has mostly eradicated racial prejudices. But it is not so, and despite a population almost entirely composed of people who would not consider themselves racists, racism still pervades in the US. In many cases modern racism occurs at the hands of whites who almost absolutely are completely unaware of their discriminatory actions. In the films “Frozen River” and “The Visitor” racism was touched on repeatedly and played an evident part in the messages they were trying to portray.