Racism In Jesse, By Joy Boothe

In Chapter 5 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, Cassie’s innocence causes her to find herself in frightening situations. Cassie, the black female protagonist of the story, lives in 1933, in Mississippi, where instances of racism happen daily. However, Cassie, because she is 9 years old and her family wants to protect her from the injustices of the world for as long as possible, doesn’t have a clear understanding of why the white people in her life are doing bad things to her or knowledge as to why her actions create disruption within the white community. In fact, “a lack of understanding and knowledge” is a definition of the word innocent (Dictionary.com), which describes Cassie perfectly in Chapter 5, although she may appear mischievous to others.

     When her father passed away she had nobody to tell her what to do and how to act. This was very devastating and she had a hard time dealing with change. So much so that she wouldn't let the police take the body of her father out of the house for three days after his death. The only thing that was constant in her house was the slave

During the Civil Rights Era, many black power movements strived to prevent the New Jim Crow from happening. The black man was being oppressed during segregation and treated like animals. The white supremacy, only visualize African Americans as slaves, people who should not be a part of the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X drove men and women to fight for his or her rights. However, that was not enough to stop the white supremacy from oppressing African Americans. The Civil Rights movement did put an end to public segregation. It did not put not put an end to the laws being made by the government, which is dominated by the white race. In the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander discussed how the Civil Rights and black power movements helped African Americans gain their equal rights, but did not help to gain political power. Mass Incarceration is where the African Americans’ lives end because of the social structure created by the government. Blacks are mostly in the lower class because after the Great Depression, Roosevelt only created laws for whites. This allowed the white community to build and move out the cities into better neighborhoods. Leaving the black community behind. The government placed businesses and built big buildings to keep all the blacks in one place. Base on how the black community was viewed as a race and social status, gives this race a higher chance of being behind bars.

What are some ways that we welcome back ex cons into society if we do at all? What help determined our attitude towards these incrassated victims whether they are guilty or not? These are questions and situations that sociologist take time to research in society. This is mainly done because it affects society in some sort of way and it’s their job to find out why things happen and how can we help better the problems. Most offenders are from a lower income society or belong to an oppress group. The victims of coarse are the people who the harm is being done to, which by law there are consequences for their action. The problem, that leave one thinking is the kind of crimes people committed, or some may not commit any at all, probably just at the wrong place at the wrong time and they still happen to receive harsh penalty, being stigmatize as a criminal on record causing them to struggle in society.

Anne Moody grew up in the south as a sharecropper on a plantation in the postwar south that still had Jim Crow controlling what the black population was able to do and what they couldn’t do. The Moody family was poor and was trying to make a living working for a white farmer. They and the other black plantation workers lived in a tiny two bed shack without electricity and plumbing, while the Carter’s house had both. Anne’s childhood was very difficult when her father decided to leave the family and have an affair with another black women. After this happened Anne, her mother, and her siblings moved around a lot while Anne’s mother, Toosweet, look for work. Eventually working as a waitress and as a maid for white families. Even while the family is struggling Anne continues to do well in school and decides to start working part-time as well to help put food on the table for the family. She was only in fourth grade. Some of white families that she worked for even encouraged her to continue her studies as she got to high school, while others were extreme racists and accused her and her brother of doing things that they didn’t do. As time went on Anne’s mother meets Raymond Davis and start a relationship with each other and Anne starts to enjoy her new life, but starts to get into several conflicts with her mother.

Racism; a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others. In the historical fiction novel, Midnight Without a Moon, by Linda Williams Jackson, the author shows how horribly blacks were treated when they tried to vote. The main character, Rose Lee Carter, battles with understanding why blacks were facing such repercussions while trying to fight for their rights. Levi Jackson, Reverend George W. Lee, and Lamar Smith face several acts of racism while trying to vote, and because of this, they are brutally murdered. However, the reader is left wondering if the punishments the characters received actually occurred in real life. In Midnight Without a Moon, the author uses history by including key details to emphasize how far whites were willing to go in order to ensure that blacks wouldn’t be allowed to vote, while at times altering it to highlight the intense feelings Rose has over the situation.

Phillis Wheatley is a black, African slave, female poet, and then Christian American (Acton/ American Literature). The life of Phillis is attractive, some painful and some pleasant (poetry foundation). At that time, black skin people cannot be educated while she was American Christian and educated. Wheatley was a model of all black skin people or those were persecuted (Acton/ American Literature). She is the owner of the first published poems book in the colonies at 1773 after brought her from Africa to America; by that Wheatley was the first slave and third American woman do that (Biography). Indeed, Phillis is not her real name, but it is the ship's name which carried her to Boston; she used it until she died. Wheatley did not only change

Racism is still a very prominent issue in America today. Yes, it has improved from the days of slavery, and we do have a black president; but society is nowhere near equal, and that is not acceptable. White Privilege by Paula Rothenberg truly opened my eyes to the extent of the social injustice on African Americans. Just by being white, one is oppressing another race because the privilege and respect that comes with the skin color. Whether intentional or not, the racism is still there and present and that is not acceptable. Being white, I’ve never suffered from the repercussions of racism, but after reading and becoming more aware of the suffering of African American’s, it is significant to write and spread the knowledge about racism and especially implicit racism. Everyone is surrounded by racism on a daily basis, and it’s important to be aware of your actions and the effects they have on society.

Oftentimes conflicts are only considered to be only an international difference in opinions, however, conflict can be present as a national issue. In the United States of America, although considered a relatively peaceful country, experiences national conflicts regularly. Dennis Prager says “Since neither black animosity nor the Left’s falsehood of ‘racial tensions’ is based on the actual behavior of the vast majority of white Americans, nothing white America can do will affect the perceptions of many black Americans or of the leftist libel.” This quote defends the idea that in most cases, the racial tension is one sided and without clear evidence.

Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “Racism is man’s gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, characters face many acts of racial discrimination growing up while living in the South during the 1930’s. In the novel Hurston shows how a racial caste system is formed. As the story progresses, the reader is able to see how the caste system affects different characters in different ways. This shows that even if people do not experience oppression in the same way as another, it doesn’t mean that they don’t bare the same weight, but might react to the weight differently.

The book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is about the mass incarceration of African Americans in the criminal justice system. It depicts individuals who were arrested on drug crimes. Because these individuals are labeled as criminals, it becomes difficult for them to find work, housing, and public assistance. (Alexander, 2010) The themes in this book include denial and ignorance, racism and violence, and drugs.

“The people who commit terror against innocents do it for the same purpose. Some people say well they do it to prove a political point. Then why go after little girls or innocent people standing at a bus stop in Britain or in Madrid?” (Couric, n.d.). She also sees elements of the racism she experienced as a child persisting in the views some people hold toward other cultures and their ability to handle democracy. After pointing out that the segregation she experienced growing up in the South was rooted in the supposed inferiority of one race to the other and left her feeling consistently underestimated, she goes on to say, “When I look around the world and I hear people say, ‘Well, you know, they`re just not ready for democracy,’ it really does resonate or I hear echoes of, well, you know, ‘Blacks are kind of childlike. They really can`t handle the vote. Or they really can`t take care of themselves,’ it really does roil me. It makes me so angry because I think there are those echoes of what people once thought about black Americans” (Couric, n.d.). The experiences in Condoleezza’s youth affected her perception in such a way that it permitted her to construct a world view in which she can easily identify with the minority or the oppressed. Her previous experiences gave her a strong

She gave the example of police brutality and how some officers are rougher with black males compared to white males. She also mentioned an African American women being told her braids were considered unprofessional. For sexism she defined it as, "unfair treatment to a person because of their gender”. For prejudice she defined it as, "unfair judgments about a group of people, which can lead to hidden acts of harm against that group”. She gave a lot of great examples for implicit and explicit acts of racism/prejudice. For an explicit example she mentioned someone telling her, "she sounds white". For an implicit example she mentioned how most flesh-toned products are too light for her skin complexion. She was talking about make up, bras and clothing, but it reminded me a lot of the band-aid example in our readings. The sentence of "sounding white" also came up in our readings. It is implying that a person of color is not as educated as a white person. It is an extremely rude thing to say to a

Jesse’s home life consists of living on a farm with his mother. At the age of 3, jesses father left him and his mother and never came back. Although Jesse’s father not in the picture, he does see him around town often. Even though his father notices him, he usually turns the other way and pretends he doesn’t see him. Jesse’s mother tries to be carrying and supportive but she says jesses still has a difficult time because

As mentioned earlier, the story takes place over the course of 22 years, and we are told that the main character is 11 in 1963, so we know the historical time of the story. The 1960's. Racisms has a very big impact on the story, which most likely is connected to both the time and location. As we see in this quotation: “We can’t have Jesse in our house because he’s a nigger.” This indicates that the society, in which the story takes place, practices racial segregation. As already stated, Jesse's father works at a plywood mill. Even though the mill is described through the eyes of a young girl, who sees it like a castle, the descriptions still indicate the rough work environment the father and Jesse work in. The family is not particularly wealthy. All this contributes to the short story and establish a specific setting of the southern states in this particular period. It is a family living in a Southern state in 1960s